Studies of parent-implemented interventions aimed at improving social and communication skills in children with ASD and that contained at least one child aged six years or less were eligible for inclusion. Outcome data had to be collected at least in part within the home environment.
Included studies assessed a variety of parent-implemented interventions including reciprocal imitation training, modified incidental training, imitating/animating and expectant waiting methods, pivotal response training and enhanced milieu teaching. Where stated, the duration of parent-led interventions ranged from five one-week intervals to one year. Most participants were boys. Participant ages ranged from 20 months to nine years. Where stated, most parents were mothers; two studies were of fathers only. Outcomes reported in the included studies were parent fidelity to the training model, parental stress, parental response to the child, parental satisfaction and a variety of measures of child verbal communication, imitation and child symptoms.
The authors did not state how the studies were selected for the review.