By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
ScienceabodeScienceabode
  • Home
  • News & Perspective
    News & PerspectiveShow More
    Microorganism that causes rare but severe eye infections detected in NSW coastal areas
    By Admin
    Scientists identify common cause of gastro in young children and adults over 50 years old
    By admin
    AI reveals hidden traits about our planet’s flora to help save species
    By admin
    Eye drops slow nearsightedness progression in kids, study finds
    By admin
    Using AI to create better, more potent medicines
    By admin
  • Latest News
    Latest NewsShow More
    Researchers develop new robot medics for places doctors are unable to be
    By Admin
    Even thinking about marriage gets young people to straighten up
    By admin
    Study: People tend to locate the self in the brain or the heart – and it affects their judgments and decisions
    By admin
    UCLA patient is first to receive successful heart transplant after using experimental 50cc Total Artificial Heart
    By admin
    Via Dying Cells, UVA Finds Potential Way to Control Cholesterol Levels
    By admin
  • Health
    Health
    The World Health Organization defines health as “a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”…
    Show More
    Top News
    Tiny magnetic discs offer remote brain stimulation without transgenes
    October 18, 2024
    World’s largest study of brain volume reveals genetic links to ADHD, Parkinson’s Disease 
    October 26, 2024
    Hoarding disorder: ‘sensory CBT’ treatment strategy shows promise
    October 18, 2024
    Latest News
    How do therapy dogs help domestic abuse survivors receiving support services?
    May 10, 2025
    New chronic pain therapy retrains the brain to process emotions
    May 10, 2025
    Mind Blank? Here’s What Your Brain Is Really Doing During Those Empty Moments
    May 7, 2025
    A Common Diabetes Drug Might Be the Secret to Relieving Knee Pain Without Surgery!
    April 28, 2025
  • Environment
    EnvironmentShow More
    Arsenic exposure linked to faster onset of diabetes in south Texas population 
    By Admin
    Antarctica vulnerable to invasive species hitching rides on plastic and organic debris
    By Admin
    New substrate material for flexible electronics could help combat e-waste
    By Admin
    Bacteria ‘nanowires’ could help scientists develop green electronics
    By Admin
    Replacing plastics with alternatives is worse for greenhouse gas emissions in most cases, study finds
    By Admin
  • Infomation
    • Pricavy Policy
    • Terms of Service
  • Jobs
  • Application Submission
Notification Show More
Aa
ScienceabodeScienceabode
Aa
  • Home
  • Health
  • Anatomy
  • Jobs Portal
  • Application Submission
  • Categories
    • Health
    • Anatomy
    • Food & Diet
    • Beauty Lab
    • News & Perspective
    • Environment
  • More Foxiz
    • Blog Index
    • Sitemap
Follow US
Scienceabode > Blog > Latest News > UCSB Researchers Successfully Treat Autism in Infants
Latest News

UCSB Researchers Successfully Treat Autism in Infants

admin
Last updated: 2013/05/06 at 3:29 PM
By admin
Share
5 Min Read
SHARE

Most infants respond to a game of peek-a-boo with smiles at the very least, and, for those who find the activity particularly entertaining, gales of laughter. For infants with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), however, the game can be distressing rather than pleasant, and they’ll do their best to tune out all aspects of it –– and that includes the people playing with them.


That disengagement is a hallmark of ASD, and one of the characteristics that amplifies the disorder as infants develop into children and then adults.

 

A study conducted by researchers at the Koegel Autism Center at UC Santa Barbara has found that replacing such games in favor of those the infant prefers can actually lessen the severity of the infants’ ASD symptoms, and, perhaps, alleviate the condition altogether. Their work is highlighted the current issue of the Journal of Positive Behavioral Interventions.

- Advertisement -
MedBanner_Skyscraper_160x600_03/2018

 

Lynn Koegel, clinical director of the center and the study’s lead author, described the game-playing protocol as a modified Pivotal Response Treatment (PVT). Developed at UCSB, PRT is based on principles of positive motivation. The researchers identified the activities that seemed to be more enjoyable to the infants and taught the respective parents to focus on those rather than on the typical games they might otherwise choose. “We had them play with their infants for short periods, and then give them some kind of social reward,” Koegel said. “Over time, we conditioned the infants to enjoy all the activities that were presented by pairing the less desired activities with the highly desired ones.” The social reward is preferable to, say, a toy, Koegel noted, because it maintains the ever-crucial personal interaction.

 

“The idea is to get them more interested in people,” she continued, “to focus on their socialization. If they’re avoiding people and avoiding interacting, that creates a whole host of other issues. They don’t form friendships, and then they don’t get the social feedback that comes from interacting with friends.”

 

According to Koegel, by the end of the relatively short one- to three-month intervention period, which included teaching the parents how to implement the procedures, all the infants in the study had normal reactions to stimuli. “Two of the three have no disabilities at all, and the third is very social,” she said. “The third does have a language delay, but that’s more manageable than some of the other issues.”

 

On a large scale, Koegel hopes to establish some benchmark for identifying social deficits in infants so parents and health care providers can intervene sooner rather than later. “We have a grant from the Autism Science Foundation to look at lots of babies and try to really figure out which signs are red flags, and which aren’t,” she said. “A number of the infants who show signs of autism will turn out to be perfectly fine; but we’re saying, let’s not take the risk if we can put an intervention in play that really works. Then we don’t have to worry about whether or not these kids would develop the full-blown symptoms of autism.”

 

Historically, ASD is diagnosed in children 18 months or older, and treatment generally begins around 4 years. “You can pretty reliably diagnose kids at 18 months, especially the more severe cases,” said Koegel. “The mild cases might be a little harder, especially if the child has some verbal communication. There are a few measures –– like the ones we used in our study –– that can diagnose kids pre-language, even as young as six months. But ours was the first that worked with children under 12 months and found an effective intervention.”

 

Given the increasing number of children being diagnosed with ASD, Koegel’s findings could be life altering –– literally. “When you consider that the recommended intervention for preschoolers with autism is 30 to 40 hours per week of one-on-one therapy, this is a fairly easy fix,” she said. “We did a single one-hour session per week for four to 12 weeks until the symptoms improved, and some of these infants were only a few months old. We saw a lot of positive change.”

 

 

 

Source:- University of California – Santa Barbara.

 

Published on 6th May 2013

admin May 6, 2013 May 6, 2013
Share This Article
Facebook Twitter Copy Link Print

Fast Four Quiz: Precision Medicine in Cancer

How much do you know about precision medicine in cancer? Test your knowledge with this quick quiz.
Get Started
Even in Winter, Life Persists in Arctic Seas

(USCGC Healy breaking through the Bering Sea waves. Credit: Chantelle Rose/NSF)   Despite…

A Biodiversity Discovery That Was Waiting in the Wings–Wasp Wings, That Is

Wing size differences between two Nasonia wasp species are the result of…

Entertainement

Coming soon

Your one-stop resource for medical news and education.

Your one-stop resource for medical news and education.
Sign Up for Free

You Might Also Like

Latest News

Researchers develop new robot medics for places doctors are unable to be

By Admin
Latest News

Even thinking about marriage gets young people to straighten up

By admin
Latest News

Study: People tend to locate the self in the brain or the heart – and it affects their judgments and decisions

By admin
Latest News

UCLA patient is first to receive successful heart transplant after using experimental 50cc Total Artificial Heart

By admin
Facebook Twitter Youtube Instagram
Company
  • Privacy Policy
  • Editorial Policy
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Contact US
  • Feedback
  • Advertisement
More Info
  • Newsletter
  • Beauty Lab
  • News & Perspective
  • Food & Diet
  • Health
  • Environment
  • Anatomy

Sign Up For Free

Subscribe to our newsletter and don't miss out on our programs, webinars and trainings.

Copyright © 2023 ScienceAbode. All Rights Reserved. Designed and Developed by Spirelab Solutions (Pvt) Ltd

Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Lost your password?