Background: Communication impairments are a leading concern for parent caregivers of individuals with rare neurodevelopmental disorders (RNDDs). Clinical trials of disease modifying therapies require valid and responsive outcome measures that are relevant to individuals with RNDDs. Identifying and evaluating current psychometric properties for…

CDKL5 deficiency disorder (CDD) results in early-onset epilepsy and lifelong cognitive and motor impairments. With no validated measure for communication in CDD, this study evaluated the psychometric properties of the Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales-Developmental Profile Infant Toddler Checklist (CSBS-DP ITC). Caregivers (n = 150;…

Autistic children's play provides insights into social, communication, and other skills; however, methods for measuring these observations can be labor-intensive and rely on subjective judgment. This study explored whether children's movement and location during play measured via automated video tracking correlates with clinical features. Movement…

Although it has been found that autistic children exhibit delays in executive function abilities and atypical patterns of attention, less is known about the relationship between executive function and attention abilities and social and language skills in early childhood. In this study, 180 autistic children, age 2-8 years, participated in a study…

Controlled studies examining canine therapy in autism spectrum disorder are scarce. This study examined the effectiveness of a "Dog Training Intervention" on adaptive skills, autism severity, and anxiety using a controlled crossover design. Seventy-three participants diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (M[subscript age] = 4:10 ± 1:0)…

We used parent-report data from a prospective longitudinal study to better understand the early strengths in written skills often observed in preschoolers on the spectrum. Consistent with previous research, children demonstrated relative strengths in standardized written communication compared to spoken communication scores on the VABS-II. We…

The Early Start Denver Model (ESDM) is a promising early intervention for promoting improved social, cognitive, and communication outcomes for young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, most studies evaluating group-based delivery of this program have used 15-25 h per week of intervention in specialized ESDM preschools with low…

Executive functions (EFs) are foundational for the development of cognitive and social capacities critical for school readiness. The importance of promoting EF skills prior to school entry is increasing recognized but few preschool classroom-based interventions specifically target EF skills. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness…

Background and aims: The quality of parent verbal input--diverse vocabulary that is well-matched to the child's developmental level within interactions that are responsive to their interests--has been found to positively impact child language skills. For typically developing (TD) children, there is evidence that more advanced linguistic and social…

Background: Using progress monitoring data to make effective and timely decisions in early intervention (EI) requires high quality assessment. Infant/toddler individual growth and development indicators (I/T IGDIs) have been developed to be brief, reliable and engaging progress monitoring tools that are sensitive to change over short time periods…

The main objective of the present study was to evaluate the efficacy of peer training in pivotal response treatment (PRT) for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in their first year of school. Four 6-year-old boys with ASD and eight typically developing (TD) children (aged 4-6 years) participated in the study. A non-concurrent…

As an increasing number of individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) matriculate on college campuses, all stakeholders should be prepared to meet their needs. Despite a body of literature describing adaptive behavior deficits of individuals with ASD, there is a paucity of research examining these skills among those who are college-ready. The…

This study reports child and family outcomes from a community-based, quasi-experimental pilot trial of "Project ImPACT for Toddlers" that is a parent-mediated, naturalistic, developmental behavioral intervention for children with or at-risk for autism spectrum disorder developed through a research-community partnership. Community early…

A retrospective review of initial early intervention and early childhood special education (EI/ECSE) evaluation reports was completed to identify practices specific to the evaluation of Latinx children's communication development. A records abstraction approach employed entailed a random selection of 294 EI/ECSE evaluation reports completed in…

Online Parent Training in Early Behavioral Intervention (OPT-In-Early) is a self-directed resource for caregivers of autistic children. Sixty-three parent-child dyads from three states in were randomized to the OPT-In-Early or treatment as usual group. Parents in both groups completed baseline and post-treatment visits, which were targeted for 4…