Can parental training improve the course of autism?

A new study tests a controversial idea: that the everyday interactions between caregiver and child can change the way autism develops

This story was originally published on 23 March on sfari.org, an editorially independent division of SimonsFoundation.org

One afternoon in October 2012, a communication therapist from Manchester visited the home of Laura and her three children. Laura sat down at a small white table in a dimly lit room to feed her 10-month-old daughter, Bethany, while the therapist set up a video camera to record the pair's every movement. (Names of research participants have been changed to protect privacy.)