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  4. NIH-Supported Study: For Young Children with Autism, Directing Attention Boosts Language

NIH-Supported Study: For Young Children with Autism, Directing Attention Boosts Language

July 2, 2012

Website Link  http://www.nih.gov/news/health/jun2012/nichd-21.htm

 

An intervention in which adults actively engaged the attention of preschool children with autism by pointing to toys and using other gestures to focus their attention results in a long term increase in language skills, according to researchers supported by the National Institutes of Health. 

 

Full citation: Kasari, C., Gulsrud, A., Freeman, S., Paparella, T. & Hellemann, G. (2012, May). Longitudinal follow-up of children with autism receiving targeted interventions on joint attention and play. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 51, (5), 487-495.