UC Davis M.I.N.D. Institute experts in early autism diagnosis and intervention, along with families participating in their studies, will be featured on the CBS television news program "60 Minutes" on Sunday, February 18, at 6 p.m. on KOVR Channel 13. Sally Ozonoff shares her pioneering work in identifying behaviors prior to age 2 that predict a later diagnosis of autism. And Sally Rogers demonstrates interventions with toddlers that involve showing parents how to deliver behavioral treatments at home.

The M.I.N.D. Institute is one of 17 sites participating in the High Risk Baby Siblings Research Consortium, which represents studies enrolling infants as early as 1 month old with at least one sibling diagnosed with autism. These children may have as much as a 10 times higher risk of the disorder than children with typically progressing brothers and sisters. The children are assessed at various points up to age 3 for distinctions in their development that might indicate autism.

"Behavioral science over the past 40 years has provided very reliable indicators of autism starting at age 2 or 3," said Sally Ozonoff, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and principal investigator for the study at the M.I.N.D. Institute. "We are determining the behavioral indicators to reliably diagnose autism earlier - maybe even as early as 12 months of age."

The primary goal of earlier diagnosis is to be able to treat the disorder as early as possible in a child's life and lessen the disability associated with autism.

"While we still do not have all the answers to autism, what we do know is that the earlier you detect it, the earlier you can intervene and the better the outcomes for the child," said Ozonoff.

The early intervention study - part of a M.I.N.D. Institute partnership with the University of Washington Autism Center - enrolls very young children who have been diagnosed with autism. There can be a waiting period between a diagnosis and community or school-based treatments. In this treatment program, parents are taught to intervene in the home right away, while they wait for other services to begin. While the study is in its initial phase, Rogers, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and principal investigator on the study, is thrilled with the early outcomes.

"Parents are very capable therapists," she said. "Raising a child with autism takes so many different skills. I try to facilitate the parents' own abilities, showing them how to use specific types of play and interaction techniques to increase their children's enjoyment and engagement with them, their gestural communication and language."

Over the course of several weeks, parents learn to build their children's repertoire of adaptive play and interaction skills, thereby reducing the use of challenging behaviors - such as tantrums - to attain goals. Rogers added that the family-delivered interventions help bridge gaps in services and increase the number of hours each day the child is engaged in learning opportunities.

"So many families of children with autism do not have access right away to enough intervention - or to intervention at all," she said. "Teaching parents to use effective techniques throughout their daily lives with their children helps parents begin intervention immediately after diagnosis and allows them to continue to do so even after their child enters other kinds of programs."

While having parents deliver play- and language-based interventions in the home has a long history, Rogers' study is unique in that it examines the effects of parent intervention very early in the disorder - by or before the second birthday and as soon as autism symptoms are identified. Children at this age may be even more responsive to interventions than older preschoolers, and parent training helps create a home environment that is optimal for fostering the social and communicative development of young children with autism.

Parents and their children who are participating in the studies were also interviewed for the "60 Minutes" program. They shared their insights on raising children with autism, along with their experiences in gaining access to services.

The early diagnosis study is funded by the National Institutes of Health and Autism Speaks. The early intervention study is funded by the National Institutes of Health through the Studies to Advance Autism Research and Treatment (STAART) Network and Autism Speaks. The results of both studies are likely to be complete within three years.

The M.I.N.D. Institute is a unique, collaborative center devoted to finding improved treatments, causes and eventually cures for autism fragile X syndrome, Tourette syndrome, learning disabilities and other neurodevelopmental disorders. The community can help speed that process by enrolling their children in research studies. For more information about M.I.N.D. Institute research studies currently enrolling participants, visit www.mindinstitute.org. For more information about autism, visit the National Institute of Mental Health Web site at www.nimh.nih.gov/healthinformation/autismmenu.cfm.