Researcher Urges Collaborative Autism Programs ANN ARBOR, MI (Michigan Radio) - A Michigan State University researcher says children with autism and their families would benefit if supporters of the two main treatment methods would work together.

MSU professor Brooke Ingersoll says behavioral and developmental approaches to autism treatment actually use similar methods.

She says she'd like to see a collaboration between the two camps.

So Ingersoll created a combined curriculum on social communication for preschool instructors in Ottawa, Livingston and Clinton Counties. The teachers then teach the parents.

"By teaching parents how to use some of these intervention strategies, we can really improve the kids' ability to use these skills in those environments that are most meaningful," she says.

Ingersoll says it will probably take a few years of research to find out if the combined method is more effective than a singular approach to autism treatment.
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