Simple Strategies Lead to Improvements in 1 Year-Olds at Risk for Autism

9th February, 2015

13 February 2015, Autism, Newsletter, SLP, Social Skills

[Source: Medical News Today]

imitation

A new study by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers finds that a collection of simple strategies used by parents can lead to significant improvements in one-year-olds at risk for autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

In the study, published in Autism Research and Treatment, a group of UNC faculty from the departments of Allied Health Sciences, Psychiatry and Psychology followed 18 families with a one-year-old child at risk for ASD. They compared the effects of a parent-coaching, home-based intervention called “Adapted Responsive Teaching” (ART) versus referral to early intervention and monitoring.

“We identified families with one-year-old infants in a community sample who were at-risk for ASD, and successfully recruited them into our intervention study prior to an age where full-blown autism symptoms are typically evident. For many families, we facilitated access to early intervention and improved their child’s outcomes.” said Grace Baranek, PhD, lead author of the study and an autism researcher with the Program for Early Autism, Research, Leadership and Service (PEARLS) in the Department of Allied Health Sciences at the UNC School of Medicine.

Read the Rest of this Articleon Medical News Today

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