Parent-Child Interaction Therapy for Children with Disruptive Behaviors and Autism: A Randomized Clinical Trial.
Korrie Allen, John Harrington, Lauren B Quetsch and 3 others
PMID 35076832WHAT IT FOUND
Children with autism and disruptive behavior showed large reductions in aggression and major gains in parent-child interaction after Parent-Child Interaction Therapy.
These benefits occurred regardless of autism severity, medication use, age, or language level, and the therapy reduced parental stress.
Key findings
01The treatment group showed significantly greater reductions in child disruptive behavior and significantly greater improvements in parent-child interaction skills compared to the control group.
02Treatment response was not significantly affected by the child's autism severity, medication status, receptive language level, or age.
03Parents in the treatment group reported significant decreases in parenting stress, but no significant changes in depression or perceived control over their child's behavior.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The control group received no active treatment, so the results cannot distinguish the specific effects of PCIT from the natural course of behavior or the non-specific effects of receiving attention. The study excluded children with intellectual disabilities, so findings may not apply to that population. Follow-up data beyond the post-treatment assessment (three months) was collected but not reported in this paper, so long-term maintenance of gains is unknown. The sample size was relatively small (44 completers), which may limit the power to detect subtle differences in secondary outcomes or subgroups.
Declared interests
The study was funded by the Commonwealth Health Research Board. The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume PCIT works for all children with autism. The study explicitly required a receptive language age equivalent of at least 2 years and excluded children with intellectual disabilities. Children who cannot follow basic commands or who have co-occurring intellectual disability were not tested and may not benefit from this standard protocol.