Abstract
While advances in intensive neonatal care have greatly improved survival rates among preterm infants, incidence of neurodevelopmental disorders in this group is still high, with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) being one of the most frequent. To this end, we conducted a social-communication intervention aimed at investigating efficacy in social-communicative skills. Eighteen children (preterm and full-term with ASD and preterm children) aged 18 through 20 months participated in the study. Our findings indicate that most participants in the intervention groups registered significant improvements in terms of socio-communicative skills, cognitive development, and language. Accordingly, these pilot data underscore the need for further research and implementation of early interventions in young preterm children with ASD.
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10 June 2021
A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-021-05109-2
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Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank and express their gratitude to the families who participated in this study.
Funding
This study was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness [Grant PSI2016-80575-R], and the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport [Ref.: BOE-B-2017-2646]. These funders had no role in the study design, the collection, analysis or interpretation of the data, the writing of the manuscript, or the decision to submit the paper for publication.
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ABM, RCB, and MMM designed the study; ABM and RCB wrote the manuscript; ABM, conducted the intervention program; ABM, MMM, AHF, SMD, PMG assessed families and children; ABM, MMM and EDV carried out statistical analyses and interpreted the results; MMM, AHF, EDV, CJR and MP collaborated in writing the manuscript. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
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Ethical approval was given by the Research Ethics Committee of the University of Salamanca, Spain (201700031949), and the Clinic Hospital of Salamanca, Spain (PI9910/2017).
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Bejarano-Martín, Á., Canal-Bedia, R., Magán-Maganto, M. et al. Effect of a Focused Social and Communication Intervention on Preterm Children with ASD: A Pilot Study. J Autism Dev Disord 52, 1725–1740 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-021-05068-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-021-05068-8