# Community-based Adaptive autism Intervention for Toddlers

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES · 2022 · $561,085

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
 The proposed study (CAIT: Community-based Adaptive Autism Intervention for Toddlers) aims to
determine the most optimal sequence of interventions for improving the social- communicative, language and
cognitive outcomes of toddlers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The target population consists of 2-3 year
-old children with ASD who receive community based, publicly funded early intervention in two authentic
educational settings in East Harlem and the Bronx, NY known as New York Center for Infants & Toddlers
(NYCIT). An expected 300 toddlers with ASD will participate with their community-recruited paraprofessional
teaching assistants (TAs) and group leaders (GLs). The study aims to construct the most effective one-year,
two-phase, adaptive intervention, in which intervention is individualized based on a child's initial response to
intervention. Phase 1, from program entry to either 6 or 12 weeks (randomized), involves 60 minutes daily of
an evidence based social communication intervention, JASPER (Joint Attention, Symbolic Play, Engagement &
Regulation) delivered 1-on-1 to the child by the trained TA. At end of Phase 1, response to intervention is
rated by the GLs for slow or fast improvements of joint engagement (a core deficit in the early development of
children with ASD, and a significant indicator of good progress toward improving social communication and
language). In Phase 2 (to week 24), toddlers responding slowly are re-randomized to continue with JASPER
for 60 minutes per day or augment treatment with direct, structured teaching of social communication targets
for 30 minutes and JASPER for another 30 minutes per day. Toddlers responding quickly are given 30 minutes
of JASPER and 30 minutes of jasPEER (JASPER with a peer) to further improve socialization and social
communication.
 This study will employ a Sequential Multiple Assignment Randomized Trial (SMART) design to evaluate
how best to improve social communication outcomes in toddlers with ASD over two treatment phases. The
primary effectiveness aim is to determine among slower responders, the effect of augmenting JASPER with
structured teaching vs. continuing JASPER on primary (social communicative utterances) and secondary
outcomes (joint engagement and play). Secondary effectiveness aims focus on (i) determining the best time
(week 6 or 12) to identify a child as a slower responder, and (ii) examining whether child un-engagement at
baseline moderates the effect of measuring response at week 6 or 12, and whether joint attention skills in
Phase 1 moderate the effect of Phase 2 treatment among slow responders (JASPER plus structured teaching
vs. continuing JASPER). Finally, an implementation aim will examine barriers and facilitators to intervention
adoption by NYCIT (by assessing implementation fidelity, refining our external support to center leadership to
reliably assess child response, train new staff, and coach TAs to implement intervention components with
f...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10349490
- **Project number:** 5R01HD098248-04
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES
- **Principal Investigator:** CONNIE L. KASARI
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $561,085
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-05-01 → 2025-03-01

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10349490

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10349490, Community-based Adaptive autism Intervention for Toddlers (5R01HD098248-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10349490. Licensed CC0.

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