A repeated measures single subject design was used to examine the effectiveness of a joint play approach embedded in professional practice, in supporting pretend play for autistic children. Seven autistic children, aged 5-8 years, with a placement within a specialist educational provision, and who demonstrated restricted play, participated in…

Robust clinical evidence has not been available for melatonin, a drug commonly administered for treating sleep problems of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In a phase 3 randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial, we administered 1-mg melatonin (n = 65), 4-mg melatonin (n = 65), or placebo (n = 66) to 196 children with ASD once…

Studies have reported that physical exercise reduces maladaptive stereotyped motor behaviours (SMB) in children with ASD, but these intervention studies vary in design and outcome. The present systematic review and meta-analysis included 22 studies, involving 274 children with ASD, to quantify the effect of exercise on SMB and its potential…

Prodromal symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) have been detected within the first year of life. This review evaluated evidence from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of parent-mediated interventions for infants under 24 months who are at risk for ASD. Electronic databases, including grey literature, were searched up till November 2019.…

Play is often used in interventions to improve social outcomes for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Play is a primary occupation of childhood and, therefore, an important outcome of intervention. The Ultimate Guide to Play, Language and Friendship (PLF) is a peer-mediated intervention for 6-11-year-old children with ASD. A total of…

This systematic review investigated the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy for the parents of children with autism spectrum disorder. PsychInfo, CINAHL, PubMed, Science Direct, and Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection were searched using the terms "acceptance and commitment", "autism" and…

Parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience elevated stress, yet parent-specific interventions are sparse. Thirty-five parents of children with ASD were randomized to the novel 8-week AMOR (Acceptance, Mindfulness, Optimism, Resilience) Method parent group or waitlist control group. Significant gains in resilience were…

Adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) without an intellectual disability have daily living skills (DLS) impairments. An initial feasibility pilot of Surviving and Thriving in the Real World (STRW), a group intervention that targets DLS, demonstrated significant improvements. A pilot RCT of STRW was conducted to extend these findings.…

UCLA PEERS® for Adolescents is a widely applied program among a number of social skills training programs developed over the years. We synthesized current research evidence on the PEERS program to evaluate the treatment effect on four commonly used outcome measures. 12 studies met inclusion criteria for the review and nine met the criteria for…

Therapeutic riding (THR) and HeartMath (HM) mindfulness-based interventions have promise for reducing stress in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder. In three 10-week periods, this study compared THR, HM, and control on salivary cortisol, self-reported stress, parent-reported social responsiveness, and heart-rate variability. This crossover…

The aim of the present study was to examine the additive effect of elements of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) on the video game Mindlight in decreasing anxiety of children with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). A non-concurrent multiple baseline design with 8 children with ASD in the age of 8-12 was used. CBT did not have the hypothesized…

Video modeling was used to teach children with autism spectrum disorder how to respond to taped stranger lure scenarios and in-situ stranger lures. A multiple baseline design across participants was used to assess treatment effects. Measures consisted of reported verbal and motor responses to three abduction scenarios and actual responses to…

Sensory-Based Interventions (SBIs) are often recommended to enable function/participation in children with ASD. Still, there are limited studies to evaluate their effectiveness. Acceptability studies are an important step towards establishing effective interventions. We examined parents' perceptions of the uptake and acceptability of such…

The purpose of this multi-site randomised controlled trial was to evaluate the effectiveness of a Driving Training Program, an intervention designed for student drivers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Participants were 72 student drivers with ASD (ages 16-31) who were randomly assigned to an intervention or control group. Student drivers…

Sensory overresponsivity (SOR) emerges before anxiety and positively predicts subsequent increasing levels of anxiety in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Sensory seeking behavior occurs as compensation for SOR, and individuals may seek sensory input in one sensory domain to compensate for SOR. Tactile seeking behavior is sufficient…