Evaluating a Social and Communication Intervention for Preschoolers

In Phase 4, KKI staff trained Delaware preschool teachers to serve as model coaches and
educators through the Delaware Autism Program. Families whose children were enrolled in
participating classrooms were consented through DAP using the school's consent to be
videotaped. Any families who did not consent for their child to be videotaped for this
training received the nonparticipant consent form currently utilized in this study and staff
videotaping took every effort to keep those children out of frame when taping. This cohort
involved KKI study team members training 1-2 coaches, who then trained five Delaware school
teachers. The IES model was implemented in the teacher's classrooms (n= 5-10 students
participating in each classroom; 20-40 children total).

In the current phase of the study, Phase 5 and 6, KKI study team members will continue the
evaluation of the IES model, by testing the efficacy of the intervention model in a larger
sample (Phase 5) and then analyzing the corresponding data (Phase 6). The larger efficacy
study (phase 5) will be conducted on teachers and students recruited from public school
districts in Maryland, Delaware, and Pennsylvania using the same IES model and recruitment
methods in the previous phases.

Inclusion Criteria:

For Teachers:

- Work in an ASD preschool classroom within a cooperating Baltimore County Public School.

For Children:

- Meet Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule-Generic (ADOS; Lord et al., 2002) and
expert clinical judgment criteria for ASD

- Have an IQ or Developmental Quotient of at least 40 based on the Early Learning
Composite from the Mullen Scales of Early Learning (Mullen, 1995)

- Be enrolled in a participating Baltimore County Public School ASD preschool classroom

- Be between the ages of 3 and 6 and enrolled in a participating ASD preschool
classroom.

Exclusion Criteria:

Children and educators may be taken out of the study if they:

- Are unable to comply with the study protocol

- Change schools due to relocation

Children may also be taken out of this study if they:

- Sustain a head injury or other serious physical injury during the study

- Are not being brought in for testing as designated in the protocol