Therapeutic outcomes across the review studies (non-experimental)
| Author (year, country) | Therapeutic domain of interest* | Therapeutic outcomes | Therapeutic outcome measures | Frequency of when the outcome measures were observed/follow-up periods |
| Rogow (1982, Canada)65 | Social | Social signals and engaging behaviour | Note taking and observation | Data were collected during the 30-min sessions daily over a period of 2 months |
| Salas et al (1988, USA)61 | Social | Improve interpersonal skills and behaviour | Note taking and observation | Data were collected during all phases of the study: phase I—October 1988 to January 1989, phase II—February to May 1989 (bimonthly sessions) and phase III— July 1989 |
| Shoemark (1991, Australia)62 | Social | Communication and social skills, interactive behaviour/enhance self esteem | Note taking and observation | Data were collected during all periods of the study: initial period—twice weekly sessions, exploratory period—twice weekly sessions, control period—not specified |
| Silliman et al (1992, USA)66 | Social | Increase compliant behaviour† | Note taking observation | Data were collected 24 hours before baseline 24 hours after the intervention phase 2 weeks and 3 months following treatment to determine if learning had been maintained |
| Kern et al (2001, USA)63 | Social | Social interaction and engagement in play | Note taking, observation and video recording | Data were gathered daily during the 7 months period |
| Villasenor et al (2012, USA)67 | Social | Improve functional skills: attention, speech and language, self-regulation, sensory integration | Observation, video recording and interviews | One interview during the intervention phase (up to 20 weeks) and one interview after the intervention phase |
| Desrocher et al (2014, USA)68 | Social | Improve problem behaviour‡ | Observation and video recording | Data were collected during all six sessions over 3 days |
| Metell (2015, Norway)64 | Social | Bonding and interaction | Note taking, observation, video recordings and interviews with caregivers | Data were collected through 48 session notes, 29 field notes, 3 interviews with caregivers and 1 interview with two special teachers were conducted |
| Villas Boas et al (Brazil, 2016)69 | Social | Improve attention and communicative behaviours | Observation and video recording | Data were collected from the 119:04 (minutes:seconds) recordings of interaction between the teacher and the child. The tapes were transcribed (82:02) and the recording time was encoded, which allowed the marking and location of behaviours to facilitate analysis of the data |
*Social—includes social engagement, bonding and interaction, change in behaviour and social skills (eg, communication); mental health—includes well-being, anxiety, depression, psychological stress; physiological/health-related outcomes—includes blood pressure/heart rate; quality of life—includes any health-related quality of life measures.
†Behaviour measured as improving compliance to perform four gross motor skills: walking, stair climbing, standing and sitting.
‡Problem behaviours included standing up, hand hitting and mouth tapping.