A meta-analysis of the effect of the Early Start Denver Model in children with autism spectrum disorder

Abstract

Objectives: To examine and analyse the intervention effects of the Early Start Denver Model (ESDM) on children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Methods: This meta-analysis evaluated the effect sizes in four major domains of measurement (autism symptoms, language, cognition, and social communication). A total of 624 participants with ASD were included in 11 high-quality randomized controlled trial studies.

Results: The results indicated that the ESDM intervention resulted in significant improvement with moderate effect sizes in the cognition (g = 0.28), autism symptoms (g = 0.27), and language (g = 0.29) domains. The effect sizes of autism symptoms and language were moderated by country (Western versus Asian countries). However, there were no significant effects observed for the social communication domain.

Conclusion: The ESDM intervention significantly improved autism symptoms, language, and cognition. The effect sizes of autism symptoms and language were larger in Asian countries than in Western countries.

Keywords:

• autism spectrum disorder
• Early Start Denver Model
• meta-analysis
• randomized controlled trials

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank those who assisted in this study, including special education teachers, Chinese scholars and Malaysian supervisors.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Youth Science and Technology Talent Growth Project from Guizhou Provincial Education Department, China (2018-259).