Systematic Review of Research Evaluating Parent-Mediated Interventions for Young Children with Autism: Years 2013 to 2015

The last decade has witnessed a tremendous increase in rigorous intervention research in autism, particularly studies evaluating parent-mediated interventions. In 2011 and 2014, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) published a pair of systematic literature reviews of studies evaluating the efficacy/effectiveness of behavioral interventions, including parent-mediated approaches. However, these reviews have not adequately incorporated articles published in 2013 and thereafter. Using the same methods and criteria to identify published articles providing adequate evidence as the original AHRQ reports, the current literature review update identified twenty additional studies, published between 2013 and 2015. All studies used controlled group designs to evaluate parent-mediated interventions for young children with autism. The current chapter reviews the results of these 20 studies and discusses whether the available evidence (defined broadly in terms of quality, quantity, and consistency) is sufficient to confidently determine that parent-mediated intervention approaches are effective for increasing children’s language/communication and cognitive abilities, reducing autism symptoms, and supporting the parents’ use of development-enhancing parenting practices.