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.
If you are interested in participating or would like to learn more, please fill out our participant interest form or email our team at EarlyChildStudy@umn.edu.