Family Involved Core Features Target Intervention For Young Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder：a Rct

Objectives To study the efficacy of short-term core feature target intervention (CFTI) (one self-design psycho-behavioral training with family involved program) for young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Methods Children with ASD aged between 1 year and 7 years old were randomly allocated to an intervention group (n=56) or a control group (n=45) matched by chronological age and severity of autism. The intervention group received a short-term CFTI while the control group had received no treatment or treatment-as-usual (the conventional interventional or educational program for ASD). A total of 20 intervention sessions over four weeks were given. The primary outcome measures included Aberrant Behavior Checklist (ABC), Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist (ATEC), Ritvo-Freeman Real Life Scale (RFRLS), and Clinical Global Impression-Improvement Scale (CGI-I). Secondary outcome measures consisted of Gesell Developmental Diagnosis Scale (GDDS)/Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence-Fourth edition (WPPSI-Ⅳ), and Psychoeducational Profile-Third Edition (PEP-3).

Results There were significant improvements on the speech/language/communication domain (p=0.035) of ATEC and CGI-I (p=0.002) in the intervention group compared to the control group. As for the appraiser's report, the intervention group also showed significantly better Developmental Quotient (DQ)/Intelligence Quotient (IQ) scores (p=0.04) and nearly all dimensions of PEP-3 (p<0.05) except gross muscle and affective expression domains.

Conclusions A short-term, four-week (20 sessions) course of CFTI is useful for children with ASD to improve the core symptoms of autism and related specific functions.