Background: Behavioral intervention with parent participation is effective in reducing symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), but access to intervention is limited. The current study explored whether a video-enriched parent-training program would (a) be comprehensible and acceptable to parents in the Republic of Albania, (b) increase parental knowledge of behavioral strategies and (c) increase parental self-efficacy. Methods: Twenty-nine parents of children with ASD aged 18-70 months completed the Early Intervention Parenting Self-Efficacy Scale (EIPSES, Guimond, Wilcox, & Lamorey, 2008) and a quiz to assess their knowledge of behavioral strategies. Parents in the Treatment Group then received access to a parent-training (PT) program on evidence-based teaching and behavior management techniques. The program was based on empirical research, but considered Albanian cultural norms and included topics Albanian parents requested. Parents in the Treatment Group rated the program using the Treatment Evaluation Inventory Short Form (TEI-SF; Kelley, Heffer, Gresham, & Elliott, 1989). Change in parents’ quiz scores and EIPSES ratings from baseline to post-treatment were compared by group. Results: Parents rated this video training program as comprehensible and valuable. The program modestly increased aspects of self-efficacy as well as parents’ knowledge of effective teaching strategies. Conclusion: Remote PT may be useful in low-resource settings to help parents develop techniques for teaching skills and forestalling problem behavior in children with ASD. Additional research, with a larger sample size, that observes the effect of the program on child behavior is warranted.

Intensive, comprehensive treatment using a variety of applied behavior analysis methods was provided to a toddler who was determined to be at high risk for autism at the age of about 1 year. Initially, treatment was delivered in a one-to-one adult-child format in the child's home and other settings, with gradual transitions to group instruction in early intervention and preschool classrooms. Intensive treatment continued for 3 years; by the 4th year, the child was spending most of her time in a regular preschool classroom, with minimal ongoing one-to-one instruction. Direct observational data and results of norm-referenced tests documented large increases in language, social, cognitive, and daily living skills over the course of treatment. After 4 years, the child demonstrated no behavioral or developmental abnormalities, performed above her chronological age level on norm-referenced tests of cognitive and language skills, and was functioning as a typical child in a regular public school kindergarten classroom.

In recent years, there has been increasing awareness about autism spectrum disorders (ASD) around the world, including in low and middle income countries. Unlike countries in Western Europe and North America where infrastructure and capacity are available to help meet some of the needs of individuals with ASD, little expertise or capacity exists in most of the developing world. In 2008 Autism Speaks launched the Global Autism Public Health (GAPH) Initiative to facilitate the development of systematic and sustainable solutions for enhancing global autism awareness, research, training and service delivery. In the last 3 years Autism Speaks has established collaboration with stakeholders from over 20 countries who are working alongside dedicated local and international stakeholders to effect change. In this article, the GAPH framework is described, along with a few brief case examples that illustrate how the framework for implementation of the model can occur. GAPH is still in its infancy but has the potential to have significant impact through inclusive collaboration with local and international stakeholders to develop effective and sustainable public health solutions for disseminating best practices and delivering tangible benefits to individuals with ASD and their families. Autism Res 2012, 5: 211-217.

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The maternal-effect gene dorsal encodes the ventral morphogen that is essential for elaboration of ventral and ventrolateral fates in the Drosophila embryo. Dorsal belongs to the rel family of transcription factors and controls asymmetric expression of zygotic genes along the dorsoventral axis. The dorsal protein is cytoplasmic in early embryos, possibly because of a direct interaction with cactus. In response to a ventral signal, dorsal protein becomes partitioned into nuclei of cleavage-stage syncytial blastoderms such that the ventral nuclei have the maximum amount of dorsal protein, and the lateral and dorsal nuclei have progressively less protein. Here we show that transgenic flies containing the dorsal cDNA, which is driven by the constitutively active hsp83 promoter, exhibits rescue of the dorsal- phenotype. Transformed lines were used to increase the level of dorsal protein. Females with dorsal levels roughly twice that of wild-type produced normal embryos, while a higher level of dorsal protein resulted in phenotypes similar to those observed for loss-of-function cactus mutations. By manipulating the cactus gene dose, we found that in contrast to a dorsal/cactus ratio of 2.5 which resulted in fully penetrant weak ventralization, a cactus/dorsal ratio of 3.0 was acceptable by the system. By manipulating dorsal levels in different cactus and dorsal group mutant backgrounds, we found that the relative amounts of ventral signal to that of the dorsal-cactus complex is important for the elaboration of the normal dorsoventral pattern. We propose that in a wild-type embryo, the activities of dorsal and cactus are not independently regulated; excess cactus activity is deployed only if a higher level of dorsal protein is available. Based on these results we discuss how the ventral signal interacts with the dorsal-cactus complex, thus forming a gradient of nuclear dorsal protein.