Current Research in the Speech Development Lab 

Baby Sibs Project

The University of Calgary is conducting a research study in order to better understand language development in infants at risk for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

We are interested in relationships among and between two social attention factors, joint attention and attention to speech, related to language development.

For more information on our study, please select "Research" from the left-hand menu, and then select the "Current Research" link.

Who can take part?

 

We are interested in hearing from you:

1. Parents/guardians of an infant younger than 4 - 8 months with an older sibling with a diagnosis on the Autism spectrum (e.g. Autism, ASD).

2. Parents/guardians of an infant younger than 4 months with an older, typically-developing sibling.

 

Participation will typically involve 5 visits to the University of Calgary's Speech Development Lab as your infant develops. For parents who have an infant with an older sibling diagnosed on the Autism spectrum, there will also be two additional visits at 24 months and 36 months of age. For parents who have an infant with an older, typically-developing sibling, we will contact you at 24 months for a phone interview regarding your infant's development up to that point.

		Speech		Social		Language	Cognitive	Autism	Hearing & Heart Rate
Visit	Age in Months	General Speech Task	Infant/ Adult Speech Task	Parent-Child Interaction Play Session	CSBS-DP	MacArthur-Bates CDI	Mullen Scales of Early Learning	Austism Observation Scale for Infants	Hearing Test & Heart Rate Monitor
1-2	4-6
3	8
4	12
5	18
TIME		5 min.	6 min.	6 min.	20 min.	At home: 20- 40 min.	20 min.	15-20 min.	Hearing: 5 min.

Children with ASD typically have difficulty in the development and use of language. Approximately half of the autistic population fails to develop speech, and when language does develop, Autistic individuals often fail to use speech functionally (Volkmar, 1991). Little is known about possible early markers in speech development in infant at high risk for autism.

 

If you are interested in participating in our study, or would like more information, please contact us at:

Telephone: 403-220-2444 | Email: babysibs@ucalgary.ca

Our community partners will provide follow-up services:

 

Autism Organizations & Resources	Phone	Website	Email
Autism Calgary Association	250-5033	www.autismcalgary.com	EMAIL
Society for the Treatment of Autism	253-2291	www.sta-ab.com	N/A
Autism Aspergers Friendship Society	608-5652	www.aafscalgary.com	EMAIL
Autism Society of Canada	1-866-874-3334	www.autismsocietycanada.ca	EMAIL
Autism Disorders Program L.E.A.D Foundation	270-7912	www.leadfoundation.info/	EMAIL
Child Disability Resource Link	1-866-346-4661	N/A	N/A
families for Effective Autism Treatments of Alberta Foundation	N/A	http://members.shaw.ca/feat.ab/	N/A
Preschool Autism Treatment and Education Program, New Heights Early Learning Services	240-1314	N/A	N/A
Renfrew Education Services Society	291-5038	www.renfreweducation.org	EMAIL

 

 

If you have any concerns, you should also contact:

Calgary Health Region, Child Development Intake phone: 955-5999
Calgary Health Region, Child Development Services phone: 955-5900

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