Sally Rogers

• University of California, Davis

Objective: Autism early intervention meta-analyses have provided initial answers to questions such as 'what types of interventions work' and 'for what outcomes'? However, we also want to know 'for whom' is early intervention most effective for? Mega-analysis can offer up complementary insights to meta-analyses regarding the 'what works' and 'for wh...

Girls, more than boys, experience a decrease in the severity of autism symptoms during childhood. It is unclear, however, which specific autistic behaviors change more for girls than for boys. Trajectories of autism symptoms were evaluated using the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule-calibrated severity scores (ADOS-CSS). Change in the specific...

Background The rising number of children identified with autism has led to exponential growth in for-profit applied behavior analysis (ABA) agencies and the use of highly structured approaches that may not be developmentally appropriate for young children. Multiple clinical trials support naturalistic developmental behavior interventions (NDBIs) th...

Previous studies have reported alterations in cortical thickness in autism. However, few have included enough autistic females to determine if there are sex specific differences in cortical structure in autism. This longitudinal study aimed to investigate autistic sex differences in cortical thickness and trajectory of cortical thinning across chil...

Many autistic children experience changes in core symptom severity across middle childhood, when co-occurring mental health conditions emerge. We evaluated this relationship in 75 autistic children from 6 to 11 years old. Autism symptom severity change was evaluated for total autism symptoms using the autism diagnostic observation schedule calibrat...

Background This implementation feasibility study was conducted to determine whether an evidence-based parent-implemented distance-learning intervention model for young children at high likelihood of having ASD could be implemented at fidelity by Part C community providers and by parents in low-resource communities. Methods The study used a communi...

Background Intellectual disability affects approximately one third of individuals with autism spectrum disorder (autism). Yet, a major unresolved neurobiological question is what differentiates autistic individuals with and without intellectual disability. Intelligence quotients (IQs) are highly variable during childhood. We previously identified t...

Many children on the autism spectrum are capable of learning large amounts of material in specific areas - yet, they often show learning delays across multiple domains. Additionally, they typically show the ability and motivation to learn from practice and from the outcomes of their own actions while having difficulties learning from novel situatio...

This study investigated the feasibility of recruiting and assessing infants with prodromal autism characteristics in the first year of life via telehealth. Participants included 41 infants (Mage = 10.51 months, 51.2% female, 80.5% White) whose parents had concerns about social communication delays or autism. All infants met concerns criteria on a s...

Altered amygdala development is implicated in the neurobiology of autism, but little is known about the coordinated development of the brain regions directly connected with the amygdala. Here we investigated the volumetric development of an amygdala-connected network, defined as the set of brain regions with monosynaptic connections with the amygda...

The structure of large-scale intrinsic connectivity networks is atypical in adolescents diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD or autism). However, the degree to which alterations occur in younger children, and whether these differences vary by sex, is unknown. We utilized structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data from a sex- and age-...

The prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has starkly increased, instigating research into risk factors for ASD. This research has identified immune risk factors for ASD, along with evidence of immune dysfunction and excess inflammation frequently experienced by autistic individuals. Increased innate inflammatory cytokines, including interle...

Background The amygdala is widely implicated in both anxiety and autism spectrum disorder. However, no studies have investigated the relationship between co-occurring anxiety and longitudinal amygdala development in autism. Here, the authors characterize amygdala development across childhood in autistic children with and without traditional DSM for...

An individual's autism symptom severity level can change across childhood. The prevalence and direction of change, however, are still not well understood. Nor are the characteristics of children that experience change. Symptom severity trajectories were evaluated from early to middle childhood (approximately ages 3–11) for 182 autistic children. Sy...

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex developmental disorder characterized by deficits in social interactions, communication, and stereotypical behaviors. Immune dysfunction is a common co-morbidity seen in ASD, with innate immune activation seen both in the brain and periphery. We previously identified significant differences in peripheral m...

