Early Intervention for Autism: Evidence Base and Future Directions

This talk will review findings from a recent overview of reviews on early intervention for very young children with or at high likelihood for autism spectrum disorder. The review aimed to identify which interventions are supported by evidence and the quality of that evidence. While several interventional approaches (naturalistic developmental behavioral intervention, and developmental and behavioral interventions) improved child outcomes, heterogeneity in study design, intervention and control group, dose, delivery agent, and measurement approach were noted. In terms of intervention impact, the greatest impact was on proximal, intervention-specific outcomes. Inconsistent methodological quality and potential biases were identified. Future directions in early autism intervention research will be discussed.