Understanding the Effects of Naturalistic Developmental Behavioral Interventions: A Project AIM Meta-analysis.
Jenna E Crank, Micheal Sandbank, Kacie Dunham and 4 others
PMID 33480474WHAT IT FOUND
Naturalistic developmental behavioral interventions improved social communication, language, play, and cognition in children with autism.
However, gains were larger when measured in the same context as therapy or on specific skills taught, suggesting some reported benefits may not generalize to daily life.
Key findings
01Interventions showed positive effects on social communication, language, play, and cognition.
02Effect sizes were significantly larger for outcomes measured in the same context as the intervention compared to those measured in different contexts.
03The age at which intervention started did not significantly moderate the size of the treatment effect.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
Many studies relied on parent or teacher reports or observations made by the same people who delivered the therapy, which risks overestimating improvement due to expectation or training effects. The analysis could not determine if specific components of NDBI packages were responsible for the gains. There was insufficient data to analyze the impact of autism symptom severity on outcomes. Most included children were aged 2-5, so results may not apply to very young infants or older children.
Declared interests
The text does not explicitly state funding sources or conflicts of interest in the provided excerpts.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the positive effects on social communication and language as proof that these skills will automatically generalize to new settings or people. The study found that effects were significantly smaller when outcomes were measured in contexts different from the intervention.