Appendix C: Summary of the effect of different supports on child and family outcomes, drawn from an umbrella review of meta-analyses.
To support consideration of the best available research evidence for this Guideline, an umbrella review of 48 systematic reviews was completed. The evidence was synthesised in a way that enables practitioners to consider the evidence for the effects of nine categories of supports on a range of child and family outcomes. The nine categories each have different underlying theoretical principles for why the supports are hypothesised to support skill acquisition. These categories and a brief summary of their underlying principles, are as follows:
- Behavioural: Children learn new skills based primarily on the cues for, and consequences of, their behaviour (operant learning).
- Developmental: Children learn new skills primarily through interactions with people and environments (cognitive and social constructivist theories).
- Naturalistic Developmental Behavioural Interventions (NDBIs): Children learn new skills, through interactions with other people and environments (behavioural and constructivist theories).
- Sensory-based: Children’s learning can be enhanced by addressing neurophysiological impairments in sensory processing.
- Technology-based: Technology use complements children’s diagnostic characteristics, thus supporting learning and participation.
- Animal-assisted: Human-animal interactions may be particularly motivating and provide a context for learning and improved wellbeing.
- Cognitive Behaviour Therapy: People can learn to identify and replace unhelpful thoughts, leading to positive effects on emotions and behaviour.
- TEACCH: Children learn new skills most effectively when the environment is adapted to their learning characteristics.
- Other Interventions: Do not align directly with the features (theoretical premise, clinical application, and principles) of one of the eight specific categories identified.
Further information about these categories and umbrella review is provided in the Administration and Technical ReportAdministration and Technical Report (available to download for registered users) .
Reading the table below
- Each cell represents evidence for the support category or practice (horizontal rows) on various child and family outcomes (vertical columns).
- The effect of these supports on a range of child and family outcomes is summarised as positive, null, or mixed.
means that all available evidence indicated a positive effect of the intervention on a given child or family outcome.
means that there was a mixture of positive and null effects reported for the intervention on a given child or family outcome.
means that all available evidence indicated a null effect of the intervention on a given child or family outcome.
- H / L indicates the methodological quality of the evidence that contributed to the overall intervention effect for a given child or family outcome. The quality of evidence on which these findings are based is summarised as high or low. These quality ratings are relative to those that met the minimum standards to be included in the report. Where there is more than one quality rating, it means more than one systematic review is represented.
- H indicates evidence from a high quality review
- L indicates evidence from a low quality review
- Where a cell is empty, it means there was no evidence available from the systematic reviews included in the report.
- All information on effects are drawn from meta-analyses, except for the effect of Pivotal Response Treatment on the parent wellbeing, the effect of canine assisted therapy on the social-communication outcome, and the effect of JASPER on all outcomes, which have been drawn from narrative reviews.
This table is best viewed on larger screens. We have prepared a text version of the table, which is better for smaller devices. You can switch the display of the table to text using the button below.
