A review on measuring treatment response in parent-mediated autism early interventions

This review describes and evaluates measures aimed at assessing treatment response in parent-mediated early interventions targeting autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In order to be able to evaluate the relative utility of different interventions, it is critical to have access to tools that identify treatment effects. Measures across domains of child outcomes, parent or family outcomes, and parent-child interaction outcomes are evaluated by summarizing their roles in previous studies, and describing the consistency of treatment effects. In particular, some variables included in parent-child interaction outcomes generated relatively consistent treatment effects. Considerations for future research are discussed, including cultural considerations, challenges associated with the current set of outcome measures, and an emphasis on enhancing ecological validity.