title: Effectiveness of community-based treatment on clinical outcome in children with autism spectrum disorders: An Italian prospective study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Little is known about outcomes of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) interventions in real-life settings. The main aim of this naturalistic study was to collect real-life data on the actual ASDs treatment practices in Italy.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cohort of 48 children undergoing community-based interventions was observed in terms of personal and environmental characteristics, treatment typology and outcomes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  An earlier start of treatment was associated with an improvement of autistic symptoms, independently from symptoms severity (p < 0.05), but not with improvements in terms of intelligence quotient (p = 0.8). Children belonging to lower socioeconomic status families began treatment later (48.0 months) than those belonging to middle (39.8 months) or upper (39.2 months) classes (p < 0.05), and received less hours of treatment.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The study showed that ASDs interventions should be observed not only in experimental settings, but also in naturalistic environments, so to appraise the actual effectiveness of integrating different treatment methods in community settings.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Neuroscience , Pediatric Neurology Unit, Tor Vergata University of Rome , Rome , Italy .
authors.forename: Arianna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Benvenuto
authors.affiliation: a Department of Neuroscience , Pediatric Neurology Unit, Tor Vergata University of Rome , Rome , Italy .
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Battan
authors.affiliation: b Centre for Communication and Neurorehabilitation Research-CNAPP , Rome , Italy , and.
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Benassi
authors.affiliation: b Centre for Communication and Neurorehabilitation Research-CNAPP , Rome , Italy , and.|c Department of Biomedicine and Prevention , University of Rome "Tor Vergata" , Rome , Italy.
authors.forename: Leonardo Emberti
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: Gialloreti
authors.affiliation: a Department of Neuroscience , Pediatric Neurology Unit, Tor Vergata University of Rome , Rome , Italy .
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Curatolo
mesh_terms: D000067877:Autism Spectrum Disorder / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003156:Community Mental Health Services / Q000379:methods*; D018479:Early Intervention, Educational; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007558:Italy; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012923:Social Class; D061665:Time-to-Treatment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
keywords: Autism spectrum disorders; early treatment; naturalistic settings; predictors of outcome