| Catgeory of support |
Communciation |
Uncategorised |
Daily activities and participation |
Family wellbeing |
||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Type of support |
No. of systematic reviews |
Overall communication |
Expressive language |
Receptive language |
Social-communication |
Sensory |
Cognitive |
Social-emotional |
Motor |
Academic skills |
School/ learning readiness |
Adaptive behaviour |
Play |
Participation |
Child quality of life |
Parent knowledge and skills |
Parent wellbeing |
|
|
Behavioural supports |
Behavioural supports (variety of practices) |
1 |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
||||||||||
|
Early intensive behavioural intervention |
3 |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
||||||||||
|
Developmental supports |
Developmental supports (variety of practices) |
2 |
H |
H |
||||||||||||||
|
Naturalistic developmental behavioural interventions |
Naturalistic developmental behavioural interventions (variety of practices) |
2 |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
||||||||
|
Early Start Denver Model |
2 |
L |
L |
L |
H |
|||||||||||||
|
Pivotal Response Treatment |
2 |
L |
L |
L |
||||||||||||||
|
JASPER |
1 |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
||||||||||||
|
Sensory-based supports |
Sensory-based supports (variety of practices) |
1 |
H |
|||||||||||||||
|
Music therapy |
2 |
H |
H |
H |
||||||||||||||
|
TEACCH (variety of practices) |
1 |
H |
||||||||||||||||
|
Technology based supports |
Technology based supports (variety of practices) |
3 |
H |
H |
||||||||||||||
|
Apps |
3 |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
H |
|||||||||||
|
Animal-assisted supports |
Equine assisted therapy |
2 |
L |
L |
L |
|||||||||||||
|
Canine assisted therapy |
1 |
L |
||||||||||||||||
|
Cognitive behavioural therapy |
Cognitive behavioural therapy (variety of practices) |
2 |
L |
H |
||||||||||||||
|
Other Supports |
Social skills training (computers + robots) |
1 |
H |
|||||||||||||||
|
UCLA PEERS |
1 |
L |
L |
|||||||||||||||
Behavioural supports
Behavioural supports (variety of practices)
No. of systematic reviews: 1
Overall communication: Positive effect (Evidence from 1 high quality review)
Expressive language: No evidence
Receptive language: No evidence
Social-communication: Positive effect (Evidence from 1 high quality review)
Sensory: No evidence
Cognitive: Positive effect (Evidence from 1 high quality review)
Social-emotional: Positive effect (Evidence from 1 high quality review)
Motor: Positive effect (Evidence from 1 high quality review)
Academic skills: No evidence
School/ learning readiness: No evidence
Adaptive behaviour: Positive effect (Evidence from 1 high quality review)
Play: No evidence
Participation: No evidence
Child quality of life: No evidence
Parent knowledge and skills: No evidence
Parent wellbeing: No evidence
Early intensive behavioural intervention
No. of systematic reviews: 3
Overall communication: Positive effect (Evidence from 1 high quality review)
Expressive language: Null effect (Evidence from 1 high quality review)
Receptive language: Positive effect (Evidence from 1 high quality review)
Social-communication: Positive effect (Evidence from 1 high quality review)
Sensory: No evidence
Cognitive: Positive effect (Evidence from 1 high quality review)
Social-emotional: Null effect (Evidence from 1 high quality review)
Motor: No evidence
Academic skills: No evidence
School/ learning readiness: No evidence
Adaptive behaviour: Inconsistent effect (Evidence from 1 high quality review)
Play: No evidence
Participation: No evidence
Child quality of life: No evidence
Parent knowledge and skills: No evidence
Parent wellbeing: No evidence
Developmental supports
Developmental supports (variety of practices)
No. of systematic reviews: 2
Overall communication: Null effect (Evidence from 1 high quality review)
Expressive language: No evidence
Receptive language: No evidence
Social-communication: Positive effect (Evidence from 1 high quality review)
Sensory: No evidence
Cognitive: No evidence
Social-emotional: No evidence
Motor: No evidence
Academic skills: No evidence
School/ learning readiness: No evidence
Adaptive behaviour: No evidence
Play: No evidence
Participation: No evidence
Child quality of life: No evidence
Parent knowledge and skills: No evidence
Parent wellbeing: No evidence
Naturalistic developmental behavioural interventions
Naturalistic developmental behavioural interventions (variety of practices)
No. of systematic reviews: 2
Overall communication: Positive effect (Evidence from 1 high quality review)
