Autism RCT

OBJECTIVE: The authors sought to explore the role of iron supplementation in the management of neurodevelopmental disorders among children and youths. METHODS: A systematic review in accordance with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines was undertaken. A subset of results was suitable for meta-analysis. The quality of the evidence and strength of the clinical recommendations were assessed by using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation method, and critical appraisal was conducted with the Joanna Briggs Institute critical appraisal tools...

A prior randomized trial found a school social intervention yielded significantly better outcomes (social and autism features) immediately following intervention compared to typical school programming (services-as-usual [SAU]) for children on the autism spectrum. In that study, children in the SAU condition subsequently completed a summer social intervention. This study tested longer-term maintenance of effects for children who completed both interventions. A total of 103 children (ages 6-12 years) on the autism spectrum enrolled and 102 completed the initial RCT...

BACKGROUND: Postural control (PC) disturbances in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are associated with its severity. Varied sensorimotor interventions have been used for the management of these symptoms. However, there is a lack of a review elucidating all the available postural control interventions in ASD. RESEARCH QUESTION: To comprehensively present the variety of interventions targeted at improving PC in ASD and to provide future research recommendations. METHODS: PubMed, SCOPUS, Embase, Cochrane, ScienceDirect and Web of Science databases were searched for publications examining the effects of PC targeting interventions in those with ASD...

AIM: To understand the impact of anodal transcranial direct-current stimulation (tDCS) on non-verbal intelligence in high-functioning young adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). METHOD: Thirty individuals with ASD were randomly divided into three groups receiving 2 mA, 20 minutes daily anodal tDCS for 10 sessions. Group A received 10 sham tDCS sessions, group B five real followed by five sham sessions, and group C received 10 real tDCS sessions...

INTRODUCTION: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is an early-onset disorder with a prevalence of 1% among children and reported disability-adjusted life years of 4.31 million. Irritability is a challenging behavior associated with ASD, for which medication development has lagged. More specifically, pharmacotherapy effectiveness may be limited against high adverse effects (considering side effect profiles and patient medication sensitivity); thus, the possible benefits of pharmacological interventions must be balanced against potential adverse events in each patient...

The quality of care in public schools and other community settings for school-aged youths on the autism spectrum is variable and often not evidence-based. Training practitioners in these settings to deliver evidence-based practices (EBPs) may improve the quality of care. We developed a free internet-based training and clinical guidance system synthesizing multiple EBPs for youth on the autism spectrum addressing a range of mental health needs and autism-related behaviors, entitled Modular EBPs for Youth on the Autism Spectrum (MEYA; meya...

Background and aim Executive function (EF) impairment is common in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). EF strategies are considered effective in improving the therapeutic outcomes of children with ASD. This study primarily aimed to explore whether integrating EF strategies combined with regular occupational therapy intervention is more effective in improving daily life skills (DLS) and sensory integration/processing (SI/SP) skills than regular occupational therapy alone in children with ASD and secondarily aims to assess treatment outcomes on improving visual motor integration (VMI) skills...

BACKGROUND: Numerous interventions for irritability in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have been investigated. We aimed to appraise the magnitude of pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions for irritability in ASD without any restrictions in terms of eligible interventions. METHODS: We systematically searched PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, and Web of Science until April 15, 2023. We included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with a parallel design that examined the efficacy of interventions for the treatment of irritability in patients of any age with ASD without any restrictions in terms of eligible interventions...

Mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) face considerable psychological distress. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) has shown promise in reducing caregiver burden, but evidence in the Arab world is lacking. Problem-solving appraisal training may optimize CBT's benefits. This study evaluated a tailored CBT program emphasizing the role of problem-solving appraisal in managing distress through the process of CBT. Sixty mothers were randomly allocated in a 1:1 ratio to either the CBT intervention group or the control group...

Evidence-based robotic intervention programmes for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have been limited. As yet, there is insufficient evidence to inform therapists, teachers, and service providers on effectiveness of robotic intervention to enhance social development and participation of children with ASD in a real context. This study used a randomised controlled trial to test the efficacy of robotic intervention programmes in enhancing the social development and participation of children with ASD...

OBJECTIVE: Anxiety is prevalent in young autistic children under 7 years of age. Yet there is a paucity of empirically based interventions for this age group. DINO Strategies for Anxiety and Uncertainty Reduction (DINOSAUR) is an innovative cognitive behavioral intervention that seeks to optimize treatment response in young autistic children by targeting anxiety and the contributing mechanisms of intolerance of uncertainty and parental accommodation using a telehealth delivery model...

