Saturday, 24 March 2012 This week’s “Got Questions?” answer
comes from psychologist Sally J. Rogers, Ph.D., whose research
at the University of California-Davis focuses on early
intervention for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) I have a
question as a mother grappling with guilt. I read about an
Autism Speaks study on the development of early interventions
for babies who don’t yet have the full syndrome. Does this mean
that, had my son received earlier intervention, today he would
not have autism? This is such an important question and one that
more and more parents are asking as we develop earlier
interventions with proven benefits. We know that good early
intervention with toddlers and preschoolers has powerful effects
and improves function as well as long-term outcomes. Based on
our understanding of early intervention with toddlers, we have
reason to hope that interventions with babies may offer
additional benefits. However, at the present time we have no
evidence that the interventions we are trying in infan