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This paper presents an overview of 5 meta-analyses of early intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI) for young children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) published in 2009 and 2010. There were many differences between meta-analyses, leading to different estimates of effect and overall conclusions. The weighted mean effect sizes across meta-analyses for IQ and adaptive behavior ranged from g  = .38–1.19 and g  = .30–1.09, respectively. Four of five meta-analyses concluded EIBI was an effective intervention strategy for many children with ASDs. A discussion highlighting potential confounds and limitations of the meta-analyses leading to these discrepancies and conclusions about the efficacy of EIBI as an intervention for young children with ASDs are provided.

The development of effective treatments for use by non-specialists is listed among the top research priorities for improving the lives of people with mental illness worldwide. The purpose of this review is to appraise which interventions for children with intellectual disabilities or lower-functioning autism spectrum disorders delivered by non-specialist care providers in community settings produce benefits when compared to either a no-treatment control group or treatment-as-usual comparator. We systematically searched electronic databases through 24 June 2013 to locate prospective controlled studies of psychosocial interventions delivered by non-specialist providers to children with intellectual disabilities or lower-functioning autism spectrum disorders. We screened 234 full papers, of which 34 articles describing 29 studies involving 1,305 participants were included. A majority of the studies included children exclusively with a diagnosis of lower-functioning autism spectrum disorders (15 of 29, 52%). Fifteen of twenty-nine studies (52%) were randomized controlled trials and just under half of all effect sizes (29 of 59, 49%) were greater than 0.50, of which 18 (62%) were statistically significant. For behavior analytic interventions, the best outcomes were shown for development and daily skills; cognitive rehabilitation, training, and support interventions were found to be most effective for improving developmental outcomes, and parent training interventions to be most effective for improving developmental, behavioral, and family outcomes. We also conducted additional subgroup analyses using harvest plots. Limitations include the studies' potential for performance bias and that few were conducted in lower- and middle-income countries. The findings of this review support the delivery of psychosocial interventions by non-specialist providers to children who have intellectual disabilities or lower-functioning autism spectrum disorders. Given the scarcity of specialists in many low-resource settings, including many lower- and middle-income countries, these findings may provide guidance for scale-up efforts for improving outcomes for children with developmental disorders or lower-functioning autism spectrum disorders. PROSPERO CRD42012002641

This handbook discusses early childhood special education (ECSE), with particular focus on evidence-based practices.Coverage spans core intervention areas in ECSE, such as literacy, motor skills, and social development as well as diverse contexts for services, including speech-language pathology, physical therapy, and pediatrics.

A 3-part comprehensive synthesis of the early intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI) for young children with autism based on the University of California at Los Angeles Young Autism Project method (Lovaas in Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 55, 3–9, 1987) is presented. The three components of the synthesis were: (a) descriptive analyses, (b) effect size analyses, and (c) a meta-analysis. The findings suggest EIBI is an effective treatment, on average, for children with autism. The conditions under which this finding applies and the limitations and cautions that must be taken when interpreting the results are discussed within the contextual findings of the moderator analyses conducted in the meta-analysis.

The increase in the number of higher-functioning individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) is likely to lead to an increased interest in postsecondary opportunities including degree-granting college and university programs. To provide an understanding of the current evidence-base for supporting individuals with ASD in higher education, this article reports the results of a systematic review of the literature concerning college students with ASD. Overall, 20 articles describing 69 individuals met the inclusion criteria. This small number of articles and participants indicates the scarcity of research on this topic and only two of these studies were experimental in nature. These studies described a video-self modeling intervention and a counseling intervention respectively. Eighteen “case studies” were also present in the literature that described difficulties ranging from anxiety to housing concerns. This review deliniates the limitation of our understanding of effective college programming for individuals with ASD.

This paper presents a best evidence synthesis of interventions to increase social behavior for individuals with autism. Sixty-six studies published in peer-reviewed journals between 2001 and July 2008 with 513 participants were included. The results are presented by the age of the individual receiving intervention and by delivery agent of intervention. The findings suggest there is much empirical evidence supporting many different treatments for the social deficits of individuals with autism. Using the criteria of evidence-based practice proposed by Reichow et al. (Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 38:1311–1318, 2008 ), social skills groups and video modeling have accumulated the evidence necessary for the classifications of established EBP and promising EBP, respectively. Recommendations for practice and areas of future research are provided.

Introduction Developmental disorders, including intellectual disability and autism spectrum disorders, may limit an individual's capacity to conduct daily activities. The emotional and economic burden on families caring for an individual with a developmental disorder is substantial, and quality of life may be limited by a lack of services. Therefore, finding effective treatments to help this population should be a priority. Recent work has shown parent skills training interventions improve developmental, behavioural and family outcomes. The purpose of this review protocol is to extend previous findings by systematically analysing randomised controlled trials of parent skills training programmes for parents of children with developmental disorders including intellectual disabilities and autism spectrum disorders and use meta-analytic techniques to identify programme components reliably associated with successful outcomes of parent skills training programmes. Methods and analysis We will include all studies conducted using randomised control trials designs that compare a group of parents receiving a parent skills training programme to a group of parents in a no-treatment control, waitlist control or treatment as usual comparison group. To locate studies, we will conduct an extensive electronic database search and then use snowball methods, with no limits to publication year or language. We will present a narrative synthesis including visual displays of study effects on child and parental outcomes and conduct a quantitative synthesis of the effects of parent skills training programmes using meta-analytic techniques. Ethics and dissemination No ethical issues are foreseen and ethical approval is not required given this is a protocol for a systematic review. The findings of this study will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications and international conference presentations. Updates of the review will be conducted, as necessary, to inform and guide practice. Trial registration number PROSPERO (CRD42014006993).

We examined the effectiveness and efficiency of 2 instructional arrangements using progressive prompt delay (PPD) with 3 young children with autism and 1 child with developmental delays. Specifically, we compared PPD with instructive feedback (IF) to PPD without IF in an adapted alternating treatment design. The results suggested that (a) children with autism and developmental delays can learn when PPD is used with IF, (b) IF can be an effective method of instruction for young children with autism and developmental delays, and (c) the combination of PPD and IF can increase the efficiency of instruction. Data collected 8 to 9 weeks after instruction ended showed that participants maintained mastery of 58% to 92% of the acquired behaviors. We discuss these results within the constraints and limitations of the data and recommend areas for future research.

Publication bias involves the disproportionate representation of studies with large and significant effects in the published research. Among other problems, publication bias results in inflated omnibus effect sizes in meta-analyses, giving the impression that interventions have stronger effects than they actually do. Although evidence suggests that publication bias exists in other fields, research has not examined the issue in special education. In this study, we examined the inclusion of gray literature, testing for publication bias, the extent to which publication bias exists, the relation of including gray literature to the presence of publication bias, and differences in effect size magnitude for gray literature and published studies among 109 meta-analyses published in special education journals. We found the following: (a) 42% of meta-analyses included gray literature, (b) 33% examined publication bias, (c) meta-analyses not including gray literature were more likely to reflect publication bias, and (d) published studies had larger effect sizes than gray literature. We discuss implications and recommendations for research and practice.