By Rick Nauert PhD Senior News Editor Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on September 10, 2014
Provocative new research suggests treatment for autism during infancy can significantly reduce symptoms so that by age three, most who received the therapy had neither autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) nor developmental delay.
Researchers from the University of California, Davis MIND Institute developed the therapeutic program known as Infant Start for six to 15-month-old infants who exhibited marked autism symptoms, such as decreased eye contact, social interest or engagement, repetitive movement patterns, and a lack of intentional communication.
The therapy is performed over a six-month period. Investigators believe a critical aspect of the program is the delivery of the intervention by the people who are most in tune with and spent the most time with the babies: the parents.
The article is co-authored by psychologists Drs. Sally J. Rogers and Sally Ozonoff and is found online in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.
Most of the children in the study, six out of seven, caught up in all of their learning skills and their language by the time they were two to three, said Rogers, the studys lead author and the developer of the Infant Start therapy. Most children with ASD are barely even getting diagnosed by then.
For the children who are achieving typical developmental rates, we are essentially ameliorating their developmental delays, Rogers said.
We have speeded up their developmental rates and profiles, not for every child in our sample, but for six of the seven.
Rogers credited the parents in the small, pilot study with making the difference.
It was the parents not therapists who did that, she said.
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Pilot Program Finds Early Autism Intervention Beneficial