The small number of studies included in the present study limited the ability to make inferences when comparing the three models and investigating the strengths and weaknesses of each type of intervention with respect to important outcomes .
Since the outcome of ' reciprocity of social interaction towards others ' could be a dependent variable that might be context -bound to interactions with the child 's parent , we can not conclude the interventions for pre-school children with ASD have significant effects on a generalized skill to engage in reciprocal interactions with others .
However , the outcomes of ' reciprocity of social interaction towards others ' and ' parental synchrony ' may be promising targets for interventions involving pre-school children with ASD .
BACKGROUND There has an increasing number of published trials on psychosocial intervention programmes for pre-school children with autism spectrum disorder ( ASD ) .
To achieve better quality of unbiased evidence for the effectiveness of ASD interventions , it is necessary to conduct a comprehensive review that covers studies with adequate quality st and ards , such as r and omised controlled trials ( RCTs ) , and different types of intervention In this study , we categorize interventions for ASD as behavioural , social-communication focused , and multimodal developmental based on Howlin 's classification of early interventions for children with ASD .
The aim of this study was to compare these three models and investigate the strengths and weaknesses of each type of intervention and to identify the approaches that contribute to a successful outcome for children with autism .
Randomized Controlled Caregiver Mediated Joint Engagement Intervention for Toddlers with Autism
This study aim ed to determine if a joint attention intervention would result in greater joint engagement between caregivers and toddlers with autism . The intervention consisted of  24 caregiver-mediated sessions  with follow-up 1 year later . Compared to caregivers and toddlers r and omized to the waitlist control group the immediate treatment ( IT ) group made significant improvements in targeted areas of joint engagement . The IT group demonstrated significant improvements with medium to large effect sizes in their responsiveness to joint attention and their diversity of functional play acts after the intervention with maintenance of these skills 1 year post-intervention . These are among the first r and omized controlled data to suggest that short-term parent-mediated  interventions can have important effects on core impairments in toddlers with autism . Clinical Trials # : NCT00065910
The small number of studies included in the present study limited the ability to make inferences when comparing the three models and investigating the strengths and weaknesses of each type of intervention with respect to important outcomes .
Since the outcome of ' reciprocity of social interaction towards others ' could be a dependent variable that might be context -bound to interactions with the child 's parent , we can not conclude the interventions for pre-school children with ASD have significant effects on a generalized skill to engage in reciprocal interactions with others .
However , the outcomes of ' reciprocity of social interaction towards others ' and ' parental synchrony ' may be promising targets for interventions involving pre-school children with ASD .
BACKGROUND There has an increasing number of published trials on psychosocial intervention programmes for pre-school children with autism spectrum disorder ( ASD ) .
To achieve better quality of unbiased evidence for the effectiveness of ASD interventions , it is necessary to conduct a comprehensive review that covers studies with adequate quality st and ards , such as r and omised controlled trials ( RCTs ) , and different types of intervention In this study , we categorize interventions for ASD as behavioural , social-communication focused , and multimodal developmental based on Howlin 's classification of early interventions for children with ASD .
The aim of this study was to compare these three models and investigate the strengths and weaknesses of each type of intervention and to identify the approaches that contribute to a successful outcome for children with autism .