Ethical Issues in Early Intervention

Abstract

Professionals who provide early intervention services for children with autism (and related conditions) are expected to adhere to the code of ethics promulgated by their discipline. These codes set forth the principles of conduct governing an individual or a group. For example, ethical professional practices for Board Certified Behavior Analysts are outlined in the Behavior Analyst Certification Board Guidelines for Responsible Conduct (BACB Guidelines 2010). These guidelines, like those of other organizations that provide clinical services, such as the American Psychological Association (Ethical principles of psychologists and code of conduct, 2010) and the American Medical Association (AMA’s code of medical ethics, 2012), provide general information about the kinds of actions by professionals and interactions between professionals and clients that are appropriate and, at least as importantly, those that are inappropriate. The former are “ethical,” the latter “unethical,” and some behavior analysts (e.g., Bailey and Burch, Ethics for behavior analysts, 2011) base their consideration of ethical issues entirely on the code of ethics of their profession, specifically the BACB Guidelines. Such an approach is certainly practical and the book by Bailey and Burch is an excellent introduction to ethical issues likely to pertain to early interventions for children with autism. We believe, however, that focusing only on the BACB Guidelines, or the codes of conducts of other organizations, fails to address adequately some important ethical issues. Therefore, we cast a wider net in the present chapter.