Therapies for Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders

Table 14. Overview of educational studies a
Characteristic RCTs
nRCTs
Prospective
cohort studies
53
Retrospective
cohort studies
Prospective
case series
Retrospective
case series
Total
Literature
(n=3) (n=1) (n=5) (n=1) (n=3) (n=2) (n=15)
Intervention
TEACCH 0 0 2 0 2 0 4
Broad-based approaches 1 1 3 1 1 1 8
Computer-based approaches
Diagnostic approach
2 0 0 0 0 1 3
Clinical DSM-IV dx +ADI-R
and/or ADOS
1 0 1 0 0 0 2
Combination approaches b 0 0 1 0 3 0 4
No DSM-IV or ADOS dx/
unspecified
Treatment duration
2 1 3 1 0 2 9
≤1 month 1 0 0 0 0 0 1
>1 to ≤3 months 0 0 0 0 1 0 1
>3 to ≤6 months 0 0 0 0 0 1 1
>6 to ≤12 months
2 1 3 1 2 1 10
>12 months
Study population
0 0 2 0 0 0 2
U.S. 2 0 0 0 1 1 4
Europe 0 1 4 1 2 1 9
Asia 0 0 1 0 0 0 1
Other 1 0 0 0 0 0 1
Total N participants 100 17 209 33 40 44 443
ADI-R=Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised; ADOS=Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule; DSM-IV=Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4 th edition; dx=diagnosis; nRCT=non randomized controlled trial; RCT=randomized
controlled trial; TEACCH= Treatment and Education of Autistic and Communication related handicapped CHildren
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.
TEACCH
Originally founded in the 1970s at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, TEACCH
involves primarily “structured teaching.” Structured teaching refers to applying “structure” to the
organization of time, space, and sequences of events within the educational environment to
promote learning by making activities clearer and easier to perform. Instruction is based on the
idea that individuals on the autism spectrum have specific neuropsychological profiles described
by strengths regarding processing visual information (compared with language
use/understanding), heighted attention to details, significant variability regarding attention,