Engaging Autism: Interventions for Improving Social Communication Outcomes

Early interventions for children with ASD have resulted in greater numbers of children entering mainstream settings, and fewer children entering school as minimally verbal. While we have several effective behavioral interventions, heterogeneity in response to treatment remains a significant challenge. Our approach to addressing heterogeneity and response to treatment has been 1) the development of targeted and modular interventions that address core areas of impairment in children with ASD, and 2) methodologies that address response to intervention with the goal of personalizing treatment. This talk will describe our work in applying targeted interventions for improving social communication outcomes across a range of developmental ages, delivered in authentic community settings, and mediated through multiple individuals. Underserved, and under-represented groups of children will be highlighted, including minimally verbal school aged children, and girls, as well as methods for systematically adapting interventions based on child response. To further the goal of personalized treatment, future challenges center on greater specification of the active ingredients of interventions, and individual differences in predicting response to treatments.