Little is known about use of early interventions for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in Europe. Parents of children with ASD aged 7 years or younger (N=1680) were recruited through parent organisations in 18 European countries and completed an online survey about the interventions their child received. There was considerable variation in use of interventions and in some countries more than 20% of children received no intervention at all. The most frequently reported treatments were speech and language therapy (64%) and behavioural, developmental and relationship based treatments (55%). In some parts of Europe, use of behavioural, developmental and relationship-based interventions was associated with higher parental educational level and time passed since diagnosis, rather than USE OF INTERVENTION FOR CHILDREN WITH ASD IN EUROPE 2 with child characteristics. These findings highlight the need to monitor use of treatment for children with ASD in Europe in order to contrast inequalities.

To investigate temperament as an early risk marker for autism spectrum disorder (ASD), we examined parent-reported temperament for high-risk (HR, n=170) and low-risk (LR, n=77) siblings at 8, 14, and 24 months. Diagnostic assessment was performed at 36 months. Group-based analyses showed linear risk gradients, with more atypical temperament for HR-ASD, followed by HR-Atypical, HR-Typical, and LR siblings. Temperament differed significantly between outcome groups (0.34≥ η p 2 ≥0.03). Machine learning analyses showed that, at an individual level, HR-ASD siblings could not be identified accurately, whereas HR infants without ASD could.Our results emphasize the discrepancy between group-based and individual-based predictions and suggest that while temperament does not facilitate early identification of ASD individually, it may help identify HR infants who do not develop ASD.

The field of early autism research is in dire need of outcome measures that adequately reflect subtle changes in core autistic behaviors. This article compares the ability of a newly developed measure, the Brief Observation of Social Communication Change (BOSCC), and the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS) to detect changes in core symptoms of autism in 44 toddlers. The results provide encouraging evidence for the Brief Observation of Social Communication Change as a candidate outcome measure, as reflected in sufficient inter- and intra-rater reliability, independency from other child characteristics, and sensitivity to capture change. Although the Brief Observation of Social Communication Change did not evidently outperform the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule on any of these quality criteria, the instrument may be better able to capture subtle, individual changes in core autistic symptoms. The promising findings warrant further study of this new instrument.