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document
Brief report : mediation of treatment effect in a communication intervention for pre-school children with autism . Tests of mediation in treatment trials can illuminate processes of change and suggest causal influences in development . We conducted a mediation analysis of a previously published randomised controlled trial of parent-mediated communication-focused treatment for autism against ordinary care , with 28 children aged 2-5 years ( Aldred et al . in J Child Psychol Psychiatr 45:1-11 , 2004 ) . The hypothesised mediating process , targeted by the intervention , was an increase in parental synchronous response within parent-child interaction . The results showed partial mediation , with change in synchrony accounting for 34 % of the positive intervention effect on autism symptomatology ( Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule communication and social domain algorithm ) ; the result was confirmed by bootstrap estimation . Improved parental synchronous response to child communication can alter short-term autism symptom outcome with targeted therapy .
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Intervention_Psychological
parent-mediated communication-focused treatment
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Participant_Condition
pre-school children with autism .