Interventions for Transition-Age Youth With Disabilities: A Meta-Analysis of Group Design Studies.
Occupational and physical therapy give big, fast gains in gross motor skills for transition youth with developmental disabilities.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Crowley (2022) looked at every group study that tested any therapy for teens and young adults with autism or intellectual disability.
The team pulled out numbers on how big the change was for each kind of therapy.
They wanted to see which treatments help most when kids leave high school and enter adult life.
What they found
Only one area had enough studies to combine: gross motor skills.
Occupational therapy and physical therapy together showed a large, clear win.
Other life-skills treatments looked helpful, but too few papers existed to be sure.
How this fits with other research
Adriaanse et al. (2026) did a newer meta-analysis on the same age group, but they studied challenging behavior instead of motor skills.
Their results were mixed, while Shannon’s motor results were strongly positive — the difference is the outcome, not a clash.
Wehman et al. (2017) ran a single study on an OT-flavored job program and got 90% of autistic youth hired.
That trial extends Shannon’s big-picture finding: OT-based help can deliver real-world gains for transition youth.
Why it matters
If you serve transition-age clients, you can feel confident adding or keeping OT and PT for gross motor goals.
Large effect means you should see faster balance, strength, or coordination gains that support job tasks and daily living.
Push for these services in IEP or adult plans, and track motor data to show the team why it matters.
Want CEUs on This Topic?
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ free CEUs — live every Wednesday. Ethics, supervision & clinical topics.
Join Free →Add a gross motor goal to the next transition plan and request OT or PT minutes.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
This meta-analytic review investigated interventions for transition-age youth diagnosed with autism, intellectual disability, or extensive support needs. Nineteen group design studies with 215 effect sizes met inclusion criteria. A robust variance estimation procedure that accounts for the clustering effect sizes within studies was used to synthesize effect sizes within each intervention and outcome type. Occupational Therapy/Physical Therapy interventions have significant and positive effects on gross motor outcomes (g = 0.73, p < 0.01). All remaining interventions and outcomes could not be synthesized due to a limited number of studies, but are further described in a narrative manner. Recommendations for future research include improving the methodological quality of intervention studies and further analyzing the effects of interventions for transition-age youth.
American journal on intellectual and developmental disabilities, 2022 · doi:10.1352/1944-7558-127.3.169