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. 2023 Mar;45(1):39-62.
doi: 10.1177/10538151211067227. Epub 2022 Feb 4.

Toddlers at Elevated Likelihood for Autism: Exploring Sensory and Language Treatment Predictors

Alapika Jatkar  1 , Dunia Garrido  2 , Shuting Zheng  3 , Greyson Silverman  4 , Heba Elsayed  4   5 , Paige Huguely Davis  1 , Helen Lee  6 , Elizabeth R Crais  4 , John Sideris  6 , Lauren Turner-Brown  7 , Grace T Baranek  6 , Linda R Watson  4 , Rebecca Grzadzinski  1
Affiliations

Toddlers at Elevated Likelihood for Autism: Exploring Sensory and Language Treatment Predictors

Alapika Jatkar et al. J Early Interv. 2023 Mar.

Abstract

Baseline child characteristics may predict treatment outcomes in children with or at elevated likelihood of developing autism (EL-ASD). Little is known about the role of child sensory and language features on treatment outcome. Participants were randomly assigned to a parent-mediated intervention or control condition. Analyses explored the relationship between baseline child sensory and language characteristics and changes in ASD symptoms over approximately 9 months. Higher baseline sensory hyporeactivity was significantly related to less improvement in social communication (SC) for the treatment group only. More baseline atypical vocalizations were significantly related to less improvement on SC across treatment and control groups. This work provides an initial framework to encourage the tailoring of interventions for EL-ASD children, suggesting sensory reactivity and atypical vocalizations may be useful behaviors to consider in treatment planning.

Keywords: autism spectrum disorders; child development; disabilities and development delays; infants and toddlers; language and communication; young children.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Language variables.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
BOSCC SC change ratio versus SPA hyporeactivity.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
BOSCC SC change ratio versus number of atypical vocalizations.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
BOSCC RRB change ratio versus number of atypical vocalizations.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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