NIMH awards $1.85 million to Michigan project that studies play interventions for autism

From Crain's Detroit Business:

The National Institute of Mental Health has awarded Richard Solomon, medical director of The P.L.A.Y. Project, a $1.85 million grant to fund research on play-based early intervention for autism.

Solomon is conducting a three-year study of The Play and Language for Autistic Youngsters Project Home Consulting model, a parent-training program that addresses the need for intensive early intervention for young children with autism.

The Ann Arbor-based project addresses the shortage in personnel trained in intensive approaches for working with those children by using structured monthly home visits focused on modeling, coaching and video feedback, to train parents to engage their autistic child in ways that promote emotional connection and communication.

The program also reduces costs for parents to about $4,000 per year, or a tenth or less of what other intervention programs cost, The P.L.A.Y. Project claims.