Findings from a cluster randomized trial published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology suggest that classroom teachers can effectively deliver a program for young students with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) that results in better outcomes relative to usual school-based education.

Lindee Morgan and colleagues conducted a trial of the Social, Communication, Emotional Regulation and Transactional Support (SCERTS) intervention - a  classroom-based, teacher-implemented intervention aimed at improving active engagement, adaptive communication, social skills, executive functioning, and problem behavior in elementary school students with ASD - to assess what improvement students in the intervention group made across a variety of measures compared to students in the control group. Sixty schools from three states were randomly assigned to either the intervention or control groups. Teachers in the intervention group were trained in how to deliver the SCERTS program and received coaching throughout the school year.