Alice Carter
University of Massachusetts-Boston, MA·Psychology
Early, specialized therapy can greatly improve outcomes for toddlers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, as more children are diagnosed, there are not enough trained providers to deliver this help.
- Fields
Psychology
Public Health & Epidemiology
Medicine & Clinical Research
- Topics
autism spectrum disorder
early intervention
Part C
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through May 2027
What they work on
- Test in a randomized trial across 20 Early Intervention agencies whether training providers in Reciprocal Imitation Training (a play-based therapy) improves language and social communication in toddlers with early autism signs, compared with usual care.
- Measure whether the therapy improves parents' self-efficacy and well-being among about 440 families of children aged 16–30 months.
- Test whether children's gains in imitation and joint attention, and parents' prompt responses to their child, explain the therapy's effects on outcomes.
- Analyze how providers modify Reciprocal Imitation Training in practice, using mixed methods to separate changes that stay true to the method from those that do not, in order to refine training and quality assurance.
More about the research
One existing resource is Part C Early Intervention (EI), a publicly funded program available across the U.S. that serves children under age 3 with developmental delays. Its services, however, vary widely and rarely use therapies proven to work. This project tests whether training EI providers in a proven, low-cost approach can improve outcomes for children showing early signs of autism.
Why it matters
Toddlers with early signs of autism often wait a long time for specialized help. Showing that existing Early Intervention providers can effectively deliver an inexpensive, parent-mediated therapy could expand timely and fair access to care in every U.S. state. It could improve children's communication and family well-being, and it may reduce the substantial economic costs associated with autism.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Lauren Franz
Duke University, NC·Medicine & Clinical Research
Evaluate whether NDBI caregiver coaching delivered by non-specialist Early Childhood Development practitioners in South Africa improves caregiver-child interaction and child development, and whether it is cost-effective, in a hybrid effectiveness-implementation trial.
Brenda Salley
University of Kansas, KS·Psychology
Test whether Talk With Me Baby, language coaching delivered during well-child visits, improves the home language environment and child language by age 2, using a 16-clinic randomized trial with 400 families, LENA recordings, home videos, and standardized tests.
Jude Cassidy
University of Maryland, MD·Psychology
Test whether adding the Circle of Security – Parenting intervention to Early Head Start services reduces insecure attachment, physiological dysregulation and behavior problems, in a randomized trial of 249 parent-child pairs.
The school
University of Massachusetts-Boston: 3 labs on PI Pages, $75M a year on research, 108 research doctorates a year.
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