Clinical Research Directory

Optimizing Intervention Options for Toddlers With Early Social Communication Delays

Improving social communication outcomes for toddler siblings of children with autism, who are at high risk for multiple language and communication deficits beyond autism, has important public health implications. The proposed study is a pilot sequential multiple random assignment trial of 44 high-risk siblings that examines the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effects of an adaptive intervention for social communication. Evaluating effective parent-mediated communication support strategies for toddlers at high-risk supports NIDCD's mission of behavioral research focused on disordered language development and the prevention of health impairments such as communication disorders.

Sibwatch: Optimizing Intervention Options for Infants and Toddler Siblings of Autistic Children

This rigorous randomized controlled trial will evaluate the efficacy and acceptability of a preemptive, telehealth intervention (tele-ImPACT) in a large, representative sample of infant siblings of autistic children, who are known to be at high likelihood of receiving a future diagnosis of autism and/or developmental language disorder (HL-Sibs). If our hypotheses are supported, this innovative and interdisciplinary study will provide empirical support for a novel approach to treatment that is theoretically motivated and developmentally informed, as well as accessible for and acceptable to families, and will lend new insights into the developmental windows in which, mechanisms by which, and subgroups for which the treatment works. Such findings would have strong implications for research, policy, theory, and practice in young children at risk for autism and/or language disorder.