World Health (Children): Time with parents can improve children's autism

An experimental autism therapy that helps parents communicate with their children has had record levels of success in reducing symptoms.

Experts found planned communication and play sessions showed benefits that lasted six years after the treatment finished - the first time such results have been demonstrated.

The study looked at long-term outcomes for the Pre-school Autism Communication Trial (PACT), which involved 152 autistic children aged two to four.

Of the original group, 121 were re-assessed after six years. Fifty-nine of them had received the PACT therapy.

The researchers found children who had been treated had improved social communication skills, with less severe symptoms and a reduction in repetitive behaviour.

Study leader Professor Jonathan Green, from the University of Manchester, said: "This type of early intervention is distinctive in being designed to work with parents to help improve parent-child communication at home.

"The advantage of this approach over a direct therapist-child intervention is that it has potential to affect the everyday life of the child.

"Our findings are encouraging, as they represent an improvement in the core symptoms of autism previously thought very resistant to change.

"This is not a 'cure', in the sense that the children who demonstrated improvements will still show remaining symptoms to a variable extent, but it does suggest that working with parents to interact with their children in this way can lead to improvements in symptoms over the long-term."

Autism is a "spectrum" developmental disorder affecting about one in 100 people and causes symptoms that vary greatly in severity.

Core symptoms include an impaired ability to communicate and engage socially, and obsessive or repetitive behaviour.

The sessions in the study saw parents watching videos of themselves interacting with their children and receiving feedback from therapists.

Parents took part in 12 therapy sessions over six months, followed by regular support over another six months.

In addition, parents agreed to spend 20 to 30 minutes each day engaged in planned communication and play activities with their children.

The findings, published in The Lancet medical journal, showed a 17% reduction in the proportion of children from the intervention group with severe symptoms.

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