A randomized feasibility trial of a parent coaching (PC) intervention was conducted across 16 community agencies in a Canadian province. Parents of toddlers with suspected autism were assigned to either a PC group (n = 24) or an enhanced community treatment (ECT) group (n = 25). PC participants received 24 weeks of coaching support from community s...

As the rates of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) increase and early screening efforts intensify, more toddlers with high likelihood of ASD are entering the United States' (US') publicly funded early intervention system. Early intervention service delivery for toddlers with ASD varies greatly based on state resources and regulations. Research recommen...

Background: Intellectual disability affects approximately one third of individuals with autism spectrum disorder (autism), yet a major unresolved question remains concerning the neurobiology that differentiates autistic individuals with and without intellectual disability. IQ is highly variable during childhood. We previously identified subgroups o...

This study examined whether style or intensity of child-focused intervention had a secondary effect on parental sense of efficacy and whether these effects varied by baseline level of parent stress. We randomized 87 children with autism, age 13–30 months, into one of four conditions: 15 versus 25 intervention hours crossed with 12 months of Early I...

We examined the relationship between the Early start Denver model (ESDM) intervention and mu rhythm attenuation, an EEG paradigm reflecting neural processes associated with action perception and social information processing. Children were assigned to either receive comprehensive ESDM intervention for two years, or were encouraged to pursue resourc...

The Early Communication Indicator (ECI) was designed to measure expressive communication progress in young children. We evaluated using the 6-min ECI procedure for a new purpose-a sampling context for stable measures of vocal development of young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We evaluated how many ECI sessions were required to adequ...

The most effective treatments for child and adolescent psychopathology are often family-based, emphasising the active involvement of family members beyond the referred individual. This book details the clinical skills, knowledge, and attitudes that form the core competencies for the delivery of evidence-based family interventions for a range of men...

Autism symptom severity change was evaluated during early childhood in 125 children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Children were assessed at approximately 3 and 6 years of age for autism symptom severity, IQ and adaptive functioning. Each child was assigned a change score, representing the difference between ADOS Calibrated Severity...

This study examined an insufficiently studied predictor of functional language, social motivation, in a group of 87 young children with autism spectrum disorder. Participants (age 14–31 months at the start of the study) were assessed at four times over 24 months. We tested total and indirect associations between early social motivation and later ex...

Background: This implementation feasibility study was conducted to determine whether an evidence-based parent -implemented distance-learning intervention model for young children at high likelihood of having ASD could be implemented at fidelity by Part C community providers and by parents in low resource communities. Methods: The study used a commu...

Background Cerebral overgrowth is frequently reported in children but not adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This suggests that early cerebral over-growth is followed by normalization of cerebral volumes. However, this notion is predicated upon cross-sectional research that is vulnerable to sampling bias. For example, autistic individuals...

Sleep problems are prevalent in children with neurodevelopmental disabilities and are associated with the expression of restricted and repetitive behaviors (RRBs). Children (n = 57) with autism spectrum disorder (ASD, n = 38) or developmental delay (DD, n = 19) participated in multiple assessments of intellectual ability, ASD symptoms, and RRBs (3...

Background Cross-sectional diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging studies suggest that young autistic children have alterations in white matter structure that differ from older autistic individuals. However, it is unclear whether these differences result from atypical neurodevelopment or sampling differences between young and older cohorts....

This study tested whether the effect of treatment intensity or treatment style on children's frequency and maturity of spontaneous communication varied by initial severity of disability. Eighty‐seven toddlers with autism spectrum disorders were randomly assigned to either (a) 15 hrs per week of discrete trial teaching (DTT), (b) 25 hrs per week of...

Epidemiological and animal research shows that maternal immune activation increases the risk of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in offspring. Emerging evidence suggests that maternal immune conditions may play a role in the phenotypic expression of neurodevelopmental difficulties in children with ASD and this may be moderated by offspring sex. This...

Gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms are frequently reported in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We evaluated the frequency and severity of GI symptoms in preschool‐aged children with ASD compared to participants with typical development (TD). Our goal was to ascertain whether GI symptoms are associated with differences in sex or development...

Objective This randomized, multisite, intent-to-treat study tested the effects of two levels of treatment intensity (number of hours) and two treatment styles on progress of young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We predicted that initial severity of developmental delay or autism symptoms would moderate the effects of intensity and sty...

This meta-analysis examined the effects of the Early Start Denver Model (ESDM) for young children with autism on developmental outcome measures. The 12 included studies reported results from 640 children with autism across 44 unique effect sizes. The aggregated effect size, calculated using a robust variance estimation meta-analysis, was 0.357 (p =...

Purpose This study was designed to test the incremental validity of more expensive vocal development variables relative to less expensive variables for predicting later expressive language in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We devote particular attention to the added value of coding the quality of vocalizations over the quantity of vo...

Longitudinal growth modeling was utilized to examine adaptive behavior over eight years across the three time points (i.e., ages 2−10). Seventy-six parents completed the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales interviews of adaptive behavior. Child participants completed standardized developmental testing and an executive function task in toddlerhood and...

Objective: 1) To identify a subset of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and co-occurring symptoms of psychopathology. 2) To evaluate associations between this subgroup and biological sex and amygdala volume. Method: Participants included 420 children (ASD: 91 girls, 209 boys; typically developing controls: 57 girls, 63 boys). Latent p...

To identify valid measures of vocal development in young children with autism spectrum disorder in the early stages of language learning, we evaluated the convergent validity, divergent validity, and sensitivity to change (across 12 months) of two measures of vocal communication and two measures of vocal complexity through conventional coding of co...

Abstract Background The core symptoms of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are widely theorized to result from altered brain connectivity. Diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DWI) has been a versatile method for investigating underlying microstructural properties of white matter (WM) in ASD. Despite phenotypic and etiological heterogeneity,...

Families with early concerns about infant symptoms of ASD have limited access to experienced professionals for screening and guidance. Telehealth has been used to reduce access disparities in other pediatric populations and has shown promise in parent-implemented interventions for ASD. We investigated the feasibility of a novel level-2 telehealth a...

Objective: This single-blind, randomized, multisite, intent-to-treat study was designed to replicate and extend Dawson et al.'s (Pediatrics. 2010;125: e17-e23) randomized controlled trial testing the effects of the Early Start Denver Model (ESDM), an intensive play- and routines-based intervention delivered in natural settings. Method: A randomi...

The aim of this study was to develop a measurement approach to assess the learning opportunities provided by parents to their young children with autism spectrum disorder during a free play task and to examine the relationship between learning opportunities and child performance on measures of cognition, autism spectrum disorder symptoms, and langu...

Background: Multifactorial liability models predict greater dissimilarity in the neural phenotype of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in female individuals than in male individuals, while gender incoherence and extreme male brain models predict attenuated sex differences in ASD. The amygdala is an informative target to explore these models because i...

Objective: We examined growth trajectories of hippocampal volume (HV) in early childhood in a longitudinal cohort of male and female participants with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and typical development (TD), and investigated HV in those with large brains. Relations between factors potentially associated with hippocampal size and growth were in...

A major topic of debate is whether children with autism spectrum disorder should be educated in inclusive or specialized settings. We examined the feasibility and preliminary effectiveness of delivering the Group-Early Start Denver Model to children with autism spectrum disorder in inclusive versus specialized classrooms. We randomly assigned 44 pr...

This study examined the extent to which receptive language level measured at the mid-point of a 12-month longitudinal design partly explained (i.e., mediated) the association from early social motivation to expressive language level at the end-point of the study. Seventy children with ASD between 15 and 30 months from a larger longitudinal randomiz...

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD), characterized by impairments in social communication and repetitive behaviors, often includes altered responses to sensory inputs as part of its phenotype. The neurobiological basis for altered sensory processing is not well understood. The UC Davis Medical Investigation of Neurodevelopmental Disorders Institute Auti...

