The different flavors of early intervention

You may have heard terms in early intervention like “NDBI” or “Early Start Denver Model” and wondered if there was a difference in efficacy behind all these flavors of toddler interventions. On this week’s podcast, we speak to Dr. Giacomo Vivanti from @DrexelAutism, who combined data from 4 of these interventions across 700 children to see if they found similar or different effects of each protocol. This group of scientists also examined these interventions on the development of spoken language. The results reinforced: 1. the earlier the better when it comes to early intervention, 2. duration of the intervention matters, and 3. focusing on imitation may be a key to helping toddlers talk.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41264359

Tik-Tok for autism information? Nope

In a highly discussed paper, researchers from Drexel University report their findings on a scientific and methodologically rigorous study on the accuracy of information posted on the social media platform Tik-Tok. They also discuss where the information comes from and how it is viewed. The accurate and inaccurate posts get “liked” equally, meaning they are taken just as seriously. There are billions of inaccurate posts being viewed, and misinformation spread. On this week’s podcast, all four authors of this paper summarize what they found and what families should know.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37544970/

Have things changed for the autism community in the last 40 years?

On this week’s podcast, we interview Dr. Giacomo Vivanti from the AJ Drexel Autism Institute who, together with Daniel Messinger from University of Miami, wrote an analysis of how research and intervention have changed since the DSMIII was written 40 years ago. They include theories of the causes of autism, the theories of the deficits and strengths of autism as it has changed over time, as well as intervention styles to meet the expanding understanding of autism. You can read the paper below, but Dr. Vivanti gives a great summary in a 30 minute interview!

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33491120/