Nov 14, 2021 12:00:00

Early intervention in babies with signs of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) may reduce the rate of future diagnosis of ASD

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a diagnostic name that collectively expresses developmental disorders that were once classified as autism, Asperger's syndrome, and pervasive developmental disorder, and has characteristics such as interpersonal problems and strong commitment. increase. A new study found that intervening in infants with early signs of ASD could reduce the rate of future diagnosis of ASD.

Effect of Preemptive Intervention on Developmental Outcomes Among Infants Showing Early Signs of Autism: A Randomized Clinical Trial of Outcomes to Diagnosis | Autism Spectrum Disorders | JAMA Pediatrics | JAMA Network
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/2784066

Therapy for babies showing early signs of autism reduces the chance of clinical diagnosis at age 3
https://theconversation.com/therapy-for-babies-showing-early-signs-of-autism-reduces-the-chance-of-clinical-diagnosis-at-age-3-167146

A Landmark Autism Intervention Study Has Shown Dramatically Reduced Diagnosis Rates
https://www.sciencealert.com/landmark-autism-study-on-intervention-for-babies-reduces-clinical-diagnosis-by-two-thirds

Diagnostic criteria for ASD include persistent deficiencies in social interactions and emotional round trips, lack of interest in friends, repetitive movements and conversations, and extreme or abnormal responses to stimuli. These diagnoses are made as early as about 2 years of age and treatment begins after the diagnosis. On the other hand, early signs of ASD, such as eye contact, imitation, social smiles, and few words used, may be seen earlier than the age of two.

Research teams in the United Kingdom and Australia conducted randomized controlled trials of 103 babies who showed signs of ASD between the ages of 9 and 14 months. The research team randomly selected 50 out of 103 people to receive an intervention therapy called 'iBASIS-VIPP therapy' for 5 months, and the remaining 53 people were treated by psychologists and occupational therapists in the community. Provided the usual care available at.

iBASIS-VIPP therapy is a video recording of parent-infant interaction in everyday situations such as breastfeeding and play, and a trained therapist based on the video 'How the baby communicates.' To teach parents. This will give parents clues when communicating with their babies and help them develop their social communication skills with signs of ASD. The research team emphasizes that the tendency for ASD is innate, and that 'communication between the baby and the parent is not the cause of ASD.'

Infants who received and did not receive iBASIS-VIPP therapy were evaluated for development at 18 months, 2 years, and 3 years of age. The assessing clinician did not know if the baby was receiving iBASIS-VIPP therapy and used the information he collected to determine if the baby met the diagnostic criteria for ASD.

Of a total of 89 children tested for ASD at age 3, 9 of 44 (20.5%) who did not receive iBASIS-VIPP therapy were diagnosed with ASD, whereas iBASIS- Only 3 out of 45 children (6.7%) who received VIPP therapy were diagnosed with ASD. Many of the children still had some degree of developmental disability, but iBASIS-VIPP therapy clearly supported the development of social communication skills, and the results showed that they escaped from the criteria of ASD. The team explains.

Andrew Whitehouse, an autism researcher who was the lead author of the paper, argued that the findings are an important step forward in ASD research for children. 'We actually provide autism by providing a new clinical model, identifying children (in need of assistance) as early as possible in life, and providing supportive interventions to those who want to help them. We were able to reduce our clinical standards by two-thirds. '

The results of this study show that aggressive early intervention before the actual diagnosis of ASD may support infant development. On the other hand, this experiment only tracked children until they were three years old, and may have more symptoms of ASD in their future lives. In addition, it is important for research on ASD to focus not only on 'curing' ASD, but also on improving the lives of people living with ASD.