Expressive language: Positive effect (Evidence from 1 high quality review)
Receptive language: Positive effect (Evidence from 1 high quality review)
Social-communication: Inconsistent effect (Evidence from 1 high quality review)
Sensory: No evidence
Cognitive: Positive effect (Evidence from 1 high quality review)
Social-emotional: Null effect (Evidence from 1 high quality review)
Motor: No evidence
Academic skills: No evidence
School/ learning readiness: No evidence
Adaptive behaviour: Null effect (Evidence from 1 high quality review)
Play: Positive effect (Evidence from 1 high quality review)
Participation: No evidence
Child quality of life: No evidence
Parent knowledge and skills: No evidence
Parent wellbeing: No evidence
Early Start Denver Model
No. of systematic reviews: 2
Overall communication: Positive effect (Evidence from 1 low quality review)
Expressive language: No evidence
Receptive language: No evidence
Social-communication: Null effect (Evidence from 1 low quality review)
Sensory: No evidence
Cognitive: Positive effect (Evidence from 1 low quality review)
Social-emotional: No evidence
Motor: No evidence
Academic skills: No evidence
School/ learning readiness: No evidence
Adaptive behaviour: Null effect (Evidence from 1 high quality review)
Play: No evidence
Participation: No evidence
Child quality of life: No evidence
Parent knowledge and skills: No evidence
Parent wellbeing: No evidence
Pivotal Response Treatment
No. of systematic reviews: 2
Overall communication: Null effect (Evidence from 1 low quality review)
Expressive language: Positive effect (Evidence from 1 low quality review)
Receptive language: No evidence
Social-communication: No evidence
Sensory: No evidence
Cognitive: No evidence
Social-emotional: No evidence
Motor: No evidence
Academic skills: No evidence
School/ learning readiness: No evidence
Adaptive behaviour: No evidence
Play: No evidence
Participation: No evidence
Child quality of life: No evidence
Parent knowledge and skills: No evidence
Parent wellbeing: Inconsistent effect (Evidence from 1 low quality review)
JASPER
No. of systematic reviews: 1
Overall communication: Positive effect (Evidence from 1 high quality review)
Expressive language: Inconsistent effect (Evidence from 1 high quality review)
Receptive language: Inconsistent effect (Evidence from 1 high quality review)
Social-communication: Positive effect (Evidence from 1 high quality review)
Sensory: No evidence
Cognitive: No evidence
Social-emotional: No evidence
Motor: No evidence
Academic skills: No evidence
School/ learning readiness: No evidence
Adaptive behaviour: No evidence
Play: Positive effect (Evidence from 1 high quality review)
Participation: No evidence
Child quality of life: No evidence
Parent knowledge and skills: No evidence
Parent wellbeing: No evidence
Sensory-based supports
Sensory-based supports (variety of practices)
No. of systematic reviews: 1
Overall communication: Null effect (Evidence from 1 high quality review)
Expressive language: No evidence
Receptive language: No evidence
Social-communication: No evidence
Sensory: No evidence
Cognitive: No evidence
Social-emotional: No evidence
Motor: No evidence
Academic skills: No evidence
School/ learning readiness: No evidence
Adaptive behaviour: No evidence
Play: No evidence
Participation: No evidence
Child quality of life: No evidence
Parent knowledge and skills: No evidence
Parent wellbeing: No evidence
Music therapy
No. of systematic reviews: 2
Overall communication: Positive effect (Evidence from 1 high quality review)
Expressive language: No evidence
Receptive language: No evidence
Social-communication: Positive effect (Evidence from 1 high quality review)
Sensory: No evidence
Cognitive: No evidence
Social-emotional: No evidence
Motor: No evidence
Academic skills: No evidence
School/ learning readiness: No evidence
Adaptive behaviour: No evidence
Play: No evidence
Participation: No evidence
Child quality of life: No evidence
Parent knowledge and skills: No evidence
Parent wellbeing: Positive effect (Evidence from 1 high quality review)
TEACCH (variety of practices)
No. of systematic reviews: 1
Overall communication: No evidence
Expressive language: No evidence
Receptive language: No evidence
Social-communication: Null effect (Evidence from 1 high quality review)
Sensory: No evidence
Cognitive: No evidence
Social-emotional: No evidence
Motor: No evidence
Academic skills: No evidence
School/ learning readiness: No evidence
Adaptive behaviour: No evidence
Play: No evidence
Participation: No evidence
Child quality of life: No evidence
