Early Intensive Behavioral Intervention (EIBI) for Young Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD)
Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
Reichow, B., Hume, K., et al. (2018).
Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 5, CD009260.
This article is updated from Reichow, et al. (2012). This meta-analysis investigates the effects of early intensive behavioral interventions on the cognitive and communication skills of children under the age of six on the autism spectrum.
The Cochrane Collaboration; University of Florida
The results of this systematic review are available elsewhere in the Evidence Maps. See the Associated Article(s) section below for more information.
Up to August 2017
Randomized control trials; quasi-randomized control trials; controlled clinical trials
5
"We synthesized the results across all five studies using a random-effects meta-analysis of the MD [mean difference] effect size. The MD effect size for difference in social competence between treatment and comparison groups was 6.56 … favoring [early intensive behavioral intervention] over [treatment as usual]" (p. 19). Results are limited due to the low quality of the evidence as indicated by the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation approach.
The authors conducted a meta-analysis of all included studies (<em>n</em> = 5) to determine the mean difference effect size of early intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI) on daily communication skills of young children on the autism spectrum. Results demonstrated a mean difference effect size of 11.22, which favors the EIBI treatment group over the treatment-as-usual group.
"Based on the findings of this review, there is weak evidence that early intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI) is an effective treatment for children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The evidence suggests gains in the areas of adaptive behavior, IQ, communication, socialization, and daily living skills, with the largest gains made in IQ and the smallest in socialization" (p. 21).
The authors used four of the five studies to conduct a meta-analysis of the standardized mean difference (SMD) effect size for expressive and receptive language skills. Results demonstrated expressive language to have an SMD of 0.51 and receptive language to have an SMD of 0.55, both effect sizes indicated the early intensive behavioral intervention group to be significantly different than the treatment-as-usual group. Results are limited due to the low quality of the evidence as indicated by the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation approach.
