National Autism Center Releases Report on Autism Treatments
Thursday, September 24, 2009

Study offers new analysis

The National Autism Center, a nonprofit organization dedicated to serving individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), has just released its National Standards Report. 

The report is the culmination of the National Standards Project, a multi-year project that began with more than 6,400 research abstracts about autism treatments and concluded with a comprehensive National Standards Report. Forty-five nationally recognized scholars, researchers, experts in autism and other leaders representing diverse fields of study were involved in the project. The report includes, among other findings, 11 “established” treatments that produce beneficial outcomes and are known to be effective for individuals (under age 22) on the autism spectrum.

In addition to the 11 established treatments, the report identifies 22 “emerging” treatments that have some evidence of effectiveness, but still require more research, and five “unestablished” treatments that have little or no evidence of effectiveness. Nearly 90 percent of the established treatments came from behavioral literature (i.e., Applied Behavior Analysis, behavioral psychology and positive behavior support). The report also identifies limitations of the existing autism treatment research and encourages the scientific community to more aggressively pursue targeted treatment research.

The National Standards Report is available for download on http://www.nationalautismcenter.org/.

Adapted from a National Autism Center press release

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