NEWS BRIEFING: Early help can reduce autism behaviours in kids

Embargoed until: Publicly released:
Peer-reviewed: This work was reviewed and scrutinised by relevant independent experts.

Randomised controlled trial: Subjects are randomly assigned to a test group, which receives the treatment, or a control group, which commonly receives a placebo. In 'blind' trials, participants do not know which group they are in; in ‘double blind’ trials, the experimenters do not know either. Blinding trials helps removes bias.

People: This is a study based on research using people.

*RECORDING AVAILABLE* An Australian study has shown that early intervention with a therapy designed to help parents better understand and respond to the communication cues of their baby, can reduce autism diagnoses in kids that had early signs of the condition – the first time this has been demonstrated worldwide. The study of over 100 babies aged 9-14 months who were exhibiting early signs of autism, showed the therapy reduced the social communication difficulties characteristic of autism, and reduced autism diagnosis at age three by two thirds.

Journal/conference: JAMA Pediatrics

Organisation/s: Telethon Kids Institute, The University of Western Australia, La Trobe University, Australian Science Media Centre

Funder: This study was sponsored by the Telethon Kids Institute and supported by grants 1077966 and 1173896 from the National Health and Medical Research Council (Dr Whitehouse) and funding from the AngelaWright Bennett Foundation (Dr Whitehouse), the Telethon-Perth Children’s Hospital Research Fund (Drs Whitehouse, Wray, J. Green, and Segal), the La Trobe University Understanding Disease Research Focus Area (Drs Hudry, Dissanayake, Barbaro, Iacono, Slonims, J. Green, and Whitehouse), and the Cooperative Research Centre for Living with Autism (Autism CRC) established and supported by the Australian government’s Cooperative Research Centre Program (Drs Hudry, Whitehouse, Barbaro, Iacono, Dissanayake, and Maybery).

Media release

From: Australian Science Media Centre

An Australian study has shown that early intervention with a therapy designed to help parents better understand and respond to the communication cues of their baby, can reduce autism diagnoses in kids that had early signs of the condition – the first time this has been demonstrated worldwide.

The study of over 100 babies aged 9-14 months who were exhibiting early signs of autism, showed the therapy reduced the social communication difficulties characteristic of autism, and reduced autism diagnosis at age three by two thirds. 

Join the briefing to hear from the Australian experts leading the study. 

Speakers:

  • Professor Andrew Whitehouse is the Angela Wright Bennett Professor of Autism Research at the Telethon Kids Institute and The University of Western Australia and Director of CliniKids
  • Kristelle Hudry is Associate Professor with the Department of Psychology and Counselling, School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University

Date: Mon 20 Sept 2021
Start Time: 10:00am AEST
Duration: Approx 45 min 
Venue: Online - Zoom

Attachments:

Note: Not all attachments are visible to the general public

  •  Research
    JAMA
    Web page
    Please link to the article in online versions of your report (the URL will go live after the embargo ends).
  •  Briefing recording
    Australian Science Media Centre
    Web page
    Briefing recording playback

News for:

Australia
VIC
WA

Multimedia:

  • Video news release

    Interview with Prof Andrew Whitehouse and video of the therapy

    File Size: 69.8 MB

    Attribution: Telethon Kids Institute

    Permission Category: © - Only use with this story

    Last Modified: 09 Jul 2025 12:02am

    Note: High resolution video files are only available for download here by registered journalists who are logged in.

Show less
Show more

Media contact details for this story are only visible to registered journalists.