The findings did not support the widely reported generalisation ' difficulties ' associated with autism .
Research ers have generally considered autistic individuals to have difficulties generalising learned skills across novel context s. Successful generalisation is necessary for an intervention to have benefits in everyday life beyond the original learning environment .
We conducted a systematic review of r and omised controlled trials of early social communication interventions for children with autism in order to explore generalisation and its measurement .
Tutorial: The Practical Application of Longitudinal Structural Equation Mediation Models in Clinical Trials
Abstract The study of mediation of treatment effects , or how treatments work , is important to underst and ing and improving psychological and behavioral treatments , but applications often focus on mediators and outcomes measured at a single time point . Such cross-sectional analyses do not respect the implied temporal ordering that mediation suggests . Clinical trials of treatments often provide repeated measures of outcomes and , increasingly , of mediators as well . Repeated measurements allow the application of various types of longitudinal structural equation mediation models . These provide flexibility in modeling , including the ability to incorporate some types of measurement error and unmeasured confounding that can strengthen the robustness of findings . The usual approach is to identify the most theoretically plausible model and apply that model . In the absence of clear theory , we put forward the option of fitting a few theoretically plausible models , providing a type of sensitivity analysis for the mediation hypothesis . In this tutorial , we outline how to fit several longitudinal mediation models , including  simplex , latent growth  and  latent change models  . This will allow readers to learn about one type of model that is of interest , or about several alternative models , so that they can take this sensitivity approach . We use the Pacing , Grade d Activity , and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy :  A R and omized Evaluation ( PACE ) trial of rehabilitative treatments for chronic fatigue syndrome ( IS RCT N 54285094 ) as a motivating example and describe how to fit and interpret various longitudinal mediation models using simulated data similar to those in the PACE trial . The simulated data set and Mplus code and output are provided
The findings did not support the widely reported generalisation ' difficulties ' associated with autism .
Research ers have generally considered autistic individuals to have difficulties generalising learned skills across novel context s. Successful generalisation is necessary for an intervention to have benefits in everyday life beyond the original learning environment .
We conducted a systematic review of r and omised controlled trials of early social communication interventions for children with autism in order to explore generalisation and its measurement .