Modular cognitive behavioral therapy for autism-related symptoms in children: A randomized controlled trial.

Objective: To date, no one-on-one psychotherapy protocol for elementary and middle school-aged children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has been found to be efficacious for treating autism-related symptoms such as failure to initiate social interactions. This study compared modular cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) with enhanced standard community treatment (ESCT) in terms of impact on the severity of autism-related symptoms.

Method: Children with ASD (N = 107; aged 6-13 years) were randomly assigned to a treatment condition (CBT or ESCT).