Abstract

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that involves global impairments in social skills and in verbal and non-verbal communication, as well as the presence of stereotyped patterns of behaviors and interests. ASD impacts society enormously as it leads to lifelong disability, high medical care, and increased mental health problems in caregivers. Research suggests that very early intervention started immediately after diagnosis during the first three years of life positively affects outcomes. Unfortunately, the majority of children in the United States start intervention after 4 years of age or never receive ASD intervention. In our case report we describe outcomes of a young child with ASD after participating in a low intensity intervention. The intervention consisted in a 12-weeks parent-child intervention group for young children with ASD based on the Early Start Intervention Model (ESDM). The child demonstrated improvement in ASD symptoms as measured by the Behavior Observation of Social Communication Change (BOSCC). Moreover, the child’s mother demonstrated fidelity in the implementation of the intervention strategies and indicated in a satisfaction survey that the intervention was very helpful. Results are discussed in terms of importance of low intensity intervention for communities with limited resources and families without sufficient ASD service benefits, as well as to provide a bridge as families are transitioning to and/or waiting for more intensive services to become available.