It is estimated that a disproportionate amount of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) live in low and middle income countries where access to resources and quality care is sustainably lacking. Research has shown that timely access to early interventions can have profound positive impacts on health, cognitive, language, and socio-behavioral outcomes for children with ASD. Yet, there is a significant gap in knowledge of the effectiveness of early interventions applicable to developing country settings. This gap in knowledge, combined with the increasing diagnosis of ASD in children in developing countries illustrates the urgent need to develop feasible, culturally sensitive, low-cost interventions.

It has been shown that parents of children with ASD are instrumental to a child with ASD’s success and can provide life changing therapeutic practices to their children. It is being proposed that a culturally sensitive parent-mediated in-home pilot intervention be conducted in rural Gaibandha, Bangladesh. The in-home intervention will consist of training parents to utilize proven Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) and Pivotal Response Therapy (PRT) techniques to provide therapeutic services to their child with ASD. This project will be an extension of the Bangladesh Autism Prevalence Study (BAPS) being conducted in Gaibandha by JHSPH and will help to provide invaluable insight into the future development of interventions for children with ASD in settings lacking infrastructure and clinical resources.

Global Health Project Grant Advisor/Mentor: Dr. Parul Christian, DrPH