The Autism Society Event and Education Recordings Archive

The National Standards Project is an evidence-based practice guideline that identifies the strength of evidence supporting a broad range of educational and behavioral treatment options. This presentation will familiarize the audience with the organization of this ASD guideline. Examples of interventions with stronger and weaker levels of research support will be provided. In addition, the audience will be reminded of the appropriate use of this information; specifically, research findings are one of four important components of evidence-based practice. The National Standards Project is an evidence-based practice guideline that identifies the strength of evidence supporting a broad range of educational and behavioral treatment options. Individuals interested in engaging in evidence-based practice for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders should be familiar with this document. This presentation will review the organization and structure of the National Standards Report. Audience members will become familiar with the strength of evidence classification system, which identifies 6 classes into which interventions may fall (strongest, strong, moderate, emerging, unestablished, and discredited), as well as how these classes vary in the quality, quantity, and consistency of research findings. Audience members will first learn how to use the tables in the report to determine the strength of evidence supporting an intervention based on the treatment name. Audiences will also be shown how to examine the strength of evidence based on age and diagnostic classification. Many individuals are less concerned with the quality, quantity, and consistency of research findings for individuals with ASD overall, but rather, are interested in learning the strength of evidence based on a particular age or with a specific disorder (e.g., Autism, Asperger’s Syndrome, or Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified). Similarly, some parents, teachers, or other service providers may be interested only in comprehensive programs or just focused interventions. Comprehensive programs are programs that, at a minimum, address the three defining features of autism, are of sufficient level of intensity, are manualized, and are tied to a theoretical or conceptual framework. Focused interventions are often restricted in scope and are more limited in duration. Among focused interventions, audience members may have interest in learning the strength of evidence supporting a particular intervention for the purpose of increasing specific skills or decreasing a problem behavior. For example, specific skills of interest targeted for improvement may be academic, higher cognitive functions, communication, personal responsibility, interpersonal, learning readiness, independent play/leisure, and vocational. Behaviors targeted for decrease may include problem behaviors (e.g., self-injury, aggression, disruptive, destruction of property, hazard, and sexually inappropriate), restrictive repetitive nonfunctional patterns of behavior interests or activities (e.g., stereotypic and compulsive, echolalia, or restricted interest), or those associated with sensory or emotional regulation (e.g., stimulus refusal, sleep disturbance, anxiety, or depression). Examples will be provided for these different categories to ensure audience members are able to maximize the benefits from the report. Finally, evidence-based practice, the context in which the National Standards Project should be interpreted, will be reviewed. Evidence-based practice involves the integration of research findings with, (a) professional judgment and data-based clinical decision-making, (b) values and preferences of key stakeholders, and (c) an assessment and improvement of the system to implement the intervention with integrity. The complexity of decision-making using this framework is highlighted so audience members are not left with the misconception the National Standards Project or any other guideline should be the sole source of decision-making when different treatment options are considered.

Learning Objectives: