Two Manchester autism research papers highlighted in top ten of 2015
Jonathan Green, Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Honorary Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist, and his research team have had not one but two of their research papers included in Autism Speaks’ top ten autism research papers of 2015.
Autism Speaks is a world leading autism science and advocacy organisation, dedicated to funding research into the causes, prevention, treatment and a cure for autism. Its science staff and Scientific Advisory Board identified the ten papers that most powerfully advanced understand and treatment of autism.
“We are excited to see progress being made across the broad scope of autism science, from genomics to international health,” says Paul Wang, Autism Speaks Senior Vice President and Head of Medical Research. “Not only are we uncovering the causes of autism, we’re also making progress in its treatment. We will be working hard this year to continue pushing forward on all these fronts, to make sure that their potential benefits to families are fulfilled as quickly as possible.”
The first of Professor Green’s papers is titled Parent-mediated intervention versus no intervention for infants at high risk of autism explored the effect of a parent-mediated intervention for infants at high risk of autism on risk markers.
With the exception of the response to vowel change, the study showed positive estimates across a wide range of behavioural and brain function risk-markers and developmental outcomes that are consistent with a moderate intervention effect to reduce the risk for later autism. The results are encouraging for development and prevention science, but need larger-scale replication to improve precision.
Dr Connie Kasari, Autism Speaks Scientific Advisory Board member said:
This study illustrates how far we’ve come in intervention science. It also represents the first randomized trial of infants at risk for autism spectrum disorder.
The second paper titled Effectiveness of the parent-mediated intervention for children with autism spectrum disorder in south Asia in India and Pakistan (PASS) assessed the feasibility and acceptability of PASS in India and Pakistan.
The results of the study show the feasibility of adapting and task-shifting an intervention used in high-income context to low-income and middle-income countries. The findings also replicate the positive primary outcome treatment effects of a parent-mediated communication-focused intervention in the original UK Preschool Autism Communication Trial, with one negative effect not reported previously.
Dr. Andy Shih, Autism Speaks Senior Vice President for Scientific Affairs said:
More than 85% of individuals and families affected by autism live in low and middle income countries where a pervasive lack of expertise and services presents a barrier to better care and outcome. This ground-breaking study shows that it’s now possible to meet this fundamental challenge by empowering parents and other caregivers with the skills to better meet their children’s developmental needs and, so, enhance child outcome and family wellbeing.
Lessons from PASS and other model parent-mediated intervention are informing the development of community-based solutions like the WHO-Autism Speaks Parent Skills Training program. We have good reason to celebrate the promise of greater access to evidence-based care around the world in the near future.
