Community-based Adaptive Autism Intervention for Toddlers

The proposed study (CAIT: Community-based Adaptive Autism Intervention for Toddlers) aims to determine the most optimal sequence of interventions for improving the social- communicative, language and cognitive outcomes of toddlers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The target population consists of 2-3 year-old children with ASD who receive community based, publicly funded early intervention in two authentic educational settings in East Harlem and the Bronx, NY known as New York Center for Infants \& Toddlers (NYCIT). An expected 300 toddlers with ASD will participate with their community-recruited paraprofessional teaching assistants (TAs) and group leaders (GLs). The study aims to construct the most effective one-year, two-phase, adaptive intervention, in which intervention is individualized based on a child's initial response to intervention. Phase 1, from program entry to either 6 or 12 weeks (randomized), involves 60 minutes daily of an evidence based social communication intervention, JASPER (Joint Attention, Symbolic Play, Engagement \& Regulation) delivered 1-on-1 to the child by the trained TA. At end of Phase 1, response to intervention is rated by the GLs for slow or fast improvements of joint engagement (a core deficit in the early development of children with ASD, and a significant indicator of good progress toward improving social communication and language). In Phase 2 (to week 24), toddlers responding slowly are re-randomized to continue with JASPER for 60 minutes per day or augment treatment with direct, structured teaching of social communication targets for 30 minutes and JASPER for another 30 minutes per day. Toddlers responding quickly are given 30 minutes of JASPER and 30 minutes of jasPEER (JASPER with a peer) to further improve socialization and social communication.