The number of children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is on the rise. Evidence-based early intervention is one of the keys to improve outcomes. This article briefly presents the history of Naturalistic Developmental Behavioral Interventions (NDBI) and uses the Early Start Denver Model (ESDM) as an exemplary NDBI to illustrate the cur...

Little is known about outcomes of early intervention for children with autism spectrum disorder reared in bilingual homes. There are concerns that social communication deficits among children with autism spectrum disorder may reduce the developmental benefits of early intervention for children with autism spectrum disorder raised in bilingual envir...

Short-term low intensity parent implemented intervention studies for toddlers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have found it difficult to demonstrate significantly improved developmental scores or autism severity compared to community treatment. We conducted a randomized comparative intent-to-treat study of a parent implemented intervention to (...

In typical development, gestures precede and predict language development. This study examines the developmental sequence of expressive communication and relations between specific gestural and language milestones in toddlers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), who demonstrate marked difficulty with gesture production and language. Communication s...

Background: We previously showed, in two separate cohorts, that high-risk infants who were later diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder had abnormally high extra-axial cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) volume from age 6-24 months. The presence of increased extra-axial CSF volume preceded the onset of behavioural symptoms of autism and was predictive of a...

Understanding another’s actions, including what they are doing and why they are doing it, can be difficult for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This understanding is supported by the action observation (AON) and mentalizing (MZN) networks, as well as the superior temporal sulcus. We examined these areas in children with ASD and typi...

Lay summary: The development of early screening and diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in China has highlighted the importance of early intervention for young children with ASD. Our current study demonstrated that parent-implemented Early Start Denver Model (P-ESDM) via coaching from professionals improved developmental outcomes, especial...

Identifying effective, community-based specialized interventions for young children with autism spectrum disorder is an international clinical and research priority. We evaluated the effectiveness of the Early Start Denver Model intervention in a group of young children with autism spectrum disorder living in an Italian community compared to a grou...

In this chapter, we will address some of the questions that, based on our experience, are likely to be relevant to many readers. These include, among others, the characteristics of children who are more likely to benefit from the G-ESDM, the appropriateness of G-ESDM for children with diagnoses other than autism, the scientific evidence supporting...

While teaching in G-ESDM takes place in a group context, learning objectives are individualized. This chapter describes specific procedures to develop treatment goals based on each child’s individual profile of strengths and weakness and ongoing monitoring of treatment response. The intervention plan and curriculum for each young child with autism...

In this chapter, we provide guidelines on how to readjust the program when children do not show the expected progresses in one or more developmental areas. This involves the use of decision-making trees specifically designed for addressing the areas where gains are slow and procedures to involve specialists from different disciplines to overcome di...

The Early Start Denver Model (ESDM) is an evidence-based intervention approach that incorporates knowledge from developmental science, behavior analysis, and social-affective neuroscience to support learning and development in young children with autism. This chapter describes an approach for delivering ESDM in a group day care setting—the Group-ba...

In this chapter we examine the treatment strategies used in the G-ESDM to facilitate learning. These encompass evidence-based techniques based on applied behavioral analysis and developmentally-based strategies to support the child’s ability and motivation to learn during group routines and play activities. The G-ESDM fidelity tool can be used to f...

Typically developing children are well equipped to learn from their social environment from infancy. Early learning is supported by attentional preferences for novel events, others’ goal directed actions and communication cues, as well as early maturing abilities to share attention with their social partners, imitating them, understanding their act...

Lay summary: We examined how the IQs of children with autism spectrum disorder change between ages 2 and 8, and identified four patterns. Two groups exhibited persistently lower IQs. One group showed IQ increases of greater than 30 points with improved communicate abilities and declining disruptive behaviors. The final group had IQs in the average...

