Summary of findings for the main comparison. Summary of findings: focused playtime intervention versus treatment as usual for minimally verbal children with autism spectrum disorder.
| Focused playtime intervention versus treatment as usual for minimally verbal children with autism spectrum disorder | |||
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Patient or population: minimally verbal children with autism spectrum disorder Settings: child's home (study set in California, USA) Intervention: focused playtime intervention Comparison: treatment as usual | |||
| Outcomes | Impact | Number of participants (studies) | Quality of the evidence (GRADE) |
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Spoken communication Measured by: Mullen Scale of Early Learning: Expressive Language Index (MSEL: log (base 2) transformed age equivalent scores) Follow‐up: 20 to 21 weeks |
No significant main effect of functional playtime intervention on expressive language outcomes (t (df = 57) = 1.21, P = 0.23) | 70 (1 RCT) | ⊕⊝⊝⊝ Very lowa,b |
| Non‐verbal communication/AAC | No data were reported for this outcome | ||
| Combined spoken and non‐verbal communication/AAC | No data were reported for this outcome | ||
| Adverse events | No data were reported for this outcome | ||
| Social communication and pragmatic language skills | No data were reported for this outcome | ||
| Other communication skills | No data were reported for this outcome | ||
| Quality of life for the individual or their family and parent satisfaction | No data were reported for this outcome | ||
| Non‐core aspects of behaviour and function | No data were reported for this outcome | ||
| CI: confidence interval. | |||
| GRADE Working Group grades of evidence
High quality: we are very confident that the true effect lies close to that of the estimate of the effect.
Moderate quality: we are moderately confident in the effect estimate; the true effect is likely to be close to the estimate of the effect, but there is a possibility that it is substantially different. Low quality: our confidence in the effect estimate is limited; the true effect may be substantially different from the estimate of the effect. Very low quality: we have very little confidence in the effect estimate; the true effect is likely to be substantially different from the estimate of effect. | |||
aDowngraded one level for risk of bias (rated as unclear or high risk of bias on 4/7 domains). bDowngraded two levels for imprecision due to small sample size and only one trial identified for comparison.