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After Early Autism Diagnosis: Changes in Intervention and Parent–Child Interaction

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Abstract

This study documents the relation between an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnosis, increases in intervention, and changes in parent–child interaction quality. Information about intervention and observations of interaction were collected before diagnosis and a half year after diagnosis for 79 low-risk toddlers who had screened positive for ASD risk during a well-baby checkup. Children diagnosed with ASD (n = 44) were 2.69 times more likely to increase intervention hours. After ASD diagnosis, the relation between intervention and interaction quality was complex: although increases in intervention and interaction quality were only modestly related, the overall amount of intervention after diagnosis was associated with higher quality interactions. Moreover, lower quality interactions before diagnosis significantly increased the likelihood that intervention would increase post-diagnosis.

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Acknowledgments

This study was funded by grants from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R01HD035612; R01HD039961) and Autism Speaks (Targeted Research Award #8368). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development or the National Institutes of Health. Portions of this study were presented at the 2012 international meeting of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, Atlanta, GA and the 2014 International Meeting for Autism Research, Atlanta, GA. The authors thank Brooke Nelson, Ann Grossniklaus, Amber Shoaib, Glencora King, Benjamin Brandon, Diana Volkov, Courtney Cadle, Ashleigh Kellerman, Pamela Rutherford, and Deborah Deckner for their help conducting sessions and coding the corpus. Finally, we acknowledge with gratitude the parents and children who participated in our longitudinal study.

Author Contributions

K. Suma led the conceptualization of the study and contributed to its design, to the data collection, analysis and interpretation, and, with L. Adamson, drafted the manuscript’s introduction, methods, and discussion. L. Adamson also collaborated on the study conceptualization and design, directed the project that generated the ratings of social interaction, and contributed to the interpretation of the findings. R. Bakeman conducted the data analysis, drafted the results section, and contributed to the manuscript writing. D. Robins directed the ASD screening and diagnosis of the study participants and contributed to the study design and manuscript writing. D. Abrams assisted in conceptualizing the study, reviewing the literature, and revising the manuscript. All authors approved the final manuscript as submitted.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, 30303-5010, USA

    Katharine Suma, Lauren B. Adamson, Roger Bakeman & Danielle N. Abrams

  2. AJ Drexel Autism Institute, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Diana L. Robins

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  1. Katharine Suma
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  2. Lauren B. Adamson
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  3. Roger Bakeman
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lauren B. Adamson.

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Conflict of interest

Diana L Robins is co-holder of the copyright for the M-CHAT and M-CHAT-R and co-owner of M-CHAT, LLC, which receives royalties from companies that incorporate the M-CHAT into commercial products. All other authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. All parents provided informed consent for themselves and their child’s participation prior to their inclusion in this study.

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Suma, K., Adamson, L.B., Bakeman, R. et al. After Early Autism Diagnosis: Changes in Intervention and Parent–Child Interaction. J Autism Dev Disord 46, 2720–2733 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-016-2808-3

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