The Early Start Denver Model (ESDM) is a comprehensive approach for young children with autism spectrum disorder 12–60 months of age that focuses particular attention on social communication and social learning in everyday routines as the primary learning vehicle for young children. ESDM principles and practices were derived from decades of researc...

Objective To determine the effect of the Early Start Denver Model (ESDM) for treatment of young children with autism on healthcare service use and costs. Method We use data from a randomized trial that tested the efficacy of the ESDM, which is based on developmental and applied behavioral analytic principles and delivered by trained therapists and...

Linguistic and cognitive abilities manifest huge heterogeneity in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Some children present with commensurate language and cognitive abilities, while others show more variable patterns of development. Using spontaneous language samples, we investigate the presence and extent of grammatical language impairme...

Children with autism vary widely in their language abilities, yet the neural correlates of this language variability remain unclear, especially early in development. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) was used to examine diffusivity measures along the length of 18 major fiber tracts in 104 preschool-aged boys with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The bo...

A consensus has emerged that despite common core features, autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has multiple etiologies and various genetic and biological characteristics. The fact that there are likely to be subtypes of ASD has complicated attempts to develop effective therapies. The UC Davis MIND Institute Autism Phenome Project is a longitudinal, mult...

In this chapter we will discuss the role of peers in the G-ESDM, with a focus on the educational opportunities provided by interactions with typical children and the principles, strategies and procedures used in the G-ESDM to facilitate social participation and social learning in inclusive settings. Successful implementation of the G-ESDM in inclus...

In this chapter we detail procedures for setting up the G-ESDM transdisciplinary team and learning environment in the context of ordinary preschool programs. The transdisciplinary team approach used in the G-ESDM utilizes collaboration, consensus building, as well as expansion and release of roles across discipline boundaries. The organization of t...

In this chapter we outline the delivery of the classroom curriculum content within the G-ESDM approach. In the G-ESDM, curricular activities are set to expand children’s repertoire of behaviors during group activities, which must be meaningful and rewarding, include multiple teaching episodes, and incorporate individual goals within group routines....

This book examines a group-based adaptation of the Early Start Denver Model (ESDM) designed for use with preschoolers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). It describes the principles and procedures of the Group-Based Early Start Denver Model (G-ESDM) and provides practical and empirical guidelines for implementing effective, affordable programs acr...

This book examines a group-based adaptation of the Early Start Denver Model (ESDM) designed for use with preschoolers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). It describes the principles and procedures of the Group-Based Early Start Denver Model (G-ESDM) and provides practical and empirical guidelines for implementing effective, affordable programs acr...

Even with inclusive general education classrooms, high school students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often have few social interactions with classmates. Peer support arrangements hold promise for increasing peer interactions and shared learning within general education classrooms. However, previous evaluations of this intervention have focuse...

Sensory symptoms are prevalent in autism spectrum disorder but little is known about the early developmental patterns of these symptoms. This study examined the development of sensory symptoms and the relationship between sensory symptoms and adaptive functioning during early childhood. Three groups of children were followed across three time point...

In this article we provide an overview of the significant advances that have been made in the early detection and characterization of autism in the infancy and toddler period, and their impact and implications for early treatment.We begin with a brief review of current findings in early detection science, focusing particularly on relevant findings...

A recurring finding in autism spectrum disorder research is that head and brain growth is disproportionate to body growth in early childhood. Nordahl et al. (2011) demonstrated that this occurs in approximately 15% of boys with autism. While the literature suggests that brain growth normalizes at older ages, this has never been evaluated in a longi...

Objective: The objective of the current study was to determine whether functional connectivity of the amygdala is altered in preschool-aged children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and to assess the clinical relevance of observed alterations in amygdala connectivity. Method: We conducted a resting-state functional connectivity magnetic resonan...

Background: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been widely used in studies evaluating the neuropathology of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Studies are often limited, however, to higher functioning individuals with ASD. MRI studies of individuals with ASD and comorbid intellectual disability (ID) are lacking, due in part to the challenges of acq...