SynthesisFrontiers in pediatrics2024
A systematic review of the effect of sandplay therapy on social communication deficits in children with autism spectrum disorder.
Synthesis in Frontiers in pediatrics, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Effects of improved creative play interventions on social communication, behavioral, and cognitive function in children with autism spectrum disorder: a randomized controlled trial.Frontiers in public health · 2026Trial
- A Review of Therapeutic Approaches for Autism Spectrum Disorder.Brain sciences · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Objective: To explore the efficacy of sandplay therapy in intervening social communication deficits in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), and whether this efficacy is influenced by the age of the children and the dosage of sandplay therapy intervention. Methods: Following the PICOS principle, randomized controlled trials (RCTs) related to sandplay therapy for social communication deficits in ASD children were retrieved from seven databases: PubMed, WOS, The Cochrane Library, Embase, CNKI, Wanfang, and VIP, from the inception of each database to November 10, 2023. Two experimenters independently conducted study screening and excluded studies with concomitant diseases, incomplete data, unextractable data, and non-randomized controlled trials. The PEDro scale was used for methodological quality assessment, and the GRADEprofiler method was employed to evaluate the quality of evidence. Stata17 software was used for meta-analysis, subgroup analysis, sensitivity analysis, and publication bias testing. The standardized mean difference (SMD) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were used as the effect statistics. Results: A total of 12 RCTs (791 cases) were included. Sandplay therapy had a positive impact on the social communication deficits of ASD children [SMD = -1.42, 95%CI (-1.79, -1.04), Discussion: The quality of evidence in this study was rated as high, with good methodological quality, including 12 studies with better quality and no detection of bias risk. The study had high heterogeneity, which was attributed to the measurement tools and intervention duration through subgroup analysis, with no inconsistency found. Additionally, no downgrade factors related to imprecision, publication bias, or indirectness were identified. In conclusion, sandplay therapy is an effective measure to improve social communication deficits in children with ASD, and current evidence recommends early intervention using an individual sandplay therapy or integrated sandplay therapy intervention program once a week for 22-28 weeks, which can serve as evidence-based clinical guidance. Systematic Review Registration: www.crd.york.ac.uk, identifier (CRD420234821750).
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.