1. Fitzgerald B, McCusker C, Dempsey M, Dunn Galvin A. Family Processes and the Emotional and Behavioural Well-being of Autistic Children and Youth: A Systematic Review of Prospective Studies. Review Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders;2025 (2025/06/01);12(2):1-27.

Emotional and behavioural difficulties including depression, anxiety, and hyperactivity are elevated in autistic children (AC). Family processes of a psychological nature are associated with these difficulties, but the direction of influence is uncertain. We searched seven bibliographic databases for prospective, quantitative studies on the impact of family processes across the parent, dyad, and family system levels on the later well-being of AC without intellectual disability, across a minimum of six months. Eligible studies were extracted following PRISMA guidelines and narratively synthesised. Sixteen of the 17 studies included for review reported significant associations between at least one family process and later well-being. Parenting stress and aspects of the parent–child relationship yielded most robust associations. Weaker support was found for parent mental health problems. Clinical and research implications are discussed.

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2. Patel B, Patel B, Srinivasan S. Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Children and Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder: a Concise Systematic Review. Review Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders;2025 (2025/06/01);12(2):171-177.

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3. Bundy R, Mandy W, Kenny L, Ali D. Autistic People and Telehealth Practice During the COVID-19 Pandemic: a Scoping Review. Review Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders;2025 (2025/06/01);12(2):178-196.

Restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic necessitated changes to health and social care services, including the use of telehealth. Prior to COVID-19, there was interest in telehealth for autistic people; however, little is known about its use during the pandemic. This scoping review focused on telehealth for autistic people during the pandemic. It was pre-registered on PROSPERO, and the PRISMA extension for scoping reviews was followed. Ten databases identified 45 sources, which were categorised into two themes: (1) the nature of the shift to telehealth during the pandemic and (2) service evaluations. Large disruptions were reported across settings, and experiences were variable. New areas were developed, including telehealth with autistic children and adults, autistic people with intellectual disabilities, and minimally verbal autistic people.

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4. Blennerhassett C, Richards M, Clayton S. Caregiver-Implemented Feeding Interventions for Autistic Children with Food Selectivity: a Systematic Review. Review Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders;2025 (2025/06/01);12(2):224-242.

Caregiver-led interventions have been implemented to improve food selectivity in autistic children. This systematic review assesses the meaningfulness of improvements in food, behaviour, and family outcomes, alongside the acceptability of said interventions. Four key academic databases were searched using key terms related to autism, food selectivity, and parent-led interventions. Thirsty-six studies were reviewed and improvements in food outcomes were reported in all studies, but it was unclear how meaningful this was for the child’s nutritional status. In addition, it was difficult to draw meaningful conclusions about the acceptability of interventions in the family environment. Future parent-led interventions should measure food outcomes in a standardised way that considers the nutritional status of the child and include detailed exploration of intervention acceptability.

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5. Clarke M, McLay L, France K, Blampied N, van Deurs J. Telehealth-Delivered Supports for Daily Living Skills for Autistic Children: a Systematic Review. Review Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders;2025 (2025/06/01);12(2):243-272.

The global prevalence of autism has increased markedly in recent years, resulting in a surge in demand for services. Telehealth interventions offer an alternative to traditional service delivery, however, research is needed to examine the effectiveness of telehealth-delivered interventions for daily living skills (DLS; e.g., sleeping, eating, personal hygiene). This review summarized and appraised 17 studies investigating the effectiveness and social validity of telehealth-delivered behavioral interventions (TDBIs) for DLS for autistic children. Most interventions were parent-implemented with clinician coaching via synchronous video coaching. Web-based resources and workbooks were standard features of interventions. TDBIs resulted in improved DLS for autistic children, however, a limited number of studies and lack of methodological rigor limit the conclusions that can be drawn. Avenues for future research are suggested.

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6. Alatar W, Knott F, Loucas T. The Effectiveness of Telemedicine in Coaching Parents of Autistic Children Using Naturalistic Developmental Early Interventions: a Rapid Review. Review Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders;2025 (2025/06/01);12(2):273-289.

Evidence on the effectiveness of telemedicine in coaching parents of autistic children using naturalistic developmental early interventions is limited. This review aimed to examine the literature on the effectiveness of telemedicine on children’s social communication following parent-mediated naturalistic developmental early interventions. A total of nine studies were identified. Intervention characteristics, outcomes, and research quality were assessed. Findings suggest insufficient evidence for the effectiveness of telemedicine on child social communication. All the included studies were at high risk of bias in at least one quality indicator of the risk of bias tools. More high-quality research is required to examine the effectiveness of telemedicine applications on child social communication to support access and continuity of early intervention services.

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7. Elmquist M, Crowe B, Wattanawongwan S, Reichle J, Pierson L, Simacek J, Hong ER, Liao C-Y, Ganz JB. Caregiver-Implemented AAC Interventions for Children with Intellectual or Developmental Disabilities: a Systematic Review. Review Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders;2025 (2025/06/01);12(2):290-310.

Many children with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities benefit from augmentative and alternative communication strategies (AAC) to increase their communicative competency. Furthermore, caregiver-implemented AAC interventions are an effective and efficient strategy to improve communication outcomes. We reviewed the caregiver-implemented AAC intervention literature to assess child and caregiver characteristics, what kind of interventions caregivers were taught, how caregivers were trained, and how studies evaluated caregiver implementation. We found that families from marginalized backgrounds were underrepresented. Most studies used functional behavioral interventions and various teaching strategies, and few included caregiver-dependent variables. We discuss our results in the context of improving future caregiver-implemented AAC interventions and, in turn, child communication outcomes.

