–Recent Reviews
Several recent reviews provide consensus regarding the research support for developmental interventions, including DIRFloortime.
1. In 2019, a systemic review was conducted on “Developmental social pragmatic interventions for preschoolers with autism spectrum disorder.” The review exclusively evaluated randomized controlled trials and covered six interventions. Ten studies reported outcomes of 716 preschool-aged children with autism spectrum disorder. “This review suggests the developmental social pragmatic treatments positively impact children’s foundational communication capacities (i.e. attention, social referencing, joint attention, initiative, and reciprocity).”
Binns, A. V., & Oram Cardy, J. (2019). Developmental social pragmatic interventions for preschoolers with autism spectrum disorder: A systematic review. Autism & Developmental Language Impairments, 4, 2396941518824497.
2. In 2019, a meta-analysis was conducted on autism interventions for young children. This study “suggests that naturalistic developmental behavioral interventions and developmental intervention approaches have amassed enough quality evidence to be considered promising for supporting children with ASD in achieving a range of developmental outcomes.”
Sandbank, M., Bottema-Beutel, K., Crowley, S., Cassidy, M., Dunham, K., Feldman, J. I., … & Woynaroski, T. G. (2020). Project AIM: Autism intervention meta-analysis for studies of young children. Psychological Bulletin, 146(1), 1.
3. In 2020, a review was conducted in Spain, gathering evidence on Early Intervention programs for autistic children.
Rojas-Torres, L. P., Alonso-Esteban, Y., & Alcantud-Marín, F. (2020). Early intervention with parents of children with autism spectrum disorders: A review of programs. Children, 7(12), 294.
4. In 2020, The National Clearinghouse on Autism Treatment at the University of North Carolina, looked at “Evidence-based practices for children, youth, and young adults with autism.” The report names as evidence-based ‘naturalistic interventions’ “which emerge from behavioral and/or developmental approaches to learning.” The report also names as evidence-based Parent Implemented Interventions. Many recognized developmental approaches are included in these two categories.
Steinbrenner, J. R., Hume, K., Odom, S. L., Morin, K. L., Nowell, S. W., Tomaszewski, B., … & Savage, M. N. (2020). Evidence-based practices for children, youth, and young adults with autism. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute, National Clearinghouse on Autism Evidence and Practice Review Team.
5. In 2020 a systematic review was conducted of specifically DIRFloortime programs. The conclusion was that “the evidence-base for this model is emerging.” “The most prominent positive outcome is social-emotional
Boshoff, K., Bowen, H., Paton, H., Cameron-Smith, S., Graetz, S., Young, A., & Lane, K. (2020). Child Development Outcomes of DIR/Floortime TM-based Programs: A Systematic Review. Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy, 87(2), 153-164.
6. In 2021, a systematic review (the third iteration of previous reviews (Wong et. al.)) from interventions in the categories of parent implemented interventions and naturalistic interventions, including developmental approaches, met criteria for evidence-based practice.
Hume, K., Steinbrenner, J. R., Odom, S. L., Morin, K. L., Nowell, S. W., Tomaszewski, B., … & Savage, M. N. (2021). Evidence-based practices for children, youth, and young adults with autism: Third generation review. Journal of autism and developmental disorders. 51(11), 4013–4032. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-020-04844-2
7. In 2022, A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials of Parent implemented interventions for children with autism, showed benefits, which included many developmental interventions, including DIR.
Cheng, W. M., Smith, T. B., Butler, M., Taylor, T. M., & Clayton, D. (2022). Effects of parent-implemented interventions on outcomes of children with autism: A meta-analysis. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 1-17.
8. In 2022, Francis et al published a review of play-based interventions and their impact on mental health for autistic children. They found 10 studies, (3 using DIR), concluding there are beneficial effects on positive mental health outcomes.
Francis, G., Deniz, E., Torgerson, C., & Toseeb, U. (2022). Play-based interventions for mental health: A systematic review and meta-analysis focused on children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder and developmental language disorder. Autism & Developmental Language Impairments, 7. https://doi.org/10.1177/23969415211073118
9. In 2023, an umbrella review of 58 systematic reviews identified “positive therapeutic effects” for developmental interventions.
Trembath, D., Varcin, K., Waddington, H., Sulek, R., Bent, C., Ashburner, J., … & Whitehouse, A. (2023). Non-pharmacological interventions for autistic children: An umbrella review. Autism, 27(2), 275-295.