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This paper presents the outcome of a home-based autism intervention program (HBAIP) in 18- to 40-month-old children newly
diagnosed and treatment naive. Intervention was exclusively implemented at home. Outcome was measured at 3 months and 6
months after intervention and compared with a group of newly diagnosed children with autism who were >40 months at intake but
had not received any autism specific clinical management. Aim was also to estimate whether natural development would contribute
to gain in skills and compare with the effect of intervention. Five selected parameters of behavior representing social interaction and
social communication were used to assess outcome. Results showed a statistically significant improvement between preintervention
and postintervention in all the measured parameters. The effect size was large when compared to preintervention and gains were
indicated by changes in mean scores and p values within a narrow confidence interval. Highest gains were in first 3 months of
postintervention which continued up to 6 months. Although the comparison group was more advanced in the measured skills at
intake, they were significantly below the level reached by experimental group at 3 months and 6 months after intervention. This
study was registered in the Sri Lanka Clinical Trials Registry (SLCTR/2009/01I).
