evaluating pathways mutual gaze protocol on social skills in young children suspected of autism

Conditions: Autism

Summary: purpose of the study: the goal of this clinical trial is to find out if a technique called the "mutual gaze procedure," used in pathways early intervention (pathways), is the key to helping improve social communication, language, and everyday skills in young children (16-30 months old) who are at high risk for autism, particularly those from diverse cultural and language backgrounds. what will happen: researchers will compare two versions of the pathways intervention: * version 1: includes mutual gaze strategies. * version 2: does not include mutual gaze strategies. what to expect: participants will: * attend 12 sessions of pathways intervention, each lasting 1.5 hours (or 15 weeks if there are cancellations). * come to the clinic for a developmental check-up three times: before starting pathways, right after completing pathways, and three months after finishing pathways.

purpose of the study: the primary goal of this clinical trial is to evaluate whether a parent-mediated treatment can improve social communication, language, and adaptive functioning in 16-30-month-old children from diverse cultural and language backgrounds who are at high risk for autism (referred to as children with social challenges). study design: * study phase: n/a * intervention model: participants are assigned to one of two groups in parallel. study description: * participants: 80 children aged 16-30 months who show social communication challenges and are at high risk for autism will be randomly assigned to one of two groups: 1. group 1: pathways intervention with mutual gaze strategies. 2. group 2: pathways intervention without mutual gaze strategies. * intervention sessions: participants will attend 12 sessions, each lasting 1.5 hours, over approximately 15 weeks (allowing for possible cancellations) of parent-mediated intervention in their homes or another convenient location. assessments: to track progress and evaluate long-term effects, participants will undergo several culturally and linguistically appropriate assessments at three time points: 1. baseline: within two weeks before starting the intervention. 2. post-intervention: within two weeks after completing the intervention. 3. three-month follow-up: 12-15 weeks after completing the intervention. each evaluation will take around two hours and will include: * child assessments: * mullen scale of early learning (msel): assesses general developmental age (administered only at baseline). * communication and symbolic behavior scales-developmental profile (csbs-dp): evaluates social communication. * earlipointtm: measures social, verbal, and nonverbal cognition. * caregiver questionnaires: * vineland adaptive behavior scales, third edition (vabs-iii): assesses adaptive functioning. * phenx toolkit core measures: collects family and child demographic information, including parents' and grandparents' place of birth (administered only at baseline). the csbs-dp and vabs-iii have been validated as appropriate measures for determining meaningful changes in children with or at high risk for autism, based on previous research

Eligibility criteria:
inclusion criteria: * children must be between 16-30 months old at the start of the study; * children must receive social disability index of 7 or lower on the earlipointtm assessment with a researcher (i.e., human) confirming social challenges are present; * parents must report no other known neurological or genetic concerns or disorders * parents must be fluent in english * parents must live within a 30-mile radius of the callier center dallas. exclusion criteria: * children younger than 16 months or older than 30 months at the start of the study * children who are not at high risk for autism based on an earlipointtm assessment (with researcher confirmation of social challenges) * children whose parents report they have any other known neurological or genetic concerns or disorders; * children whose parents are not fluent in english.

Keywords: autism intervention social development social communication