Trial reportJournal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry2015
Social communication difficulties and autism in previously institutionalized children.
Trial report in Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 69 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effectiveness of social skills training interventions for children with autism spectrum disorder: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Saudi medical journal · 2025Pooled it
- Early deprivation alters structural brain development from middle childhood to adolescence.Science advances · 2022Trial
- Autonomic reactivity to social rejection, peer difficulties, and the buffering effects of adolescent friendships following early psychosocial deprivation.Emotion (Washington, D.C.) · 2022Trial
- Social communication deficits following early-life deprivation and relation to psychopathology: a randomized clinical trial of foster care.Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines · 2020Trial
- Early deprivation disruption of associative learning is a developmental pathway to depression and social problems.Nature communications · 2018Trial
- The effects of early institutionalization on emotional face processing: evidence for sparing via an experience-dependent mechanism.The British journal of developmental psychology · 2017Trial
- What Is Distinctive About Autism Arising Following Severe Institutional Deprivation? A Direct Comparison With a Community Sample of Early Diagnosed Autistic People.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research · 2025Article
- Influence of the functional intervention on the development of essential social skills in children with life-limiting conditions.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- The adult outcome of childhood quasi-autism arising following extreme institutional deprivation.Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines · 2023Article
- The intersection of genome, epigenome and social experience in autism spectrum disorder: Exploring modifiable pathways for intervention.Neurobiology of learning and memory · 2023Article
- Differentiating Post-Digital Nannying Autism Syndrome from Autism Spectrum Disorders in Young Children: A Comparative Cross-Sectional Study.Journal of clinical medicine · 2022Article
- Internet-based versus face-to-face intervention training for parents of young children with excessive screen-time and autism spectrum disorder-like symptoms: a comparative study.International journal of developmental disabilities · 2022Article
- Rethinking autism spectrum disorder assessment for children during COVID-19 and beyond.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research · 2021Article
- Atypical neural processing during the execution of complex sensorimotor behavior in autism.Behavioural brain research · 2021Article
- Differentiating "Attachment Difficulties" From Autism Spectrum Disorders and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: Qualitative Interviews With Experienced Health Care Professionals.Frontiers in psychology · 2021Article
- Mini-Basketball Training Program Improves Social Communication and White Matter Integrity in Children with Autism.Brain sciences · 2020Article
- Friendship and social functioning following early institutional rearing: The role of ADHD symptoms.Development and psychopathology · 2019Article
- How Early Experience Shapes Human Development: The Case of Psychosocial Deprivation.Neural plasticity · 2019Review
- Early life adversity during the infant sensitive period for attachment: Programming of behavioral neurobiology of threat processing and social behavior.Developmental cognitive neuroscience · 2017Review
- Child and family health in the era of prevention: new opportunities and challenges.Journal of behavioral medicine · 2017Review
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
Authors and funding
4 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveTo determine the risk of difficulties with social communication and restricted/repetitive behaviors as well as the rate of autism in children institutionalized in early infancy and to assess the impact of a foster care intervention on ameliorating this risk.
methodChildren abandoned at birth and raised in institutions in Bucharest, Romania were randomly assigned to a care-as-usual group (institutional care, CAUG), or placed in family-centered foster care (FCG) as part of the Bucharest Early Intervention Project (BEIP). At approximately 10 years of age, the Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ) was administered to caregivers of children in both groups as well as to parents of a typically developing community sample (Never-Institutionalized group [NIG]) residing in Bucharest, Romania. Children scoring ≥12 on the SCQ underwent clinical evaluation for autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
resultsCaregivers of children with a history of institutionalization reported that these children had significantly more deviant behavior than never-institutionalized children on all subdomains of the SCQ (all p < 0.001). Children in the FCG had significantly lower scores on the SCQ than children in the CAUG (p < .001), particularly in the reciprocal social interaction domain, indicating that the intervention reduced problems in social communication. Three of 60 CAUG children, 2 of 57 FCG children, and none of the NIG children received a formal ASD diagnosis.
conclusionEarly institutional rearing was associated with an increased risk of social communication difficulties and ASD. A family-centered foster care intervention improved social communication skills.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.