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8. Li C, Burke MM. A Systematic Literature Review of the Patterns of School-Home Communication Among Caregivers of Children with Autism. Review Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders;2025 (2025/06/01);12(2):311-322.

Despite the importance of caregiver involvement in special education, research examining school-home communication among families of children with autism has only begun to emerge in recent years. Further, it is unclear how caregivers of children with autism perceive the impact of the different dimensions of communication on family-professional partnerships and child outcomes. In this systematic literature review, we examined 25 studies about school-home communication. Overwhelmingly, caregivers report the need for frequent, honest, and open communication with the school. Moreover, family-professional partnerships and caregiver involvement are impacted by how educators value caregivers’ input. School-home communication also demonstrates positive effects on child behavioral outcomes. Limitations, directions for future research, and implications for practice are discussed.

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9. Avery SK, Akers JS, Gerow S, Exline E. The Use of Caregiver-Implemented Visual Supports for Individuals with Developmental Disabilities: A Systematic Literature Review. Review Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders;2025 (2025/06/01);12(2):323-341.

Children with developmental disabilities often have difficulty completing complex multistep tasks, such as daily living skills or leisure and play skills, which often occur in children’s homes. The use of visual supports can increase the predictability of routines and clarify behavioral expectations for children with developmental disabilities. Thus, increasing the likelihood that these children will independently engage in these complex tasks. Caregivers are important stakeholders, especially when it comes to interventions that occur in the family home. Therefore, it is important for researchers to continue to evaluate the effectiveness of caregiver-implemented interventions with visual supports in the home setting. The purpose of the current review was to systematically evaluate the use of caregiver-implemented visual support interventions using the categories of visual supports identified by (Rutherford et al., Autism 24:447–469, 2020). We reviewed 16 studies with 37 participants that examined caregiver-implemented visual supports in the home. We found that visual schedules were the most commonly used visual support. In the studies that included visual schedules, researchers instructed caregivers to use visual schedules to promote their child’s completion of daily living skills most often. Based on these findings, we discuss considerations for implementing these interventions, quality and social validity of caregiver-implemented visual support interventions, and areas of future research.

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10. Alharbi H, Terlektsi E, Kossyvaki L. Dialogic Reading Effect on Communicative Initiations and Responses for Children with Autism: a Systematic Review. Review Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders;2025 (2025/06/01);12(2):342-362.

Dialogic reading (DR) is an evidence-based interactive shared reading intervention. This systematic review investigated the effect of DR interventions on the communicative initiations and responses of children with autism, an area of great difficulty for most individuals with autism. More precisely, the paper aimed to (a) describe the characteristics of DR interventions, (b) evaluate the outcomes and effectiveness of DR interventions, and (c) synthesize the quality of the studies. Nine experimental studies were included in the review in which the original DR intervention or adapted versions of it were examined. All studies provided strong to adequate research report strength. Although the review showed inconsistent effects of the interventions on the communicative initiations and responses of children with autism, it concluded that DR can be a promising and beneficial shared reading intervention.

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11. Carnett A, Devine B, Ingvarsson E, Esch B. A Systematic and Quality Review of Augmentative and Alternative Communication Interventions that use Core Vocabulary. Review Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders;2025 (2025/06/01);12(2):363-379.

Core vocabulary is defined as “lexical items that are accepted as being central and indispensable to language use” (Bell, 2012, p. 1). Use of core vocabulary is common amongst professionals who teach augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) to individuals with disabilities. Although the use of AAC is often classified as an evidence-based practice (EBP) (Steinbrenner et al., 2020; Wong et al., Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 45(7), 1951–1966, 2015) an analysis of the relevant intervention procedures as well as the vocabulary used is often missing from syntheses of the literature. Therefore, a systematic review was conducted to determine the quality and strength of the evidence for AAC interventions that use core vocabulary. A systematic database search and a subsequent screening process resulted in a total of 10 peer-reviewed studies that involved an AAC intervention that used core vocabulary. Each study’s outcomes were then categorized as positive, mixed, or negative and a quality review was performed using the Council for Exceptional Children’s (CEC) standards for evidence-based practices (Cook et al., Teaching Exceptional Children, 46(6), 206-212, 2015a; Remedial and Special Education, 36, 220-234, 2015b). Overall, the results suggest a lack of strong evidence in favor of AAC interventions that use core vocabulary. The results are discussed in the context of general suggestions for vocabulary selection and teaching practices for AAC systems.

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12. Khokhar N, Cox AD, Kozluk A. A Systematic Approach to Explore the Rigor of Applied Behavioral Pharmacology Research. Review Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders;2025 (2025/06/01);12(2):380-396.

Applied behavioral pharmacology explores how drugs may influence problem behavior in persons with intellectual and developmental disability (IDD). A comprehensive review was conducted featuring single-case experimental designs in the domain of applied behavioral pharmacology to evaluate and report on study quality. Studies included in the review featured participants with a diagnosis of IDD, with problem behavior as the intervention target, and who were receiving psychotropic medications to address problem behavior. Fifty-five articles met criteria and were scored using a 20-item literature-informed Quality Indicator Checklist. Total checklist scores ranged between 32 and 81% which suggest room for improvement regarding the methodological rigor of research in this domain. Barriers and possible solutions to improving study quality are discussed.

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