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Video-based therapy might benefit babies at risk of autism

First study to trial an intervention during the first year of life

Video-based therapy for families with babies at risk of autism improves infants’ engagement, attention and social behavior, and might reduce the likelihood of such children developing autism, according to new research by scientists from Birkbeck’s Babylab, Manchester University, King’s College London, and Evelina London Children’s Hospital. The research is published in The Lancet Psychiatry journal.

Professor Mark Johnson, Director of the Babylab, where families took part in assessments both before and after the video-based therapy, said: “Autism is a developmental condition, with symptoms including problems with attention, and reduced social interest and engagement. Current treatments have limited effectiveness possibly due to their being administered after the onset of full diagnostic symptoms.”

“Our findings indicate that using video feedback-based therapy to help parents understand and respond to their infant’s individual communication style during the first year of life may be able to modify the emergence of autism-related behaviours and symptoms,” explains Jonathan Green, lead author and Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the University of Manchester.

Previous research, including research carried out by the Babylab, has found that the earliest risk markers of autism—such as a lack of attention to a parent, reduced social interest or engagement, and decreased eye contact—may be present as early as a child’s first year of life, but until now, no treatment trials have assessed the possibility of modifying these early markers with the aim of reducing later risk of developing autism.

In this study, a specially adapted Video Interaction for Promoting Positive Parenting Programme (iBASIS-VIPP) was delivered over five months to infants aged seven to 10 months, who had a higher chance of developing autism because they had an older sibling diagnosed with the condition. The aim of the programme was to reduce the full onset of autistic symptoms prior to diagnosis, by optimising the babies’ social interaction during the first year of their life.

54 families with an infant at high risk of autism were randomly assigned to either the iBASIS-VIPP programme or no intervention. The iBASIS-VIPP group received a minimum of six home-based visits from a therapist who used video-feedback to help parents understand and respond to their infant’s individual communication style to improve infant attention, communication, early language development and social engagement.

After five months, families who received video therapy showed improvements in infant engagement, attention and social behaviour. For example, there was a reduction in emerging autism-related behaviours in the video therapy group compared with controls. This suggests that the therapy may be able to modify the emergence of autism-related aspects of development during infancy. There were also changes in parents’ behaviour, such as being less directive in their interactions whilst increasing infants’ attentiveness. However, reduced responsiveness to language sounds was noted in infants in the video therapy group.

Professor Johnson said: “This is the first time that we have seen an intervention make an impact on the behavioural symptoms of children at risk of autism and is an exciting indication that the emergence of autistic symptoms could be modified and reduced by early intervention.

“However, this study involved a relatively small number of infants and before we can draw definitive conclusions about how effective this type of intervention is, we will need to conduct larger scale studies.”

Find out more about the Babylab's BASIS programme and how to participate.

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