Educationally based programs are often the only form of intervention given to children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and are often the only form of support that their families receive (e.g., see Howlin & Moore, 1997; Osborne & Reed, in press, for surveys). Often these interventions are offered early in the child's development, and there is a perception that interventions offered early are more effective than those offered later (Lovaas, 1987). However, despite the ubiquity and perceived importance of educational approaches to the management of ASD, there are relatively few quantitative investigations of the comparative efficacy of such programs. A number of early-teaching interventions have been suggested as offering benefit to some children with ASD. Applied behavior analysis (ABA) approaches have been widely investigated (e.g., Eikeseth, Smith, Jahr, & Eldevik, 2002; Howard, Sparkman, Cohen, Green, & Stanislaw, 2005; Lovaas, 1987; Smith, Annette, & Wynn, 2000). In addition, special nursery placements (see Charman, Howlin, Berry, & Prince, 2004; Gabriels, Hill, Pierce, Rogers, & Wehner, 2001), floortime (Greenspan & Wieder, 1997), and portage (e.g., Smith, 2000) have been offered as approaches to managing the problems associated with ASD. Some of these latter approaches have the benefit of being reasonably cost effective, but they suffer from the problem of having a scant evidence base with respect to their effectiveness in promoting the child's intellectual, educational, and social functioning.
