Summary and Implications

From the studies reported on here, what implications can be drawn for parents and practitioners working with young children with autism? Briefly, ABI appears to provide a developmentally appropriate framework for incorporating a number of effective instructional strategies into a child’s daily activities. Like DAP, it targets the growth of the whole child across developmental domains. Like ABA, it incorporates ongoing assessment and evaluation with strategies for effective instruction. For young children with autism, this approach provides us with a promising method of utilizing naturally occurring antecedents and consequences to teach target skills in context, promoting both generalization and independent performance (Koegel, 1995).

Research to date clearly suggests that naturalistic instructional strategies as exemplified by activity-based intervention are beneficial “to some children, under some conditions, and for some skills” (Santos & Lignugaris/Kraft, 1997, p. 126). The following questions still need to be answered, particularly as they relate to young children with autism:

• What are the prerequisite skills needed for children to be able to learn from an ABI approach?
• What types of skills are most amenable to activity-based intervention?
• What is the optimal ratio between typically developing peers and children with disabilities, including autism, in ABI settings?
• Which teacher variables are associated with the most favorable outcomes for children in ABI settings?

As answers emerge to questions regarding the specific effects of activity-based intervention on individual children, we can expect to see ABI increasingly utilized for children with disabilities, including autism, in inclusive educational settings.