Applying the World Health Organization's International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health to speech-language pathology social communication interventions for autistic children and youth: A scoping review.

The World Health Organization's International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) aligns with the neurodiversity paradigm in viewing autistic people's social communication holistically and in a strength-based manner. In this scoping review, we explored how social communication interventions for autistic children and youth map onto the domains of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health in the field of speech-language pathology. OVID Medline, OVID Embase, OVID PsycINFO and Web of Science databases were searched to identify relevant articles. Population, intervention and study data were extracted, as well as data on each of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health domains related to the social communication interventions. In total, 21 articles were included in our analysis. No studies explicitly mentioned the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health. All the studies focused on participation and environmental factors (e.g., people's attitudes, physical environment), and some studies discussed other International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health domains such as body structures and functions, personal factors and activities. The examples provided for each International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health domain may be helpful for clinicians and researchers looking to understand how components of social communication interventions link to International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health categories. Future work could analyse how social communication interventions in other fields (e.g., psychology, occupational therapy) map onto the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health.Lay abstractThis review article investigates how the World Health Organization's International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health can be applied to better understand speech-language pathology social communication interventions. In recent years, academic articles have supported thinking differently about how autistic people communicate, including the many strengths autistic people have and how other people and the environment influence communication. The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health is a holistic, widely used framework that provides a neurodiversity-affirming perspective on social communication interventions for autistic children. We did not find any published literature applying the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health to speech-language pathology social communication interventions for autistic children and youth and therefore wanted to explore whether and how social communication interventions reflect International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health concepts. To answer this question, we searched the academic literature using several databases using a methodology called a scoping review. We included articles that had autistic children and youth as participants and focused on social communication interventions in the field of speech-language pathology. We found 21 articles that met our inclusion criteria. No studies talked explicitly about the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health. All the studies focused on participation and environmental factors (e.g., people's attitudes, physical environment), and some studies discussed other International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health domains such as body structures and functions, personal factors and activities. It is important for speech-language pathology social communication interventions to consider how the physical environment, social environment and personal factors impact social communication. Clinicians and researchers may find our application of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health to social communication interventions useful to shape how they think about interventions.