Clinical Efficacy of Cooperative Parent-Mediated Therapy (C-PMT_in_ASD)

Evaluation of the Clinical Efficacy of Cooperative Parent-Mediated Therapy (Cooperative-PMT) in Preschool and School-Aged Children With ASD Within the "Autism in Re.Te: Let's Not Leave Them Alone" - Social Project

The research highlights the lack of studies assessing the effectiveness of evidence-based interventions for ASD in community services. This RCT study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of Cooperative Parent Mediated Therapy (CPMT), a parent coaching program previously shown to be effective in tertiary care settings.

Fifty participants with ASD (aged 2-10 years) and their parents were randomized into two groups: both groups received treatment as usual (TAU), but only the experimental group participated in CPMT. The primary outcomes indicated significant improvements in parent-child interaction and benefits in adaptive skills, ASD symptom severity, and parental stress levels in the CPMT group, whereas the TAU group showed no notable changes. The study suggests that the CPMT model is effective in community healthcare settings, representing a significant advancement for ASD therapy.

Inclusion Criteria:

• age between 2 and 10 years;
• clinical diagnosis of ASD based on DSM-5 criteria ;
• scores above the autism spectrum cut-off on the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule Generic-ADOS-2 ;

Exclusion Criteria:

• 2 years > age < 10 years;
• not received clinical diagnosi for ASD in line with DSM-5 criteria;
• absence of other major medical diagnoses (i.e., epilepsy, genetic syndromes);
• absence of psychosocial treatment during the trial.