In fields (such as population health) where randomised trials are often lacking, systematic reviews (SRs) can harness diversity in study design, settings and populations to assess the evidence for a putative causal relationship. SRs may incorporate causal assessment approaches (CAAs), sometimes called 'causal reviews', but there is currently no…

Background/Context: Methodological background: Meta-analysis typically depends on the assumption that true effects follow the normal distribution. While assuming normality of effect "estimates" is often supported by a central limit theorem, normality for the distribution of interventions' "true" effects is a computational…

Multilevel meta-analysis is an innovative synthesis technique used for the quantitative integration of effect size estimates across participants and across studies. The quantitative summary allows for objective, evidence-based, and informed decisions in research, practice, and policy. Based on previous methodological work, the technique results in…

Communicating with peers often poses challenges for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD); these social interactions, however, can be especially difficult during the teenage years. For many adolescents with ASD, peer interaction is often limited or nonexistent, even for those taught in general education settings. The purpose of this…

This systematic review investigated one systematic approach to designing, implementing, and evaluating functional assessment-based interventions (FABI) for use in supporting school-age students with or at-risk for high-incidence disabilities. We field tested several recently developed methods for single-case design syntheses. First, we appraised…

The purpose of this review was to identify naturalistic language interventions for increasing spontaneous expressive language (defined in this review as absence of verbal prompt or other verbalization from adults or peers) in young children with autism spectrum disorder. Also, the methodological rigor and effectiveness of each study were evaluated…

This study examined how specific guidelines and heuristics have been used to identify methodological rigor associated with single-case research designs based on quality indicators developed by Horner et al. Specifically, this article describes how literature reviews have applied Horner et al.'s quality indicators and evidence-based criteria.…

Evidence-based practices (EBPs) are supported as generally effective for populations of learners by bodies of high-quality and experimental research and, when aligned with stakeholder values and practical needs, should be prioritized for implementation. However, evidence-based practices are not currently available for all learner types in all…

We conducted a meta-analysis of 15 studies on maternal prenatal smoking and ASD risk in offspring. Using a random-effects model, we found no evidence of an association (summary OR 1.02, 95% CI 0.93-1.12). Stratifying by study design, birth year, type of healthcare system, and adjustment for socioeconomic status or psychiatric history did not alter…

Optimal levels of treatment fidelity, a critical moderator of intervention effectiveness, are often difficult to sustain in applied settings. It is unknown whether performance feedback, a widely researched method for increasing educators' treatment fidelity, is an evidence-based practice. The purpose of this review was to evaluate the current…

The article reports on the findings of a review of empirical studies examining the implementation of evidence-based practice (EBP) in the human services. Eleven studies were located that defined EBP as a research-informed, clinical decision-making process and identified barriers and facilitators to EBP implementation. A thematic analysis of the…

The purpose of this article is to motivate the use of effect size (ES) for single-subject research in clinical phonology, with an eye towards meta-analyses of treatment effects for children with phonological disorders. Standard mean difference (SMD) is introduced and illustrated as one ES well suited to the multiple baseline (MBL) design and…

This review presents a novel framework for evaluating evidence based on a set of parallel criteria that can be applied to both group and single-subject experimental design (SSED) studies. The authors illustrate use of this evaluation system in a systematic review of 67 articles investigating social skills interventions for preschoolers with autism…

The purpose of this study was to determine if meta-analysis can be used to enhance efforts to identify evidence-based practices (EBPs). In this study, the quality of included studies acted as the moderating variable. I used the quality indicators for experimental and quasi-experimental research developed by Gersten, Fuchs, Coyne, Greenwood, and…

Research indicates that increasing teacher-directed opportunities to respond (TD-OTR) positively impacts student outcomes. Prior reviews of the empirical literature focused on outcomes for students with emotional behavioral disorders or on TD-OTRs as one of many classroom-management practices; however, prior reviews did not examine effects of…