Who can participate in EARLI?
You may be eligible if:
- You are the biological mother of a child with a confirmed Autism Spectrum Disorder diagnosis. The following are considered Autism Spectrum Disorder diagnoses for the purposes of EARLI: autistic disorder, aspergers syndrome, and pervasive developmental disorders not otherwise specified (or PDD NOS). Please contact us if you are not sure whether your child has an eligible diagnosis!
- You are living in one of the study areas that EARLI can cover. You can check this by reviewing our study sites map and information.
- You are pregnant now or may become pregnant in the future. Remember, we are extremely interested in talking to you if you are not pregnant now but are trying to become pregnant. Even if you are not trying right now, if it is possible that you may become pregnant in the future we would still like to talk to you to tell you about EARLI.
You are NOT eligible if:
- You cannot become pregnant.
- You are already more than 28 weeks pregnant. (Remember, while your current pregnancy would not be eligible for EARLI, we will be enrolling participants for several years and you would be eligible if you became pregnant again.)
- You plan to relocate outside of the area EARLI covers within the next three years.
When you contact us, here’s what will happen…
If you are not pregnant now but might become pregnant in the future, EARLI will get some basic information from you so that we can keep in touch with you and try to bring you into the study right away if you become pregnant.
If you are pregnant now, we will start to enroll you in the study. Participation in EARLI involves completing forms and questionnaires, visiting one of our study clinics, and having research staff visit you at home. You will hopefully be involved in the study until the new baby reaches age 3. One of the first things we will need to do is confirm the Autism Spectrum Disorder diagnosis of your older child. In most cases, this will be done by a visit at our study clinic. If we cannot confirm your older child’s Autism Spectrum Disorder diagnosis, you are not eligible to participate in EARLI.
We know that your family is probably very busy. We also realize that families that include a child with a developmental disorder have to deal with more than their share of special challenges. Our study staff will work with families to ensure that daily routines are minimally disrupted and will do our best to make the experience of participating in EARLI as easy as possible. We look forward to getting to know you and to working together to help unravel the mysteries of autism’s causes.