A systematic review of the efficacy of group social skills interventions on social functioning and social participation in children with acquired brain injury or cerebral palsy.

AIM: The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of Group social skills interventions (GSSIs) versus any comparator on social functioning in children aged 5-12 years with acquired brain injury or cerebral palsy. BACKGROUND: GSSIs are an evidence-based approach to foster social skills development in children with autism spectrum disorder. Currently, limited literature exploring GSSIs in children with acquired brain injury and cerebral palsy is available. RESULTS: MEDLINE, SCOPUS, Embase, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, PsycINFO, clinicaltrials.gov, ICTRP and ProQuest Dissertations and Theses were systematically searched. Study screening, risk-of-bias, Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation and data extraction were performed in duplicate. Six studies were included in the narrative synthesis (one randomised controlled trial and five nonrandomised studies). Results indicate that GSSIs may increase children's social skills as measured on the Social Skills Rating System and Social Skills Questionnaire. Very low certainty evidence was found for improvements in social functioning and competence. CONCLUSIONS: There is low certainty evidence that participation in GSSI may lead to gains in social functioning for children with acquired brain injury or cerebral palsy. Given the certainty of the evidence, these results must be interpreted with caution. Only one randomised controlled trial of GSSIs for children with acquired brain injury was identified, underscoring the need for additional high-quality studies.

Efficacy of very early interventions on neurodevelopmental outcomes for infants and toddlers at increased likelihood of or diagnosed with autism: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

The aim of this systematic review was to determine the efficacy of very early interventions for infants and toddlers at increased likelihood of or diagnosed with autism for autism symptomatology, developmental outcomes and/or neurocognitive markers. Eight databases were searched (14 April 2022) with inclusion criteria: (i) RCTs with care as usual (CAU) comparison group, (ii) participants at increased likelihood of or diagnosed with autism and aged <24 months corrected age (CA), (iii) parent-mediated and/or clinician directed interventions, and (iv) outcome measures were autism symptomatology, cognition, language, adaptive skills, or neurocognitive assessments (EEG and eye tracking). Quality was assessed using Risk of Bias 2 and GRADE. Nineteen publications from 12 studies reported on 715 infants and toddlers. There was low to moderate certainty evidence that clinician-assessed outcomes did not show significant treatment effects for: autism symptomatology (ADOS CSS: MD -0.08, 95% CI -0.61, 0.44, p = 0.75), cognitive outcome (Mullen Scales of Early Learning-Early Learning Composite (MSEL-ELC): SMD 0.05, 95% CI -0.19, 0.29, p = 0.67), receptive language (MSEL-Receptive Language: SMD 0.04, 95% CI -0.21, 0.3, p = 0.74) or expressive language (MSEL-Expressive Language: SMD 0.06, 95% CI -0.1, 0.23, p = 0.45). Neurocognitive outcomes (EEG and eye tracking) were heterogeneous, with inconsistent findings. There is low to moderate certainty evidence that very early interventions have limited impact on neurodevelopmental outcomes by age 3 years.