Intersensory Processing and Attention Development in Young Children with Autism
Official title: Intersensory Processing, Developmental Trajectories, and Longitudinal Outcomes
Funded at Florida International University · NIH-11378306 · Data updated 2026-11-12
A long-term study follows children with autism to understand how early multisensory attention develops and how it relates to language, social skills, and learning.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Florida International University NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Miami, United States) |
| Project start | April 10, 2008 |
| Project end | May 31, 2029 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $624,944 |
| NIH project number | 5R01HD053776-18 |
| Project ID | NIH-11378306 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal candidates are children with autistic disorder or suspected attention-related developmental differences, from infancy to early childhood, who may participate in longitudinal assessments.
✕Less likely to help
Children outside the autism spectrum or those not involved in longitudinal multisensory attention assessments may not directly benefit.
What this research studies
This research tracks how infants and children with autistic disorder attend to multiple senses at once, such as watching a face while listening to a voice. It uses age-appropriate tasks to measure attention, shifting, and maintenance across time to see how these skills influence language and social development. The study builds and applies new, infant- and child-friendly measures to capture how attention unfolds from infancy through early childhood. Findings aim to map typical vs. atypical developmental pathways and identify markers of risk for later difficulties. The project leverages longitudinal data to inform interventions that support attention and learning in autism.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: Better understanding of how attention develops could lead to earlier and more targeted interventions to support language and social skills in autistic children.
How similar studies have gone: Prior work has shown that early multisensory attention relates to later development, but comprehensive longitudinal pathways are still being established.
Where this research is happening
-
Florida International University
Miami, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Bahrick, Lorraine E — Florida International University
- Study coordinator: Bahrick, Lorraine E
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.