Despite the need for evidence-based practice for children with autism spectrum disorders in the community, especially in areas with a scarcity of qualified experts and high financial costs, there is a lack of evidence concerning the potential benefits of early interventions which may be affordable in the real world (e.g. low-intensity behavioral or eclectic interventions). This study examined behavioral changes in preschool-aged children with autism spectrum disorders who received low-intensity behavioral interventions (a mean of 5.5 h per week) or non-behavioral eclectic interventions delivered in community settings in Japan across a 1-year period and compared outcomes between the groups. We assessed children’s developmental quotient, adaptive behavior, autism symptom/severity, and maternal stress and depression at baseline and after 1 year. Our results revealed that children receiving interventions in their communities showed improvement in language and social development. Further, the degree of improvement in children receiving low-intensity behavioral interventions was significantly greater than in children receiving non-behavioral eclectic interventions. The improvement was associated with the intensity of total, especially one-to-one interventions. On the other hand, there were no group differences in the degree of improvement in other outcome measures. Our results suggest that some preschool-aged children with autism spectrum disorder may benefit from low-intensity behavioral interventions for their language and social development. A greater intensity of one-to-one interventions was found to be associated with greater progress in language development and communication skills. The current study highlights the importance of implementing early interventions in the community, even at a low intensity.

尽管社区中需要为自闭症谱系障碍儿童提供循证医学实践，特别是在缺乏合格专家和财务费用高昂的地区，但仍缺乏证据表明早期干预措施的潜在益处，而早期干预措施可能是负担得起的。现实世界（例如低强度的行为或折衷干预）。这项研究调查了在日本社区环境中接受低强度行为干预（平均每周5.5小时）或在一年内在社区实施的非行为折衷干预的学龄前自闭症谱系障碍儿童的行为变化，并进行了比较组之间的结果。我们评估了儿童在基线时和一年后的发育商，适应行为，自闭症症状/严重程度以及母亲的压力和抑郁。我们的研究结果表明，在社区接受干预的儿童的语言和社会发展得到改善。此外，接受低强度行为干预的儿童的改善程度明显高于接受非行为折衷干预的儿童。改善与总强度有关，尤其是一对一干预。另一方面，其他结局指标在改善程度上没有群体差异。我们的结果表明，一些自闭症谱系障碍的学龄前儿童可能会从低强度行为干预中受益，以改善他们的语言和社会发展。人们发现，更大的一对一干预力度与语言发展和交流技巧的进步有关。