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 that supports the therapy, and tells you when there’s no reliable research
- 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 most commonly mentioned therapies.
A search of the internet, books, magazines, autism associations and other materials reveals at least 400 therapies that claim to help autistic children. Generally, there’s little reliable research evidence to support the effectiveness of many of these therapies.
Read our article on types of therapies 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 a 2011 report to the Australian Government, prepared by five Australian experts in autism: Professor Jacqueline Roberts, Professor Margot Prior, Professor Sylvia Rodger, Professor Katrina Williams and Dr Rebecca Sutherland. The report identified common therapies used in Australia.
Why does the guide focus on evidence from scientific research?
Scientific research provides the best and most reliable evidence of whether therapies really work. 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.
Read more about how therapies for autistic children are researched and tested.
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: not enough research is available.
- Ineffective/harmful: research shows this approach is ineffective or can be harmful.
- Unrateable: not yet reviewed by our research sources.
We base the rating for each therapy on the level (or lack) of scientific evidence that supports the therapy. The aim is to give you a sense of how much unbiased research support there is to say whether each therapy works.
Our rating system is based on the rating system used by the National Standards Project (National Autism Center, 2015). Where needed, we also use conclusions from Cochrane systematic reviews. These two sources have carefully assessed many autism therapies, based on very strict criteria for quality and quantity of research and consistency of findings.
When a therapy hasn’t yet been systematically reviewed by our research sources, it’s marked as ‘Unrateable’.
Why don’t you use evidence from people’s experience in your research ratings?
Evidence from people’s experience – for example, from people who are putting therapies into practice or parents who are using therapies – isn’t always reliable. This is because it can be biased by people’s ideas, beliefs and values. 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?
raisingchildren.net.au has a program of ongoing review and maintenance of all of its content., which includes this guide. This means experts regularly look at our content in the light of newly published and relevant research.