Efficacy of structured teaching program for rehabilitation of children with autism spectrum disorder: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background & Objective: The Structured Teaching Program, based on the Treatment and Education of Autistic and Related Communication Handicapped Children (TEACCH) program approach, has been a cornerstone in the educational rehabilitation of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study assesses the efficacy of structured teaching program in managing ASD children.

Methodology: Systematic search of Medline, Google Scholar, ScienceDirect, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials and trial registries was done for trials comparing structured teaching program with no treatment, alternative treatments, or as part of multimodal intervention in children with ASD from inception of database till end date of search (31 January 2025). We used Cochrane risk of bias-2 tool and risk of bias tool for non-randomized trials to assess quality of studies and effect sizes were calculated using standardized mean differences (SMD) with 95% confidence interval (CI).

Results: Pooled analysis included 10 studies. Significant (p<0.05) improvements were observed in fine (SMD=0.45; 95%CI: 0.12 to 0.79) and gross motor skills (SMD=0.54; 95%CI: 0.21 to 0.88). High heterogeneity was found across most outcomes. However, no significant improvements were noted in communication (SMD=-0.33; 95%CI: -1.99 to 1.33), socialization (SMD=0.12; 95%CI: -0.61 to 0.85), daily living (SMD=-0.09; 95%CI: -1.62 to 1.44) and cognitive performance (SMD=0.07; 95%CI: -0.43 to 0.57).

Conclusion: The structured teaching program shows potential in improving motor skills in children with ASD but does not consistently enhance other developmental domains. Personalizing structured teaching program to individual needs and integrating it with other therapies may be necessary to maximize its efficacy.