Higher education, behaviour analysis, and autism: time for coalescence

Abstract

This special issue represents the cumulation of discussions at the 2 International Summit on Higher Education, Autism, and Behavior Analysis that was held in Stockholm, Sweden, January 2018. This summit followed the 1 International Summit that was held in Texas, USA, September 2009. At that time, the rapidly rising prevalence rates of autism worldwide and the urgency of consumer protection meant that the summit focused on developing suitable Higher Education programs for behaviour analysts. The proceedings of the 1 Summit were published in a special issue of the European Journal of Behavior Analysis (Ala’i-Rosales et al., 2010). Since then, the discipline has grown exponentially. We now have 306 Higher Education institutes that deliver verified course sequences (VCS) in Behaviour Analysis worldwide. However, most of these courses are located in the USA (n = 217), with only 34 of these courses located in Europe, and the quality of community-based support for families affected by autism remains a major concern (Keenan & Dillenburger, 2018; RollPettersson et al., 2016). The purpose of the 2 Summit was to discuss future directions, requirements, opportunities, and challenges for Higher Education in the field of Behaviour Analysis, specifically with regards to autism intervention.