Parent knowledge and skills: No evidence
Parent wellbeing: No evidence
Technology based supports
Technology based supports (variety of practices)
No. of systematic reviews: 3
Overall communication: No evidence
Expressive language: No evidence
Receptive language: No evidence
Social-communication: Null effect (Evidence from 1 high quality review)
Sensory: No evidence
Cognitive: No evidence
Social-emotional: Null effect (Evidence from 1 high quality review)
Motor: No evidence
Academic skills: No evidence
School/ learning readiness: No evidence
Adaptive behaviour: No evidence
Play: No evidence
Participation: No evidence
Child quality of life: No evidence
Parent knowledge and skills: No evidence
Parent wellbeing: No evidence
Apps
No. of systematic reviews: 3
Overall communication: Null effect (Evidence from 1 high quality review)
Expressive language: Null effect (Evidence from 1 high quality review)
Receptive language: Null effect (Evidence from 1 high quality review)
Social-communication: Null effect (Evidence from 1 high quality review)
Sensory: No evidence
Cognitive: Positive effect (Evidence from 1 high quality review)
Social-emotional: No evidence
Motor: Positive effect (Evidence from 1 high quality review)
Academic skills: No evidence
School/ learning readiness: No evidence
Adaptive behaviour: No evidence
Play: No evidence
Participation: No evidence
Child quality of life: No evidence
Parent knowledge and skills: No evidence
Parent wellbeing: No evidence
Animal-assisted supports
Equine assisted therapy
No. of systematic reviews: 2
Overall communication: Positive effect (Evidence from 1 low quality review)
Expressive language: No evidence
Receptive language: No evidence
Social-communication: Positive effect (Evidence from 1 low quality review)
Sensory: No evidence
Cognitive: No evidence
Social-emotional: No evidence
Motor: No evidence
Academic skills: No evidence
School/ learning readiness: No evidence
Adaptive behaviour: Null effect (Evidence from 1 low quality review)
Play: No evidence
Participation: No evidence
Child quality of life: No evidence
Parent knowledge and skills: No evidence
Parent wellbeing: No evidence
Canine assisted therapy
No. of systematic reviews: 1
Overall communication: No evidence
Expressive language: No evidence
Receptive language: No evidence
Social-communication: Positive effect (Evidence from 1 low quality review)
Sensory: No evidence
Cognitive: No evidence
Social-emotional: No evidence
Motor: No evidence
Academic skills: No evidence
School/ learning readiness: No evidence
Adaptive behaviour: No evidence
Play: No evidence
Participation: No evidence
Child quality of life: No evidence
Parent knowledge and skills: No evidence
Parent wellbeing: No evidence
Cognitive behavioural therapy
Cognitive behavioural therapy (variety of practices)
No. of systematic reviews: 2
Overall communication: No evidence
Expressive language: No evidence
Receptive language: No evidence
Social-communication: Positive effect (Evidence from 1 low quality review)
Sensory: No evidence
Cognitive: No evidence
Social-emotional: Inconsistent effect (Evidence from 1 high quality review)
Motor: No evidence
Academic skills: No evidence
School/ learning readiness: No evidence
Adaptive behaviour: No evidence
Play: No evidence
Participation: No evidence
Child quality of life: No evidence
Parent knowledge and skills: No evidence
Parent wellbeing: No evidence
Other Supports
Social skills training (computers + robots)
No. of systematic reviews: 1
Overall communication: No evidence
Expressive language: No evidence
Receptive language: No evidence
Social-communication: Positive effect (Evidence from 1 high quality review)
Sensory: No evidence
Cognitive: No evidence
Social-emotional: No evidence
Motor: No evidence
Academic skills: No evidence
School/ learning readiness: No evidence
Adaptive behaviour: No evidence
Play: No evidence
Participation: No evidence
Child quality of life: No evidence
Parent knowledge and skills: No evidence
Parent wellbeing: No evidence
UCLA PEERS
No. of systematic reviews: 1
Overall communication: No evidence
Expressive language: No evidence
Receptive language: No evidence
Social-communication: Positive effect (Evidence from 1 low quality review)
Sensory: No evidence
Cognitive: No evidence
Social-emotional: No evidence
Motor: No evidence
Academic skills: No evidence
School/ learning readiness: No evidence
Adaptive behaviour: No evidence
Play: No evidence
Participation: Positive effect (Evidence from 1 low quality review)
Child quality of life: No evidence
Parent knowledge and skills: No evidence
Parent wellbeing: No evidence