The number of children who would be eligible for, and benefit from, early intervention programs has dramatically increased during the past several years. However, those programs would have to meet the U.S. Department of Education’s criteria for being evidence based. Some programs that have proven successful would not be eligible but rather be considered data based by educational researchers. The purpose of this article is to review the major early intervention programs for children at risk for developing conduct problems and to determine which ones could be considered evidence based, research based, or neither. Issues related to determining whether a program is evidence based versus data based are presented, along with those addressing program efficacy and access for eligible children.
Keywords: early intervention, effects, IDEA, qualitative
