Enriched supervision to increase quality of early intensive behavioral intervention in autism: A pragmatic randomized controlled pilot study

The aim of the study is to explore the quality of EIBI (early, intensive behavioural intervention for children for young children with autism spectrum disorders). More specifically, whether enriched EIBI supervision (meaning regular supervision supplemented with additional training and detailed feedback on video recordings of actual treatment) will increase EIBI quality - compared to ordinary EIBI supervision only. The researchers hypothesised that kindergarten staff receiving enriched supervision would show improvements in quality factors assessed by YMQI (York Measure of Quality) compared to kindergarten staff who only received regular supervision. 

Kindergarten staff who received enriched supervision improved EIBI quality in general, as well as quality in more specific categories such as purposefulness, organisation and effectiveness measured in relation to EIBI. The findings support the importance of adequate education and supervision for EIBI providers to ensure the quality of the intervention.

Participating kindergarten staff were divided into two groups, one group receiving enriched supervision including video feedback and additional education, while the other group received regular supervision. A total of 30 kindergarten employees participated (28 women and two men) from different professional groups (17 skilled workers, eight kindergarten teachers and five assistants). The quality of the EIBI was assessed using the York Measure of Quality of Intensive Behavioural Intervention (YMQI) over a period of four to six months. The data collection included video recordings of EIBI sessions that were analysed by trained encoders.

Långh, U., Cauvet, É., Perry, A., Eikeseth, S., & Bölte, S. (2022). Enriched supervision to increase quality of early intensive behavioral intervention in autism: A pragmatic randomized controlled pilot study. European Journal of Behavior Analysis, 23(1), 62–77.