TREAT Study: Testing Rewarding Experiences and Tasks
What's the study about?
The TREAT study aims to understand how young children’s brains process different types of rewards like a video of their caregiver’s face, bubbles in the room, and other videos. During this study, your child watch videos, do an activity that involves pressing a large button, and complete a developmental assessment with a licensed clinical psychologist or trainee.
Who can participate?
Children with an autism diagnosis aged 3-5.9 years old
What will participants be doing?
The child and their caregiver complete a 3 hour clinical visit (autism evaluation) and a 2 hour study visit. After completing both visits, caregivers may also choose to do a zoom feedback and consultation about their child’s evaluation results and recommendations. During the autism evaluation visit, a clinical psychologist or supervised doctoral student completes an autism evaluation that includes a play-based assessment (ADOS-2), a cognitive evaluation (DAS-II), and a parent interview. The child is also introduced to the activities of the next visit. During the second visit, the child will be asked to complete a behavioral task, wear an EEG cap, and watch videos.
Why is this important?
The goal for this study is to use this information to better individualize early intervention treatments for children on the autism spectrum.