Therapies for Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders

Table
23. Overview of allied health studies a
nRCTs
RCTs
Characteristic
Intervention (n=7) (n=2) (n=0) (n=0) (n=8) (n=0) (n=17)
Language therapy 2 1 0 0 1 0 4
Sensory 1 0 0 0 1 0 2
Auditory/music therapy 3 0 0 0 0 0 3
Other
Diagnostic approach
1 1 0 0 6 0 8
Clinical DSM-IV dx +ADI-R and/or
ADOS
2 0 0 0 0 0 2
Combination approaches b 5 0 0 0 2 0 7
No DSM-IV or ADOS dx/
unspecified
Treatment duration
0 2 0 0 6 0 8
≤1 month 1 1 0 0 3 0 5
78
Prospective
cohort studies
Retrospective
cohort studies
Prospective
case series
Retrospective
case series
Total
Literature
>1 to ≤3 months 3 1 0 0 2 0 6
>3 to ≤6 months 2 0 0 0 1 0 3
>6 to ≤12 months 0 0 0 0 1 0 1
>12 months 1 0 0 0 0 0 1
Unknown/not reported
Study population
0 0 0 0 1 0 1
U.S. 3 1 0 0 2 0 6
Europe 3 1 0 0 3 0 7
Asia 1 0 0 0 3 0 4
Other 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total N participants 211 105 0 0 202 0 518
ADI-R=Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised; ADOS=Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule; DSM-IV=Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition; dx=diagnosis; nRCT=non randomized controlled trial; RCT=randomized
controlled trial
a
Numbers in the table indicate the number of unique studies with each characteristic.
b
Clinical DSM-IV dx +other diagnostic tool or ADOS + other diagnostic tool or only clinical DSM-IV dx or only ADOS.
Language Interventions
Two approaches to increasing speech and language were identified in the included studies:
the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) and Responsive Education and
Prelinguistic Milieu Teaching (RPMT). We have clustered these two approaches for the purposes
of the report, and because in the one study that compared different approaches, these were the
two comparative conditions.
Content of the literature. Our search identified eight publications focused on speech and
language interventions, 258-265 representing four distinct study populations. Two of the studies
were RCTs; one was described in four papers, 258-261 and one in a single study. 263 Three of the
four studies referred to a protocol, and one measured treatment fidelity. No two studies used
exactly the same outcome measure, making it difficult to summarize across studies. Each is