Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders Invited to Participate in Novel Intervention Study

Researchers at the University of Connecticut are looking for children with Autism Spectrum Disorders to participate in a research study that examines how novel play interventions help children with ASDs.

The study is being conducted by Anjana Bhat, an assistant professor in UConn’s NEAG School of Education, and Timothy Gifford, BS in Computer Technology. 

The UConn IRB has approved this study, Protocol #: H09-113.

Who Can Participate

• Children with and without Autism Spectrum Disorders between 3 and 11 years of age.

 What the Novel Intervention Study Involves

• The study will involve a total of 34 visits over eight weeks.  These include 4 testing sessions, 12 training sessions with expert trainers, and 18 home sessions with caregivers.  You and your child will visit our lab or we will visit you at your home or daycare or school (during school hours) to deliver the play-based activities. The training sessions will be delivered over six weeks.
• Each testing session lasts about 1-1.5 hours.  Each training session lasts for about 30 minutes.
• During the testing sessions we examine your child’s motor skills during various games that involve walking, drumming, balancing, and copying complex hand movements.  We also examine your child’s social skills during play-oriented activities.
• During certain tests, your child may have sensors placed on his/her hands and feet.
• During training, your child and another child, a sibling or a friend, will work on play-based activities.
• You will need to provide a letter confirming your child’s diagnosis of ASDs and your child will receive additional assessments to test his/her IQ and severity of autism.
• You will have to fill out multiple questionnaires on your child’s development.
• Your child will receive $50 upon completion of all testing sessions and the majority of the training sessions.

How You Can Help

You can help by volunteering for the studies.  If you have questions on the study, please call (860) 486-0019 or send emails to anjana.bhat@uconn.edu