A Pilot Randomized Trial of a Brief Mental Health Crisis Prevention Program for Autistic Youth.

This was a randomised controlled trial — people were assigned to treatments by chance, which is the most reliable way to tell whether a treatment itself caused a change.

It involved 49 people — a modest group, enough to be interesting but not enough to settle a question on its own.

The abstract does not include a conclusions section, so this page does not state what the researchers concluded.

This record does not state:

• how long the study ran

This is a plain-language summary of one paper's abstract, not medical advice. Talk to your child's clinician before changing anything.

Journal: Journal of autism and developmental disorders

Year: 2026

Design: Randomized Controlled Trial

Participants: 49

Age range: 3-12 years

Intervention: brief mental health crisis prevention program

Authors: Luther G Kalb, Jeremy Perrin, Elie Sollins, Jennifer Horton, Elizabeth A Cross, Roma A Vasa

Autistic youth are at significant risk of experiencing a mental health crisis. Unfortunately, most clinical approaches to crisis management, such as referral to the emergency department, can be traumatic. At present, no crisis prevention programs have been developed for or rigorously tested among autistic youth. The goals of this study were to develop a parent-mediated mental health crisis prevention program, delivered virtually by a licensed clinician over three 1-h sessions, and test its efficacy via a randomized controlled trial. The trial included 49 autistic youth, ages 3 to 12 years, and their parents, who were recruited from an outpatient autism center. All children had behavioral concerns but were not at acute risk of crisis. Parents in the crisis prevention program (n = 25) reported that the strategies were safe and feasible; they were also very satisfied with the program. Compared to active controls (n = 24), who received the Autism Speaks Challenging Behavior Toolkit, the crisis prevention program was found to have greater improvements in caregiver-reported knowledge, confidence, and preparedness regarding management of crisis behaviors (p < .05). However, effects on caregiver-reported child irritability and behavioral acuity did not differ (p > .05). The brief crisis prevention program is safe, feasible, and acceptable to parents. While it improves mental health crisis preparedness, further research on its efficacy in reducing crisis risk is needed.

Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2026

PMID 39948293

DOI 10.1007/s10803-025-06743-w

This record was extracted from the paper's PubMed abstract and metadata. Full-text methods and risk-of-bias details were not reviewed.