Meta-Analysis of Parent-Mediated Interventions for Young Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder
Autism
Nevill, R. E., Lecavalier, L., et al. (2018).
Autism, 22(2), 84-98.
This meta-analysis investigates the effect of parent-mediated interventions on symtom severity, socialization, communication, and cognition in young children on the autism spectrum.
No funding received
Between 2000 and December 2015
Randomized controlled trials
19
"Intervention effects on all outcome variables were significantly different from zero" (p.9) . However, weighted treatment effects for parent-mediated interventions in young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) were considered trivial to small for all outcomes including:
<ul>
<li>ASD symptom severity (<em>g</em> = 0.22);</li>
<li>communication-language (<em>g</em> = 0.18);</li>
<li>socialization (<em>g</em> = 0.23); and</li>
<li>cognitive functioning (<em>g</em> = 0.24).</li>
</ul>
Results indicated no significant differences between parent training intensity. Results demonstrated small treatment effects (<em>g</em>) in socialization and communication-language outcomes (<em>g</em> = 0.25) for parent training less than 20 hours. Small effects for parent training of more than 20 hours were reported for socialization (<em>g</em> = 0.22) and cognition (<em>g</em> = 0.24) outcomes. Insignificant effects for parent training of more than 20 hours were reported for ASD severity symptoms and communication outcomes (<em>g</em> = 0.14).
