Floor time therapy in autism

PICHON RIVIERE, A.; AUGUSTOVSKI, F.; ALCARAZ, A.; BARDACH, A.; FERRANTE, D.; GARCIA MARTI, S.; GLUJOVSKY, D.; LOPEZ, A.; REGUEIRO, A.

Documentos de Evaluación de Tecnologías Sanitarias

IECS

Año: 2007 p. 1 - 30

1668-2793

The objective of the report was to assess the evidence available on the usefulness of Floor Time therapy in autism.A search was performed in: electronic databases (MEDLINE, LILACS, EMBASE, Cochrane Collaboration, Trip Database, York CRD), databases focused on education and psychology (ERIC, PsycINFO), health technology agencies, health sponsors and Internet\\ s general search engines. An extensive search was also started in the references from the publications found.The level of evidence found is poor: Out of the 7 publications found, only one reported a comparative study, the others were just 3 narrative reviews and 3 case reports. Shade-Monuteaux et al. published one communication about a study conducted to assess the effectiveness of an integrated approach for applied behaviour analysis associated to Floor Time therapy in children with autism spectrum disorders. They included 45 children in the treatment group and 45 in the control group. After 3 months, a significant improvement in the Early Social Communication Scale (ESCS) and in the ESCS-Q questionnaire (p<0.05) was found. Three case reports and 3 narrative reviews were found and they reported some kind of improvement in social interaction with Floor Time therapy. However, none of these reports objectively quantified this improvement. The Canadian Paediatric Society s clinical practice guidelines consider that, though there are no good quality studies conducted on education programs for autistic children and, consequently, no treatment can be considered as the gold standard, it is reasonable to have a minimum 15 hour-week of structured or individualized training, where Floor Time therapy could be a choice.