"Autism Spectrum Disorders: Predicting Outcomes"
and
"Relationships between Prelinguistic communicative Behaviors and Early Intervention Outcomes in Children with Autism
These two related projects were funded by the BC Ministry for Children and Family Development and the National Alliance for Autism Research/Autism Speaks between 2004-2008. Their aim was to examine the predictors of development and parenting stress over 2-5 years in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) who received early behavioral intervention. Specific research questions and associated presentations are listed below.
1. Are changes in language development and/or adaptive skill development predicted by
- one or more prelinguistic behaviours that were present prior to early intervention?
- child “problem behaviours” that were present prior to early intervention?
- repetitive stereotypic behaviors that were present prior to early intervention?
For results/presentations, see:
- “What Predicts General Language Development in Children with Autism? (http://breeze.setbc.org/p84567190)
- “Pre-Language Predictors of Development Over 4-5 Years in Children with Autism” (IMFAR 2008. Pre-language predictors pdf)
- “Predicting Early Vocabulary Development” (http://breeze.setbc.org/p72831284/)
- “Behavior Predictors of Development in Children with ASD Over 2 Years” (IMFAR 2007 Behavior Predictors pdf)
- “Problem Behavior and Language Development” (http://breeze.setbc.org/p65709571/)
- “Relationships Between Restricted and repetitive Behaviours and Adaptive Skill Developoment Over 4-5 Years in Children with Autism” (IMFAR 2009 Repbehavior pdf)
- “What Does Our Research Mean for Early Intervention?” (http://www.setbc.org/Download/Public/AutismIntervention_ResearchFindings_v02.pdf)
2. Are specific family characteristics, child progress in language development, child “problem behaviors,” or other factors (e.g., negative life events, coping skills) associated with parenting stress in mothers of children with ASD?
For results/presentations, see:
- “Family Characteristics, Child Language, and Parenting Stress in Mothers of Children with Autism During Early Intervention” (IMFAR 2007 Stress language family pdf)
- “Behavior Predictors of Parenting Stress in Mothers of Children with ASD Over 4-5 Years” (IMFAR 2007 Parents pdf)
- “Relationships Between Aberrant Behavior in Children with ASD and Maternal Parent Stress Over Four Years” (IMFAR 2009.Parent stress and aberrant behavior pdf)
3. Do children with ASD follow the same patterns of vocabulary development that have been reported for typically developing children? For example, do the types of words they say (nouns, action words) emerge in an order similar to that of typical children?
For results/presentations, see:
- “Early Wording Learning in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder” (http://breeze.setbc.org/p77716505)
- “Early Predicate Development in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder”
http://breeze.setbc.org/p66719672/)
Numerous graduate students were involved in this research. In particular, Dr. Karen Bopp was funded as a post-doctoral fellow by the National Alliance for Autism Research/Autism Speaks, under the mentorship of Pat Mirenda ands Judith Johnston.