Abstract
The increasing prevalence of autism spectrum disorder around the world, along with the significant economic and other costs at the individual, family and community levels, necessitate greater focus on approaches that could help prevent the development or exacerbation of autism-related behaviour. There is a considerable amount of evidence-based practices aimed at addressing the impairments associated with autism and related impairments. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the evidence-based, non-pharmacological treatments available in the current English-language literature that target those impairments. This is a narrative review of foreign experimental studies published in peer-reviewed academic journals over the last 20 years. The paper concludes with the authors’ considerations for practice and future research. Future research examining the effectiveness of evidence-based techniques for more complex social communication skills beyond asking, initiating, responding, and maintaining social interaction seem warranted