Efficacy of Psychosocial Interventions for Autism Spectrum Disorder: An Umbrella Review
Molecular Psychiatry
Gosling, C. J., Cartigny, A., et al. (2022).
Molecular Psychiatry, 33(3), Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-022-01670-z.
This meta-analysis compares the effectiveness of different interventions and investigates how individual characteristics (e.g., cognitive development, gender, age, setting of intervention, intervention provider) influence intervention effectiveness on behaviors (e.g., social skills, language abilities, stereotypy, disruptive/agressive) in individuals on the autism spectrum.
None declared
Not stated
Empirical study designs, excluding AB designs
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Interventions considered to be moderately effective (i.e., mean effect size between .7 and .9) included: response delay, computer-based interventions for language training, agent-mediated interventions, stimulus control, social story, punishment, modeling, positive reinforcement, and differential reinforcement.
"The five highly effective (mean effect size > .9) intervention strategies were priming, self-control, training, positive reinforcement for desirable behavior plus punishment for undesirable behavior, and presenting preferential activities or reinforcers. Dependent variables, of which the mean effect sizes were > .9, were social interactions, language abilities, and attention" (p. 357).
