62 Considerations of Evidence-base for Treatments for ASD

The literature on treatments  interventions for ASD has grown considerably. Many options for  intervention exist, but few guidelines for selection. Intervention should be individualized according to specific strengths and deficits. No one intervention is appropriate to all. The best interventions often include blending of strategies (Rogers, 1998)

It is important to distinguish between treatments or interventions with empirical support and those without (Iovannone, Dunlap, Huber, & Kincaid, 2003). Some treatments or interventions have been studied more carefully than others. Treatments or interventions that have been scientifically and systematically studied are called empirically- or evidence-based. Even some of the more commonly used interventions are not empirically-based. Other treatments that are not empirically-based may have been studied and found to be ineffective. Others have not been sufficiently studied to make any determination. Those that have not yet been studied may someday be found effective and considered empirically-based. It is important when making decisions about an intervention to consider the level of evidence associated and likelihood of intended outcomes with its use.

We will provide a summary of a comprehensive evaluation culminating in the categorization according to levels of evidence base interventions for ASD discussed in the literature. This original project conducted by the National Autism Center (NAC) was reported in 2009 after years of study and collaboration amongst participating experts.

Since this time, the study has been was last updated in 2015 and is in early stages of being updated again. Other similar projects such as the Evidenced-Based Practices for Children, Youth, Young Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder (EPB) by the National Professional Development Center at Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina, Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute, Autism Evidence-Based Practice Review Group (Wang et al., 2014) and was recently updated (Steinbrenner et al., 2020) have generally touted similar findings.

Following this summary are descriptions of some of the more well-known or commonly utilized interventions. The goal of this information is to provide a general idea about the interventions. It is NOT a complete list of all available interventions NOR is it a list of suggested interventions. Before making any decision about a treatment or intervention, it is important to speak with the providers involved in the individual’s care and to research further to determine which treatments are appropriate for the needs of both individual and family.

Overall, strategies based in applied behavior analysis (ABA) are considered gold standard and have the most documented empirical support to date  (Irwin et al., 2019; Matson et al., 1996; Movahedzadeh et al., 2017; Roane et al., 2016;).These will be described more in depth than other strategies in this section.