Two-year follow-up of 90 children with autism spectrum disorder receiving intensive developmental play therapy (3i method).

This study looked at 90 children with autism who received intensive play therapy called '3i method' for 2 years. The therapy involves lots of one-on-one play time each week. After 2 years, children showed significant improvements in social interaction, communication, and repetitive behaviors. More than half of the children moved to a milder autism category. Children who could speak at the start, were older, or received more than 30 hours of therapy per week showed the most improvement.

This retrospective study examined 90 children with autism spectrum disorder who received intensive developmental play therapy (3i method) for 2 years. The 3i approach involves intensive, interactive, and individual intervention. Researchers measured autism severity using CARS and ADI-R scales at baseline and 2-year follow-up. Results showed significant improvements across all measured domains: CARS scores decreased by 20%, while ADI-R subscores for interaction, communication, and repetitive behaviors decreased by 41%, 27.5%, and 25% respectively.

Over half of participants (55%) moved to a lower autism severity category. Higher treatment intensity (>30 hours/week), verbal abilities at baseline, and older age predicted better outcomes. However, the study lacked a control group for comparison.

Results suggest 3i developmental play therapy may be beneficial for children with autism, particularly those with verbal abilities. Higher intensity treatment appears more effective. However, controlled studies are needed to establish efficacy compared to other interventions before clinical recommendations can be made.

Major limitation is the lack of a control group, preventing determination of whether improvements were due to the intervention or natural development. The study was retrospective and may have selection bias. No comparison to other autism interventions was conducted.

The Intensive, Interactive, and Individual (3i) intervention approach aims to decrease the severity of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) using intensive developmental play therapy (3i). We performed a retrospective study of 90 children who were enrolled for 2 years in the 3i approach to assess changes and predictors of changes in ASD severity at follow-up (FU). The ASD severity of all patients (N = 119) who began 3i intervention between 2013 and 2018 was systematically measured using the childhood autism rating scale (CARS) and autism diagnosis interview-revised (ADI-R). Among them, 90 patients (mean age 5.6 ± 3.7 years) had a second assessment at the 2 year FU.

CARS and ADI-R scores after 2 years of 3i intervention were compared to baseline scores using paired student's t-tests. We used multiple linear regression models to assess the weight of baseline variables (e.g., age, oral language, sex, treatment intensity) on changes at the 2 year FU. Mean CARS and ADI-R subscores (interaction, communication, repetitive behaviour) decreased significantly by 20, 41, 27.5 and 25%, respectively (effect sizes: d > 0.8). Moreover, 55 and 46.7% of participants switched to a lower category of ASD severity based on the CARS scale and ADI-R interview, respectively.

Multiple linear models showed that (i) a higher treatment intensity (more than 30 h per week) was significantly associated with a greater decrease (improvement) in the ADI-R interaction score; (ii) patients categorized as verbal subjects at baseline were associated with a better outcome, as ascertained by the CARS, ADI-R interaction and ADI-R communication scores; and (iii) older patients were significantly associated with a greater decrease in the ADI-R interaction score. However, we found no impact of sex, severity of ASD or comorbidities at baseline. This study performed on 90 children suggests that 3i therapy may allow for a significant reduction in ASD severity with improvements in interaction, communication, and repetitive behaviours. A study using a control group is required to assess the efficacy of 3i play therapy compared to other interventions.