Socially Mediated and Automatic Reinforcers: Predictors of Therapy Outcome

Although EIBI is the first line treatment for children with autism, the variation in individual gains from treatment is large. A possible outcome moderator is how many stimuli that can be used as reinforcers in the treatment, and how many reinforcers the child has unconditional access to. The present study investigated the retrospective correlation between number and type of reinforcers and outcome in EIBI. Both numbers and type of reinforcers explained a large proportion of variation in treatment outcome.