You might try the book Educating Children with Autism, by the National Research Council. It was a review of peer reviewed research. It is getting slightly old (2000 copyright), but the NRC is usually considered non-partisan. I thought that there was a chapter on behavior analysis with lots of references. Amazon.com carries the book, among other folks
Alison - have you asked the ABA provider to help you out with that? They may have dealt with this before. Anthony's psychologist told us from the beginning that she'd write any letter necessary to try to get it covered through insurance.
The following site about fighting insurance is ideal if you live in California, but it also includes a section of helpful links, including links to a yahoo group about autism and insurance, and links for people living in a few other states.
"Criteria for Appropriate Treatments," a letter by Dr. Lovaas that "is intended to address the question of what constitutes an appropriate therapeutic intervention for a child diagnosed with autism." The document is dated 4/6/95 and is available from the UCLA Department of Psychology, Box 951563, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1563." It is also available online at:
http://www.tacanow.com/pdf/Dr_Lovaas_Criteria_July2005.pdf
Good luck with everything!
thanks everyone for all the suggestions!
I'll let you know if it works
We applied to have our helath insurance cover ABA services. The response is that we need to submit peer-reviewed medical literature with methodologically and statistically sound, scientific studies supporting the effectiveness of Applied Behavior Analysis therapy for the diagnosis of autism.
Can anyone help me find this info please?
Thanks in advance
And from the Autism Speaks website there's the following:
"For more information about research supporting ABA as a treatment for autism, see:
www.behavior.org/autism [The Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies Autism Page]
www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/mentalhealth/chapter3/sec6.ht ml#autism [U.S. Surgeon General's Report on Mental Health]
www.health.state.ny.us/nysdoh/eip/menu.htm [Clinical Practice Guideline, New York State Department of Health Early Intervention Program]
http://seab.envmed.rochester.edu/jaba/index.html [Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis"
Hopefully these can be of some assistance in locating materials.
One other resource might be to download a copy of the recent bill signed into law in Texas by Governer Perry which requires insurance companies operating in Texas to pay for intervention services and therapies including ABA for children with autism up to the age of (I believe) 6. Several other states have similar provisions, which can also be reinforcement for your argument.
Good luck!