WHAT'S HAPPENING

CAN LIMITING SCREEN TIME AND FOCUSING ON SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT IMPROVE AUTISM SYMPTOMS?

Excessive early-life screen media exposure has been associated with developmental delay and autism symptoms. Improvements in developmental trajectory in young children with ASD and high digital screen exposure have been reported when screen time is replaced with socially oriented activities.

OFF SCREEN: "There is consistent evidence that prolonged viewing of screens in the youngest children is associated with negative developmental outcomes."

Now, a pilot study from researchers at Drexel College of Medicine suggests that cutting back on screen time and increasing focus on social engagement may decrease symptoms among kids with autism. The parents of nine children (18 to 40 months) with autism received a training on screen time and child development and were asked to reduce screen viewing by their children to no more than 1 hour per week. The screen time of the children was reduced from an average of 5.6 hours of media on screens each day to about five minutes per day.

Up until recent studies, there has been little research examining whether interventions can decrease screen media exposure and ASD behaviors among children with ASD. The research team also incorporated weekly one-hour in-home support visits to replace screen time with engagement with an adult over the six-month study. After six-months of less television time and more social time incorporating strategies to gain eye contact and attention of the children, authors saw significant reductions in children's autism symptoms and parent stress.

The participants in the pilot study were nine children, 18 to 40 months old, with an ASD diagnosis who watched screens at least two hours per day. Screen viewing history and weekly screen viewing and social interaction were assessed. The intervention involved a parent education program fol

lowed by weekly one hour in-home support visits aimed at replacing screen time with social engagement time over a 6 month period. Child autism symptoms, functional behavior, and development were assessed before and after intervention.The childrens' parents completed questionnaires on parental stress and their perceptions of the intervention.

"After six-months of less television time and more social time incorporating strategies to gain eye contact and attention of the children, authors saw significant reductions in children's autism symptoms and parent stress."

"The literature is rich with studies showing the benefits of parent-infant interaction on later child development, as well as the association of greater screen viewing with developmental delays," says lead author Karen F. Heffler, a researcher in the College

of Medicine. "Our study expands on this previous research by associating early social and screen media experiences with later ASD-like symptoms."

The results of the pilots studey were promising; significant improvements were observed in core autism symptoms and parental stress from pre- to post-intervention as children's screen viewing decreased during the study.

Parent education and training/support to minimize screen time and increase social interaction for young children with ASD was tolerated well by parents and children. These promising preliminary results suggest that further research on early screen media viewing, ASD, and screen reduction intervention is warranted.

"There is consistent evidence that prolonged viewing of screens in the youngest children is associated with negative developmental outcomes," Heffler says. "There is no evidence that prolonged viewing of screens in the early years has a positive impact on development."

The study is available to read online at onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ped.15343