An increasing number of interventions have some empirical support ; others are emerging as potentially efficacious .
This evidence base up date examines the level of empirical support for interventions for children with autism spectrum disorder ( ASD ) younger than 5 years old .
Preschool-based social communication treatment for children with autism: 12-month follow-up of a randomized trial.
OBJECTIVE This study reports 12-month follow-up data from a r and omized controlled trial of preschool-based social communication treatment for young children with autism . METHOD A total of 61 children ( 48 males ) with autism , 29 to 60 months of age , had earlier been r and omized either to 8 weeks of preschool-based social communication treatment in addition to st and ard preschool program ( n = 34 ) or to st and ard preschool program only ( n = 27 ) . Significant short-term effects on targeted social communication skills have previously been published . Long-term gains in social communication , language and global social functioning and communication were assessed from video-taped preschool teacher-child and mother-child interactions , Early Social Communication Scales , Reynell Developmental Language Scale , and Social Communication Question naire . RESULTS Compared with those in the control group , the treated children achieved significantly larger improvements in joint attention and joint engagement from baseline to 12-month follow-up . However , no effects were detected on language and global ratings of social functioning and communication . The treatment effect on child initiation of joint attention increased with increasing level of sociability at baseline , whereas nonverbal IQ and expressive language had no moderating effect . CONCLUSIONS This study is the first to show that , similar to specialist-delivered treatment , preschool-based treatment may produce small but possibly clinical ly important long-term changes in social communication in young children with autism . The treatment did not affect language and global ratings of social functioning and communication . More studies are needed to better underst and whether treatment effects may be improved by increasing the intensity and duration of the treatment . Clinical trial registration information -- Joint Attention Intervention and Young Children With Autism ; http:// clinical trials.gov/ ; NCT00378157
An increasing number of interventions have some empirical support ; others are emerging as potentially efficacious .
This evidence base up date examines the level of empirical support for interventions for children with autism spectrum disorder ( ASD ) younger than 5 years old .