Interventions for children with autism in China: A scoping review of current research

In the past decade, childhood autism intervention in China has been in a stage of vigorous development, but there is still a lack of a comprehensive review of interventions.

PubMed, Embase, the APA PsycINFO, CNKI, WanFang, VIP, and SinoMed were systematically searched for publications from core Chinese journals and dissertations, as well as English peer-reviewed journal papers from 2014 to 2024. Two researchers extracted information from publications after independent screening. According to the Evidence-Based Practice report by the National Center for Professional Development of Autism Spectrum Disorder in the United States, the interventions used in included studies were divided into three categories: evidence-based interventions, interventions with a certain evidence base, and interventions not included in the manual.

The review included 134 articles containing 19 different types of interventions, and the characteristics and assessment tools were summarized. Fourteen evidence-based interventions and 2 interventions with a certain evidence base were extracted. There are also 3 interventions not included in the manual but summarized due to their widespread use.

This scoping review summarizes the characteristics and trends of autism intervention research in China over the past decade. We summarize 14 common types of interventions, including implementation methods, measurement tools, and efficacy. More evidence-based interventions should be implemented in the future, with a greater focus on female and remote children with autism.