A pilot investigation of neuroimaging predictors for the benefits from pivotal response treatment for children with autism

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Hegarty, J. P., Gengoux, G. W., Berquist, K. L., Millán, M. E., Tamura, S. M., Karve, S., Rosenthal, M. D., Phillips, J. M., & Hardan, A. Y. (2019). A pilot investigation of neuroimaging predictors for the benefits from pivotal response treatment for children with autism. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 111, 140-144. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2019.02.001

Publication date: 5 Feb 2019 Added to AutiHub: 5 Oct 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
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Authors

Publication authors
9
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 9 (11.1%)
  1. John P. Hegarty *
  2. Grace W. Gengoux
  3. Kari L. Berquist
  4. M. Estefanía Millán
  5. Serena M. Tamura
  1. Shweta Karve
  2. Margaret D. Rosenthal
  3. Jennifer M. Phillips
  4. Antonio Y. Hardan

Abstract

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) frequently exhibit language delays and functional communication deficits. Pivotal response treatment (PRT) is an effective intervention for targeting these skills; however, similar to other behavioral interventions, response to PRT is variable across individuals. Thus, objective markers capable of predicting treatment response are critically-needed to identify which children are most likely to benefit from this intervention. In this pilot study, we investigated whether structural neuroimaging measures from language regions in the brain are associated with response to PRT. Children with ASD (n = 18) who were receiving PRT to target their language deficits were assessed with MRI at baseline. T1-weighted images were segmented with FreeSurfer and morphometric measures of the primary language regions (inferior frontal (IFG) and superior temporal (STG) gyri) were evaluated. Children with ASD and language deficits did not exhibit the anticipated relationships between baseline structural measures of language regions and baseline language abilities, as assessed by the number of utterances displayed during a structured laboratory observation (SLO). Interestingly, the level of improvement on the SLO was correlated with baseline asymmetry of the IFG, and the size of the left STG at baseline was correlated with the level of improvement on standardized parental questionnaires. Although very preliminary, the observed associations between baseline structural properties of language regions and improvement in language abilities following PRT suggest that neuroimaging measures may be able to help identify which children are most likely to benefit from specific language treatments, which could help improve precision medicine for children with ASD.

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Cited references
57
With a DOI
41
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
13
0 / 57 (0.0%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
2 / 57 (3.5%)
References with detected author names
55 / 57 (96.5%)
Without detected author names
2
Without a structured title
0
Without a stable identifier
11
References with raw author names still to review
0
References with external metadata lookup issues
1
These indicators apply to cited references displayed on this page, after technical duplicates have been merged. A reference without a DOI can still support author statistics when a title and author names are available.
Author names detected in the cited bibliography
185
From DOI or external metadata
185
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
0
36 / 185 (19.5%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 149 / 185 (80.5%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
0 / 185 (0.0%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 0 / 36 (0.0%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 0 / 156 (0.0%).
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