rs to determine precisely and is a subject beyond the scope of this paper. This discussion focuses on intervention therapies for the autistic child and specifically on those forms of therapy based in behavioral analysis or assessment. Questions of etiology are of course important and the cause of autism remains an obviously worthy subject of future research. However, until the etiology of the syndrome has been determined and in a way that allows for a medicalized treatment, practical therapeutic treatment options must be of at least equally compelling concern.
Both because the etiology of the syndrome is little understood and because raising children with autism is an extremely frustrating task, the syndrome has generated a number of treatment possibilities. One might posit that a great deal of the variety in treatment options has arisen from an almost desperate desire on the part of parents and health care professionals to treat autistic children in any possible way. However, the diversity of treatment options actually results primarily from the fact that autism is a remarkably heterogeneous phenomenon: Autistic individuals exhibit such a diversity of behaviors that treatment plans have to be similarly diverse. Nonetheless, some basic and generalizable principles for treatment can be made that are applicable to all individuals with autism, among these the principles of behavior assessment.
This paper focuses on one of the most successful methods of treatment that has been tried with autistic individuals. Behavioral analysis or behavioral assessment has proven to be by far one of the most promising treatment methods for autistic individuals. It is also arguably far more humane than earlier methods, which consisted primarily (and often entirely) of institutionalizing children with this syndrome. However, it should be noted that autism remains in many ways a baffling problem for both the families involved and for health...