What is it about?
This study presents 12-month follow-up data from a randomized controlled trial examining preschool-based social communication treatment for young children with autism. Children with autism, aged 29-60 months, were randomized either to an 8-week program of preschool-based social communication treatment in addition to the standard preschool program or to the standard preschool program only .
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Why is it important?
Compared with those in the control group, the treated children achieved larger improvements in joint attention and joint engagement from baseline to 12-month follow-up. However, no effects were detected on language and global ratings of social functioning and communication. The treatment effect on child initiation of joint attention increased with increasing level of sociability at baseline, whereas nonverbal IQ and expressive language had no moderating effect.
Perspectives
This study may be the first to show that, similar to specialist-delivered treatment, preschool-based treatment produces small but possibly clinically important long-term changes in social communication in young children with autism. The work illustrates a novel application of the concept of joint attention.
Professor Lars Smith
University of Oslo
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Preschool-Based Social Communication Treatment for Children With Autism: 12-Month Follow-Up of a Randomized Trial, Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, February 2014, Elsevier,
DOI: 10.1016/j.jaac.2013.09.019.
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