Implementation of early intensive behavioural intervention for children with autism in Switzerland
Real-clinic EIBI helps kids, yet gains fall short of the big recovery numbers from lab studies.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Studer and colleagues tracked kids with autism who got early intensive behavioral intervention at a Swiss outpatient clinic.
They used a case-series design. This means they watched the same group of children over time.
The team wanted to know if EIBI still helps when it is run like a normal clinic, not like a tightly controlled lab study.
What they found
The children made clear developmental gains, but the gains were smaller than the big numbers you see in lab trials.
In plain words: therapy worked, yet real-world results lag behind the textbook numbers we often quote to families.
How this fits with other research
Shea (2004) warned that the famous 47 percent "recovery" figure from early Lovaas studies is shaky. Studer et al. (2017) now show, in a real clinic, outcomes are indeed more modest.
Allen et al. (2001) surveyed US community programs and also found high parent satisfaction but zero cases of full recovery. The Swiss clinic data echo this pattern, giving the message across two continents.
Vivanti et al. (2014) tested the Early Start Denver Model in 1:3 community childcare and saw faster developmental gains than standard care. Their positive results extend the idea that structured early ABA can work in group, real-life settings, though ESDM is not the same as EIBI.
Why it matters
You can tell families that EIBI delivered in a regular clinic still helps, but you should soften the old "nearly half recover" claim. Plan for longer treatment and keep measuring progress. Use the Swiss data to justify extra support hours and to set realistic goals in your next team meeting.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
There is a major gap between the US and most European countries regarding the implementation of early intensive behavioural intervention (EIBI) for children with autism. The present paper reports on the current status of EIBI in Switzerland and on the effectiveness of EIBI under clinical conditions in a Swiss pilot project. The paper combines a narrative report of the care system for children with autism in Switzerland and an initial evaluation of EIBI as implemented in the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Zurich. The current situation of the implementation of EIBI for children with autism in Switzerland is characterized by marked deficits in its acceptance. Major reasons include insufficient governmental approval and lacking legal and financial support. In addition, ignorance among health care providers and educational professionals has contributed to this situation precluding that children with autism receive the most beneficial assistance. The authors have initiated and been working in an intervention centre offering EIBI for a decade and report on their experience with the implementation of EIBI. Based on their clinical practice, they document that EIBI also works efficiently under ordinary mental health service conditions. EIBI needs to be implemented more intensively in Switzerland. Although the effects of EIBI as implemented in Zurich are promising, the results are not as pronounced as under controlled research conditions.
BMC Psychiatry, 2017 · doi:10.1186/s12888-017-1195-4