Beyond intervention into daily life: A systematic review of generalisation following social communication interventions for young children with autism.

The small number of included trials meant the review could not examine whether generalisation differs by age, autism severity or cognitive profile. Many potential trials were excluded because they did not measure initial learning of the targeted skill in the intervention context. Generalisation was often assessed in semi-structured or structured tasks with researchers, which may not reflect everyday demands. The review assessed generalisation at the group level, so it may miss how individual children generalise their own specific targets. Some studies did not report the location of initial learning assessments, or assessed them in a setting different from where therapy occurred.

The authors declared no conflicts of interest. Funding came from the Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation Programme and the Medical Research Council.

Do not read this as proof that autism social communication interventions reliably carry into daily life. Generalisation was inconsistent, and many measures were structured researcher tasks that may not reflect everyday settings.