Parents' choices of treatments for their children with autism spectrum disorder and factors related to the choices

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder. The drastic increase in the prevalence has resulted in the rise of numerous treatment/intervention options. Although there are evidence-based treatment options, many of these treatments/interventions have been determined to be unsupported by science, ineffective, or even harmful to people with ASD. Research evidence supporting established treatments/interventions shows effectiveness for the treatment of individuals with ASD whereas ineffective treatments/interventions may cause harm to the individual or delay the potential progress of the treatment process. While parents/caregivers decide what treatment they should choose/use for their children with ASD, there are many factors influence their decision making process. Parents/caregivers of at least one child with ASD (N=229) were surveyed to determine which treatments/interventions they use and the factors that contribute to their treatment/intervention decision process. The results indicated that the most preferred treatment/intervention is exercise, the most popular source of information is recommendations from professionals while the reason they chose a treatment is that they think the treatment is effective.