Early intervention improves developmental outcomes for many children with autism spectrum disorder and yet early identification remains an enduring challenge. Early screening and assessment efforts commonly approach classification in a way that does not account for the phenotypic heterogeneity inherent to ASD. Our Population Phenoscreening study works with a broad population of children 17 months to 42 months, some of whom have a higher likelihood of developing ASD, while others have a lower likelihood.
Any 17-month-old born in the Twin Cities metro area is eligible to participate. During our sessions, we administer a battery of developmental assessments along with parent questionnaires to get a sense of the child’s characteristics and overall developmental trajectory. By capturing such a diverse population, we hope to leverage the variability of early symptom presentation with machine learning to inform individually-tailored clinical recommendations.
This study is closed, and is no longer enrolling. We are currently in the process of analyzing our data and publishing results. If you have any questions, you can contact our team at EarlyChildStudy@umn.edu.