BACKGROUND: While early autism intervention can significantly improve outcomes, gaps in implementation exist globally. These gaps are clearest in Africa, where forty percent of the world's children will live by 2050. Task-sharing early intervention to non-specialists is a key implementation strategy, given the lack of specialists in Africa. Naturalistic Developmental Behavioral Interventions (NDBI) are a class of early autism intervention that can be delivered by caregivers. As a foundational step to address the early autism intervention gap, we adapted a non-specialist delivered caregiver coaching NDBI for the South African context, and pre-piloted this cascaded task-sharing approach in an existing system of care...

BACKGROUND: Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are commonly prescribed to manage anxiety in adults with an autism diagnosis. However, their effectiveness and adverse effect profile in the autistic population are not well known. This trial aims to determine the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the SSRI sertraline in reducing symptoms of anxiety and improving quality of life in adults with a diagnosis of autism compared with placebo and to quantify any adverse effects...

PURPOSE: This study aimed to investigate the effects of a self-paced digital working memory (WM) intervention on preschoolers with ADHD symptoms and explore the relation between WM and time perception (TP) through a randomized controlled trial. METHOD: Fifty preschoolers between four-to-six years of age (M = 4.93 years) were randomly assigned to three groups: a WM training group (WM; n = 14), a social-emotional (SE) training active control group (n = 15), and a waitlist control group (n = 21)...

The Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills (PEERS® ) is an intervention targeting social skills for autistic adolescents and those with other social challenges. The efficacy of the PEERS® on adolescents has been extensively explored but the program has not been validated in Italy. In the present study, we adapted PEERS® to Italian culture and evaluated its efficacy in an Italian sample. A Randomized Controlled Trial was conducted, analyzing the results of 37 autistic adolescents who were randomly assigned to two groups: experimental group (TG) and waitlist group (WL)...

A core feature of autism involves difficulty perceiving and interpreting eye gaze shifts as nonverbal communicative signals. A hypothesis about the origins of this phenotype is that it emerges from developmentally different social visual attention (SVA). We developed Social Games for Autistic Adolescents (SAGA; Scherf et al. BMJ Open 8(9):e023682, 2018) as a serious game intervention for autistic individuals to discover the significance of eye gaze cues. Previously, we demonstrated the effectiveness of SAGA to improve the perception and understanding of eye gaze cues and social skills for autistic adolescents (Griffin et al...

BACKGROUND: Many rare genetic neurodevelopmental disorders (RGNDs) are characterized by intellectual disability (ID), severe cognitive and behavioral impairments, potentially diagnosed as a comorbid autism spectrum disorder or attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. Quality of life is often impaired due to irritability, aggression and self-injurious behavior, generally refractory to standard therapies. There are indications from previous (case) studies and patient reporting that cannabidiol (CBD) may be an effective treatment for severe behavioral manifestations in RGNDs...

We conducted an overview of reviews to determine the effects of naturalistic developmental behavioral interventions (NDBIs; Schreibman et al. (2015) J Autism Dev Disorders 45:2411-2428) on children with autism spectrum disorder under 8 years old. We conducted an electronic database search of Academic Search Premier, CINHAL, ERIC, Medline, and APA PsycINFO in October 2022 and August 2023 and utilized snowball methods to locate relevant reviews of NDBI. We included reviews meeting the following inclusion criteria: (1) review included a meta-analytic synthesis for at least one child outcome; (2) primary studies examined a NDBI; (3) primary studies included children with ASD with a mean pre-treatment age under eight years; (4) primary studies were conducted using a two-group comparison design; and (5) review was published in English...

Clinical efficacy of intranasal administration of oxytocin is increasingly explored in autism spectrum disorder, but to date, the biological effects of chronic administration regimes on endogenous oxytocinergic function are largely unknown. Here exploratory biological assessments from a completed randomized, placebo-controlled trial showed that children with autism (n = 79, 16 females) receiving intranasal oxytocin for four weeks (12 IU, twice daily) displayed significantly higher salivary oxytocin levels 24 hours after the last oxytocin nasal spray administration, but no longer at a four-week follow up session...

BACKGROUND: Recent systematic reviews have indicated that cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is effective in reducing anxiety symptoms for autistic and non-autistic children. However, the vast majority of CBT research for autistic youth has been implemented within university settings and primarily by mental health providers. Schools hold great promise to equitably manage the mental health symptoms of autistic youth. Although preliminary research evaluating CBT within schools has been promising, CBT has not yet been compared to another readily available school mental health program...