Table 3.
Summary descriptions of included effect sizes.
| Study Author (Year) [ref] | Outcome Measure | Post-Test Mean (SD): Intervention Group | Post-Test Mean (SD): Control Group | Hedges’ g (SE) | Distal | General-ized | Parent Report | CME |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dawson (2010) [25] | ADOS ASD severity | 7 (1.9) | 7.3 (1.8) | 0.16 (0.28) | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| MSEL ELC | 78.6 (24.2) | 66.3 (15.3) | 0.60 (0.29) | Yes | Yes | No | No | |
| VABS Composite | 68.7 (15.9) | 59.1 (8.8) | 0.73 (0.29) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Repetitive Behavior Scale | 16.7 (13.1) | 22.0 (16.3) | 0.35 (0.29) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Rogers (2012) [26] | ADOS Modified Social Affect | 26.6 (10.1) | 27.3 (10.6) | 0.07 (0.20) | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| MSEL DQ | 69.8 (17.9) | 67.9 (17.9) | 0.11 (0.20) | Yes | Yes | No | No | |
| MCDI: Phrases Understood | 12.7 (9.11) | 14.8 (8.1) | −0.23 (0.20) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| MCDI: Vocabulary Comprehension | 106.5 (96.8) | 125.7 (106.4) | −0.19 (0.20) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| MCDI: Vocabulary Produced | 42.3 (62.0) | 38.9 (73.7) | 0.05 (0.20) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| MCDI: Total Gestures | 28.02 (12.6) | 29.8 (13.5) | −0.13 (0.20) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| VABS Composite | 77.4 (9.6) | 80.3 (11.3) | −0.27 (0.20) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| ADOS RRB | 4.0 (1.9) | 3.8 (2.0) | −0.07 (0.20) | Yes | Yes | No | No | |
| Imitative Sequence | 4.6 (3.5) | 3.8 (3.4) | 0.24 (0.20) | No | Yes | No | No | |
| Mean Social Orienting | 0.5 (0.3) | 0.4 (0.4) | 0.13 (0.20) | No | Yes | No | No | |
| Mean Non-Social Orienting | 0.7 (0.3) | 0.6 (0.4) | 0.42 (0.20) | No | Yes | No | No | |
| Mean orient to Joint Attention | 0.3 (0.3) | 0.3 (0.3) | 0.00 (0.20) | No | Yes | No | No | |
| Rogers (2014) [13] | ADOS ASD severity | 3.3 (3.4) | 6.3 (3.9) | 0.75 (0.59) | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| MSEL Language | 92.4 (29.5) | 45.6 (20.3) | 1.60 (0.67) | Yes | Yes | No | No | |
| MSEL Visual reception | 96.1 (16.4) | 78.7 (9.3) | 1.10 (0.62) | Yes | Yes | No | No | |
| Vivanti (2014) [23] | ADOS ASD Severity | 6.9 (2.3) | 6.1 (1.6) | −0.37 (0.26) | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| MSEL DQ | 67.2 (20.2) | 56.3 (22.5) | 0.50 (0.27) | Yes | Yes | No | No | |
| VABS Composite | 72.1 (13.5) | 73.0 (15.5) | −0.06 (0.26) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Fox (2018) [21] | MCDI: Vocabulary Produced | 164.4 (188.2) | 124.2 (140.7) | 0.22 (0.57) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Zhou (2018) [22] | ADOS ASD Severity | 6.3 (1.3) | 6.6 (1.1) | 0.23 (0.30) | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| CSBS Total | 40.9 (8.1) | 29.1 (10.3) | 1.27 (0.33) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| GDS Language | 68.6 (22.1) | 37.7 (22.5) | 1.36 (0.33) | Yes | Yes | No | No | |
| GDS Motor | 80.3 (15.1) | 71.7 (13.3) | 0.59 (0.31) | Yes | Yes | No | No | |
| GDS Personal-Social | 74.5 (10.6) | 51.0 (10.8) | 2.16 (0.38) | Yes | Yes | No | No | |
| GDS Eye-hand | 76.0 (13.3) | 56.1 (12.4) | 1.52 (0.34) | Yes | Yes | No | No | |
| GDS Performance | 75.2 (10.3) | 58.9 (15.1) | 1.25 (0.33) | Yes | Yes | No | No | |
| Xu (2018) [27] | ASD CARS severity | 30.4 (5.5) | 37.3 (6.7) | 1.09 (0.35) | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Colombi (2018) [28] | GDS Total | 0.37 (0.24) | Yes | Yes | No | No | ||
| VABS Composite | 0.28 (0.24) | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | |||
| Vinen (2018) [24] | ADOS ASD Severity | 8.0 (2.6) | 7.8 (2.1) | −0.09 (0.26) | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| WASI FSIQ | 76.1 (20.8) | 82.8 (18.5) | −0.34 (0.24) | Yes | Yes | No | No | |
| Vismara (2018) [29] | Imitation | 1.4 (1.0) | 0.9 (0.8) | 0.48 (0.41) | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Holzinger (2019) [30] | PDDBI | 41.7 (13.1) | 40.0 (10.7) | −0.13 (0.47) | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Austrian CDI | 324.7 (201.9) | 193.8 (229.5) | 0.57 (0.48) | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | |
| MSEL DQ | 63.5 (20.2) | 50.0 (19.5) | 0.64 (0.49) | Yes | Yes | No | No | |
| VABS Daily Living | 81.9 (17.4) | 85.4 (13.5) | −0.21 (0.47) | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | |
| Rogers (2019) [31] | ADOS ASD severity | 6.7 (2.0) | 6.2 (2.5) | −0.22 (0.18) | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Response to joint attention | 76.1 (26.9) | 70.7 (36.6) | 0.17 (0.18) | No | Yes | No | No | |
| MSEL DQ | 83.1 (26.1) | 79.1 (25.6) | 0.15 (0.18) | Yes | Yes | No | No | |
| VABS Composite | 39.8 (12.1) | 36.7 (14.3) | 0.23 (0.18) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Note. ADOS: Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, RRB: Restrictive and Repetitive Behavior, MSEL: Mullen Scales of Early Learning, DQ: Developmental Quotient, ELC: Early Learning Composite, MCDI: MacArthur Bates Communicative Development Inventory, VABS: Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales, CSBS: Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales, GDS: Griffith Developmental Scales, CARS: Childhood Autism Rating Scale; WASI FSIQ: Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence Full Scale Intelligence Quotient, PDDBI: Pervasive Developmental Disorder Behavior Inventory, CME: Correlated Measurement Error.