What is this guide for?
This guide offers you reliable information about a wide range of therapies for autistic children.
Each short therapy guide:
- describes a particular therapy and the idea behind its approach
- assesses the research on the therapy
- says whether there’s reliable research to support the therapy’s use
- estimates the time and costs involved in using the therapy.
How do I use this guide?
To use the guide, you can browse our A-Z index.
How many therapies for autistic children are covered in the guide? How many exist?
This guide currently covers more than 60 therapies for autism, and we’re adding to it all the time. Our selection of therapies is based on the therapies most commonly mentioned in research and public discussion.
A search of the internet, books, magazines, autism associations and other materials reveals at least 400 therapies that claim to help autistic children. For many of these therapies, there’s little reliable research evidence that they help autistic children.
Read our article on therapies and supports for autistic children for an overview of autism therapies.
Why does the guide cover only a selection of therapies for autistic children?
The guide is a work in progress. We’re developing and adding new therapies all the time. Each short therapy guide takes time as we search for information and give the therapy a rating based on the conclusions of scientific research.
What is the guide based on?
Our classification of autism therapies and other background information is based on primary research on individual therapies as well as the following reviews of therapies for autistic children in Australia:
- Non-pharmacological interventions for autistic children: an umbrella review – a 2023 comprehensive review of therapies available in Australia, prepared by researchers in Australia and New Zealand
- National guideline for supporting the learning, participation, and wellbeing of autistic children and their families in Australia – guidelines for professionals who work with autistic children and their families, based on research evidence and community consultation.
In addition, we look at large reviews and research guides from other countries to understand the international research. These include the following:
- Evidence-based practices for children, youth, and young adults with autism: third generation review – a 2021 review of interventions that assesses whether they can be considered to be evidence based
- ESCAP practice guidance for autism: a summary of evidence-based recommendations for diagnosis and treatment – a 2020 article endorsed by the European Society of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (ESCAP) that summarises current information relevant to autism diagnosis and intervention
- Evidence-based interventions in autism – a 2024 review of evidence-based autism treatments for paediatricians by researchers in the United States.
These sources were selected because they’re comprehensive, up to date and based on careful scientific research.
Why does the guide focus on evidence from scientific research?
Scientific research provides the best and most reliable evidence about what helps autistic children.
This kind of research is usually reported in scientific journals and textbooks, which might be hard to find or time-consuming for parents to research by themselves.
What is the ‘research rating’ in each short therapy guide based on?
Each short guide offers a research rating of an autism therapy. These are the ratings:
- Established – research shows positive effects.
- Promising – some research shows positive effects, but more research is needed.
- Yet to be determined – there isn’t enough research on this therapy for us to rate it, or it hasn’t yet been reviewed by our research sources.
- Ineffective/harmful – research shows this approach is ineffective or can be harmful.
We base the rating for each therapy on the level of scientific evidence that supports the therapy. The aim is to give you a sense of how much unbiased research there is to say that the therapy helps autistic children.
Our rating system is based on sources like Cochrane systematic reviews and randomised controlled trials that have carefully assessed autism therapies based on very strict criteria for quality and quantity of research and consistency of findings.
Why don’t you use evidence from people’s experience in your research ratings?
Family and professional experiences are important and helpful, but they can be influenced by things like ideas, beliefs and values.
For our research ratings we focus on scientific studies. Scientific studies are designed to reduce bias and show whether a therapy reliably helps many children.
With our research ratings, we aim to give you a sense of how much unbiased research supports the effectiveness of various therapies.
How is the guide kept up to date?
We have a program of ongoing review and maintenance of all our content, which includes this guide. This means experts regularly look at our content in light of newly published and relevant research.