Interventions Targeting Expressive Communication in Adults With Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Systematic Review
Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research
Wilson, K. P., Steinbrenner, J. R., et al. (2019).
Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 62(2), 1959-1978.
This meta-analysis investigates the effect of interventions to improve expressive communication in adults on the autism spectrum.
Not stated
Up to August 2018
Experimental study designs; quasi-experimental study designs
22
<p>Group design studies investigated one of the three following intervention categories:</p>
<ul>
<li>Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills (PEERS) for Young Adults;</li>
<li>executive function; or</li>
<li>other (i.e., ACCESS Program, virtual reality job interview, oxytocin hormone therapy)</li>
</ul>
<p>Results indicated a wide range of intervention effectiveness:</p>
<ul>
<li>PEERS for Young Adults demonstrated medium to large effects (<em>g</em>) on social communication (<em>g</em> = 0.47 to 0.86);</li>
<li>Executive function treatments ranged from small to large effects (<em>g</em> = 0.29 to 1.3); and</li>
<li>Effects for the interventions in the "other" category (i.e., ACCESS Program, virtual reality job interview, oxytocin hormone therapy) ranged from 0.49, 0.50, and 0.28, respectively.</li>
</ul>
<p>The single-subject studies investigated one of the four following intervention categories:</p>
<ul>
<li>traditional applied behavior analysis (ABA);</li>
<li>video modeling/feedback/self-management;</li>
<li>peer-mediated strategies; or</li>
<li>other (i.e., communication book training, writing strategy training)</li>
</ul>
<p>Although variable, results from the single-subject studies demonstrated overall positive results on social communication outcomes (e.g., commenting, asking questions, speech prosody) for adults on the autism spectrum. Most of the single-subject studies (13 out of 14 studies) reported medium to large effect sizes for interventions to improve expressive communication.</p>
