Hannah Schertz

The purpose of this project was to develop and test a framework, Supporting Early Interventionists of Toddlers with Autism to Build Family Capacity (SEITA). SEITA was designed to assist early intervention providers (EIPs) in implementing the Building Interactive Social Communication (BISC) intervention by helping parents mediate social communication learning in toddlers with emerging signs of autism. Autism spectrum disorder is the fastest-growing developmental disability and recent improvem...

The prevalence of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) has grown dramatically in recent years, with advances in early identification now resulting in an influx of toddlers to the early intervention system. Although early intervention providers are required to implement evidence-based practices for this population, few models are available that target social communication, the core difficulty in ASD, at the preverbal stage when neurological development is most malleable. The proposed project direc...

This proposed research will examine the efficacy of Building Interactive Social Communication (BISC), an intervention framework that helps early intervention providers (EIPs) support families of toddlers with autism. Aimed at addressing emerging signs of autism during the developmentally malleable period of toddlerhood, BISC supports parent-mediated intervention with children that is delivered to families in person or virtually, and naturally integrates families' language and cultural prefer...