Practice: The authors stated that although behavioural approaches were an important element of any comprehensive program, other elements that focused more specifically on social development and communication would also be required for optimal effectiveness.
Research: The authors stated that RCTs and case-control comparison studies with adequate sample sizes to explore individual variables associated with outcomes were needed. A number of minimum requirements should also be met:
1. Baseline data should be collected immediately prior to or at the beginning of the intervention program.
2. The age of children at start of treatment, duration and intensity of treatment (hours per week) and exact time to follow-up should be made explicit.
3. The same data should be available for children in the comparison conditions, well-described to allow readers to assess the quality of the intervention.
4. Data on child variables should be better standardised and standard scores, age equivalent scores and raw scores should be reported for all assessments.
5. Diagnostic status should be clearly defined using ADI-R 6. Measures of family functioning needed to be included.