Explicit joint attention interventions for young children with autism spectrum disorders are successful: But determining a specific strategy requires further evidence

摘要

Design: Systematic review and meta-analysis. Data sources: Six electronic databases were utilized. They included ERIC (1966-present), PsyclNFO (1887-present), PubMed (1966-present), CINAHL (1982-present); DARE (1 960-present), and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (1898-present). The authors noted that ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Full Text (1861-present) is indexed in PsyclNFO and therefore an individual search using ProQuest was not conducted. Study selection and assessment: Study inclusion criteria required that included studies be a randomized controlled trial and address joint attention interventions for children with ASD. In addition, each article that was subjected to full text-level scrutiny was assessed in terms of whether or not the study implemented a treatment that included at least one aspect of joint attention training, and demonstrated a joint attention outcome(s) including any aspect of sharing of attention with a partner about an object or event of mutual interest. Furthermore, there were several additional inclusion criteria; specifically that: (a) participants be between the ages of 18 months and 8 years of age with a diagnosis of ASD, (b) that instruction be delivered in at least one aspect of joint attention (e.g. sharing attention with others, initiating joint attention, gaze alteration involving the implementation of gesture to direct attention to object/entity/ event), and (c) that there be at least one outcome measure of joint attention.