Efficacy of Very Early Interventions on Neurodevelopmental Outcomes for Infants and Toddlers at Increased Likelihood of or Diagnosed With Autism: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Autism Research
McGlade, A., Whittingham, K., et al. (2023).
Autism Research, 16(6), 1145-1160.
This systematic review and meta-analysis investigates the effects of early intervention for toddlers on the autism spectrum and those at an increased likelihood of receiving an autism diagnosis based on presence of a first degree relative on the autism spectrum or showing early signs of autism on a validated screening tool.
University of Queensland Graduate School (Australia); Children’s Hospital Foundation (Australia); Australian National Health and Medical Research Council Research Fellowship
From database inception to April 14, 2022
Randomized-controlled trials
19
Interventions included naturalistic developmental behavioral interventions, developmental interventions, and attachment-based interventions; most were parent-mediated and low-intensity. Meta-analysis showed there was moderate certainty evidence that very early interventions (beginning between 9 and 24 months of life and delivered in the short-to-medium term of 3 months to 2 years) do not lead to improvements in "autism symptomatology" (6 trials), cognitive outcomes (8 trials), or expressive language outcomes (9 trials) by 3 years of age. There was low certainty evidence that very early support programs do not improve receptive language (9 trials). Five studies showed support programs were not associated with differences in autism diagnostic outcomes.
