Developmental Interventions for Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the outcomes of developmental interventions for young
children with autism spectrum disorders. Six criteria were used to select the studies included in this review. In the
end 14 studies met the criteria and were included in the review. The table in Reichow and Volkmar (2010) study was
used to analyze the studies. Five studies were based on developmental interventions (DI) and nine studies were
based on developmental and behavioral interventions (DBI). Eleven out of 14 studies, interventions were provided
via parents. This shows a growing emphasis on parent involvement in education of young children with autism.
Considering that an early intervention study should address family-centered practice, natural involvement and active
learning, there is a need for more studies searching for the ways of how to involve parents in intervention process. In
three studies, outcome measures were increase in IQ level and the number of functional words. However, this can be
questioned about how these measures were meaningful for young children with autism spectrum disorders