Date Presented 03/27/20
The National Professional Development Center on ASD completed a review of literature published between 1990 and 2011 and identified 27 evidence-based practices for individuals with autism spectrum disorder from birth through age 21. The NCAEP is now conducting an updated review of the literature. Findings from the updated review that are relevant to OT domain and practice will be shared and discussed.
Primary Author and Speaker: Susan Szendrey
PURPOSE: The National Professional Development Center on ASD (NPDC) completed a review of literature published between 1990-2011 and identified 27 evidence-based practices (EBPs) for individuals with ASD from birth through age 21. These findings have had a broad impact on the field since their publication in 2015 (e.g., seminal manuscript cited >750 times; online AFIRM modules that support the use of each practice with over 60,000 users; identified by IACC as one of the top 20 scientific advances in ASD research). The National Clearinghouse on Autism Evidence and Practice (NCAEP) is conducting an updated review of the literature. The purpose of this poster is to understand how these EBPs can be relevant to OT and how OT may contribute to the broader research of ASD interventions.
1) Of the identified EBPs from this review, which practices have proven to be effective for outcomes related to OT practice?; 2) What gaps in the literature can OT researchers contribute to?
DESIGN: This systematic review focused on behavioral interventions (i.e., non-pharmacological) for youth diagnosed with ASD between birth and age 21. Quantitative experimental studies (group and single case design) published between 2012 and 2017 were included. Only focused interventions were analyzed; comprehensive treatment models and articles with special designs were analyzed separately and not included in this poster.
METHOD: NCAEP researchers collaborated with information science faculty colleagues to use the PICO process to conduct an initial title search of the literature that yielded more than 30,000 articles published from 2012-2017. After title/abstract reviews 2,412 articles were included for full-text review by 150 trained reviewers. Reviewers assessed eligibility and performed quality reviews. Each article was reviewed by two reviewers and a third if there was disagreement. In all 749 articles were included in the final data extraction phase. NCAEP staff determined 12 domain categories and reviewers assigned each article to the appropriate categories based on their outcomes. For this poster, a subset of 7 outcome categories relevant to OT were examined: motor, mental health, interfering behavior, self-care, vocational, play, and school readiness behavior. Currently, NCAEP staff are assigning articles to evidence-based practices, which will result in the modification of previous EBPs identified and identification of new classifications.
RESULTS: The analysis of these findings is not complete. The number of articles under each domain is as follows: motor (n=19), mental health (n=17), challenging/interfering behavior (n=108), adaptive/self-care (n=42), vocational (n=21), play (n=37), and school readiness behavior (n=35). By September 2019, intervention practices will be finalized by the NCAEP teams and EBPs will be established and extracted from the 279 articles. They will then be reviewed to determine the role of OT in their research by analyzing the publishing journals and authors’ affiliations. Preliminary evidence suggests a majority of work in these domains is primarily completed in ABA researchers and journals and only a small portion of OT researchers have contributed evidence included in this review.
CONCLUSION: This review is establishing many EBPs relevant to OT outcomes, yet OT researchers are largely absent. This indicates an opportunity for OT to join the interdisciplinary dialogue and help fill the gaps in research for children with ASD with high quality evidence. The previous systematic reviews from NPDC have proven prolific in practice for children and youth with ASD. OT researchers and practitioners must listen to these new findings and actively contribute our expertise to the conversation to help improve interventions for youth with ASD.
References
Sam, A. M., Cox, A. W., Savage, M. N, Waters, V., & Odom, S. L. (2019). Disseminating information on evidence-based practices for children and youth with autism spectrum disorder: AFIRM. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. Advance online publication. doi:10.1007/s10803-019-03945-x
Wong, C., Odom, S. L., Hume, K. A., Cox, A. W., Fettig, A., Kucharczyk, S., … Schultz, T. R. (2014). Evidence-based practices for children, youth, and young adults with autism spectrum disorder. Chapel Hill: Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute. Retrieved from https://autismpdc-fpg-unc-edu.libproxy.lib.unc.edu/how-do-i-find-out-more-about-ebps.
