Council of Autism Service Providers Releases New Practice Guidelines for Treating Autism

Lexington, SC—The Council of Autism Service Providers (CASP) has released Version 3.0 of its Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) Practice Guidelines for the Treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorder. The guidelines help ABA practitioners, government and private healthcare funders, regulatory bodies, and consumers make the best possible decisions regarding medically necessary ABA treatment to improve autistic people’s lives.

“We’re so excited to release version 3.0 of our practice guidelines, which are the gold standard for our industry,” said Lorri Unumb, chief executive officer of CASP. “ABA is a highly effective treatment for autism. But it has to be correctly implemented at the highest quality. These guidelines are key to achieving that.”

The practice guidelines are based on the best available scientific evidence and reflect consensus standards for effectively treating people with autism using ABA. They cover a wide variety of subjects, such as training and certification; staffing and delivery models; treatment implementation; outcome measures; and state and federal policies.

The guidelines were produced by CASP in consultation with a steering committee chaired by Dr. Jane Howard, co-founder of Therapeutic Pathways.

“I’m very proud of my esteemed colleagues’ hard work crafting this document,” said Dr. Howard. “We collected input from over 60 behavior analysts, extensively reviewed the latest research since version 2.0, and carefully deliberated on every word. Because people with autism and their families—as well as the professionals the guidelines are written for—deserve that level of rigor.”

Click here to read the practice guidelines.

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Founded in 2016, the Council of Autism Service Providers (CASP) is a non-profit trade association of over 350 autism service provider organizations from all 50 states and multiple countries. It supports members by cultivating, sharing, and advocating for best practices in autism services. From developing clinical practice guidelines for ABA to educating legislators about good policy, CASP works every day to ensure autistic people receive quality care.

Learn more at CASProviders.org.