Toddler Project

The purpose of the toddler project is to help us better understand the nature of the development of early communication and cognitive skills in young children with communication delays and/or are at risk of autism. In this project, children between 12 and 24 months will be followed monthly and given a series of play-based tasks that test their beginning understanding of words, concepts such as intention, imitation, and social responsiveness. Our hope is to follow a group of children, most who will have typical or mildly delayed communication development, but some of who may develop autism. In this study, children will also periodically receive standardized assessments that include more general measures of cognitive skills, language, social behavior and play. For most families, the monthly sessions will take place in their homes and the less frequent assessments will take place in our Center, although this may be different depending on how far away from Ann Arbor families live.

While we continue to follow children currently enrolled in this study, we are no longer recruiting new children to participate in this study. However, the Early Social Interaction Project at UMACC is currently recruiting very young children, who are suspected of having ASD, to participate in the intervention project. In addition, we offer diagnostic services for children in the age range through our clinic.

Contact Person:
Whitney Guthrie
wguthrie@umich.edu
734-615-3501

This study has approval from the University of Michigan Institutional Review Board (IRBMED 2004-0396)