A meta-analytic review of the effectiveness of behavioural early intervention programs for children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders

The effectiveness of behavioural intervention programs for children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders was addressed by a meta-analysis, which reviewed 14 studies. The findings suggest that the behavioural programs are effective in improving several developmental aspects in the children, in terms of their treatment gains, and also relative to eclectic-control programs in the same studies. Factors that were found to be correlated with the effectiveness of the behavioural programs were the intensity and the duration of the programs, the parental training, as well as the age and the adaptive behaviour abilities of the children at intake. The review showed that the high intensity of the programs is correlated with better gains in some developmental domains. Moreover, the high adaptive behaviour abilities and the young age of the children are also related with better progress the children have in some specific domains.