Testing autism interventions: trials and tribulations

Abstract

In The Lancet today, Jonathan Green and colleagues 1 Green J Charman T McConachie H et al. the PACT ConsortiumParent-mediated communication-focused treatment in children with autism (PACT): a randomised controlled trial. Lancet. 2010; (published online May 21.)https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(10)60587-9 Summary Full Text Full Text PDF Scopus (478) Google Scholar report results from a multisite randomised trial in children with autism. The investigators compared a parent-training technique that targeted enhancement of the child's social-communication skills (two of the three core deficits in autism) with treatment as usual. The primary outcome was the social-communication score from the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS), 2 Lord C Rutter M DiLavore PC Risi S Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS). Western Psychological Services, Los Angeles, CA1999 Google Scholar a widely used diagnostic tool. Secondary outcomes included parent–child interaction, child language, social communication, and measures of adaptive functioning. Parent-mediated communication-focused treatment in children with autism (PACT): a randomised controlled trialOn the basis of our findings, we cannot recommend the addition of the PACT intervention to treatment as usual for the reduction of autism symptoms; however, a clear benefit was noted for parent-child dyadic social communication. Full-Text PDF Open AccessDepartment of ErrorSpence SJ, Thurm A. Testing autism interventions: trials and tribulations. Lancet 2010; 375: 2124–25—In this Comment (June 19), the affiliation for both authors should have been: “Pediatrics and Developmental Neuroscience Branch, Intramural Research Program of the National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA”. This correction has been made to the online version as of Dec 3, 2010. Full-Text PDF