Despite the increasing sophistication of research in autism, some authors refer to a research-to-practice gap in this field. There are large bodies of theoretical work in autism and of work on psychosocial interventions for autism. In this article, we investigate the extent to which researchers evaluate psychosocial interventions for autism from the perspective of the three dominant cognitive autism theories: theory of mind, executive (dys)functioning and central coherence. We believe that we have identified a theory-to-research-to-practice gap, and propose consideration of theory as a standard part of research practice in connection with autism interventions to bridge this gap and enhance the efficacy and effectiveness of interventions.