Evidence-b(i)ased practice: Selective and inadequate reporting in early childhood autism intervention research.

The first analysis used only trials registered on clinicaltrials.gov, so it may not represent autism intervention trials outside the United States. Selective reporting was coded only for 56 of 252 studies that had locatable registrations, and many registrations were retrospective or incomplete, so the selective reporting estimates may not represent all published studies. The inadequate reporting count does not include all papers that reported results in a way that prevented effect size derivation, because some supplied the needed data in supplementary materials. The study examined reporting practices, not clinical outcomes, so it cannot tell whether any intervention helps or harms children. The search and prior meta-analysis data set were limited to studies published before November 2021.

The authors received no financial support. Several declared ties to autism intervention practice, training, or funding: M.S. has fees for talks and expert evidence and previously taught in a Behavior Analyst Certification Board accredited program; K.B.-B. has consulted for school districts, has speaker fees, and receives royalties for an early intervention book; J.I.F. has been paid for adaptive horseback riding, has NIH grant funding, and teaches in a department that provides early communication therapies; Nicolette Caldwell is a Board-Certified Behavior Analyst at the Doctoral level, president-elect of the Arkansas Association for Behavior Analysis, teaches in a BACB accredited program, and provided quality assurance or consultation for Arkansas Medicaid behavioral services; T.W. has been paid to provide autism interventions, has NIH and other grant funding, and works in a department of hearing and speech sciences that provides and trains autism intervention services.

Do not conclude that early autism interventions do not work. This paper did not measure child outcomes; it measured missing, incomplete, and inconsistent reporting in autism intervention trials.