Evaluating the Efficacy of Pathways Parent-Mediated Early Autism Intervention on Social Attention and Language

The goal of this clinical trial is to compare the efficacy of Pathways parent-mediated early autism intervention (Pathways) and a parent education intervention (PEI) delivered to culturally and linguistically diverse families with children 12-42 months of age suspected of or diagnosed with autism.Question 1: Is Pathways more effective than a PEI at (a) fostering the development of social orienting, joint attention, and social communication and language in children with a research diagnosis of autism and (b) relieving their parents' stress?Question 2: Is the magnitude of the relationship between early and later developing attention greater in children whose parents receive Pathways compared to children whose parents receive PEI?Question 3: Is the magnitude of the relationship between joint attention and social communication and language greater in children whose parents receive Pathways compared to children whose parents receive PEI?Participants will be randomized into 24 weeks of Pathways or PEI. Participants will receive a battery of assessments to evaluate the child's cognitive, social attention, social communication, language, and adaptive functioning, and parental stress at four different time points spaced every 12 weeks from baseline to three-month follow-up.

Inclusion Criteria:Caregivers and their children whoare between 12-42 months old at the start of the study;diagnosed with or suspected of having autismhave no other known neurological or genetic concerns or disorders;have a primary home language of English or Spanish;has an ASD diagnosis corroborated by the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS-2) administered by study researchers;live in Dallas Texas within a 30-mile radius of the downtown location of the UTD/Callier Center for Communication Disorders.Exclusion Criteria:anyone not meeting the inclusion criteria