As a student research assistant at the Infant Communication Lab (ICL), I worked with other students and faculty from the Psychology department to explore the development of infants with an older sibling with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Based on previous research, the infants studied have a high-risk for autism and represent an important target population for research and early intervention. My team focused on high-risk toddlers and how their motor planning develops over time. During the project we aimed to discover how reaching, sitting, object exploration, motor planning, and communication/language develop in babies who are at risk for autism and babies who are not at risk. My team focused on motor planning in high-risk toddlers.
My research at the ICL was unique because we collected detailed data by conducting home visits and used wrist sensors among other technologies that detected infants’ movement. The wrist sensors were important in measuring measuring motor movements and planning abilities as toddlers completed various tasks. During home visits, students completed various tasks such as caring for siblings with autism, preparing supplies, operating a video camera, and operating the wrist sensors with the computer trial system. In my time at the ICL, I analyzed video trials through coding protocols to extract data from home visits and collaborated with a coding team to fine-tune these protocols for future testing. We worked to code reliably with one another to obtain consensus data for analysis. I also entered data from the lab’s varied projects.
My work in the ICL taught me about the qualitative research process and how to collaborate with others to reach a common goal. Autism research is important because so much is unknown about the disease but, there is evidence that early intervention is essential to successful treatment. Autism affects people throughout the world. To conduct effective research, the ICL works together with a lab in Italy to discover what aspects of early intervention are most significant in effective treatment demonstrating a global approach to addressing autism.
