Welcome to Dr. Jessica Brian's lab page
- Check out our newest publication: Brian et al., 2024; Transporting and implementing a caregiver-mediated intervention for toddlers with autism in Goa, India: Evidence from the social ABCs
- Latest information about the Social ABCs
- Virtual Group Social ABCs
- Social ABCs for Babies
Meet the staff and students
Scientist

Dr. Jessica Brian is a Psychologist and Senior Clinician Scientist at Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital and Associate Professor at the University of Toronto in the department of Paediatrics. She co-leads the Autism Research Centre at Holland Bloorview. Dr. Brian received her Ph.D. from the clinical-developmental program at York University and received intensive training in Applied Behaviour Analysis during a full-year internship at the Princeton Child Development Institute in New Jersey. Jessica has been heavily involved in a range of multi-site research programs aimed at understanding the emergence of ASD, the behavioural phenotype, and genetic markers of ASD and related disorders. For over a decade, Dr. Brian has been involved in the Canadian Infant Siblings Study, and is a member of the international Baby Siblings Research Consortium. Jessica co-developed and led the evaluation of the Social ABCs, a very early parent-mediated intervention for infants and toddlers with emerging ASD or related social-communication challenges.
Links:
Research Staff
- Kate Bernardi, Research Coordinator
- Sara Daoud, Research Coordinator
- Erin Dowds, Research Coordinator
- Alex Hoffman, Research Assistant
- Ian Roth, Speech-Language Pathologist
- Abbie Solish, Psychologist
Current Trainees
- Erin Dowds, Doctor of Education
Below are some of our publications.
Find more of our published work with Dr. Brian on Google Scholar
- Brian J. A., Dowds E. M., Bernardi K., Velho A., Kantawalla, M., & de Souza, N. - 2024 - Transporting and implementing a caregiver-mediated intervention for toddlers with autism in Goa, India: Evidence from the social ABCs. Front. Rehabil. Sci. 
- Brian, J., Drmic, I., Roncadin, C., Dowds, E., Shaver, C., Smith, I. M., Zwaigenbaum, L., Sacrey, L.-A. R., & Bryson, S. E. - 2022 - Effectiveness of a parent-mediated intervention for toddlers with autism spectrum disorder: Evidence from a large community implementation. Autism: the international journal of research and practice 
- Brian, J., Solish, A., Dowds, E., Roth, I., Bernardi, K., Perry, K., Daoud, S., Jilderda, S., MacWilliam, S., Smith, I. M., Zwaigenbaum, L., & Bryson, S. - 2022) - "Going Mobile"increasing the reach of parent-mediated intervention for toddlers with ASD via groupbased and virtual delivery. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. 
- Sacrey LAR, Zwaigenbaum L, Susan E Bryson, Jessica A Brian, Isabel M Smith, Nancy Garon, Tracy Vaillancourt, Caroline Roncadin. – 2022 - Temperament in infancy predicts internalizing and externalizing problem behavior at age 5 in children with an increased likelihood of autism spectrum disorder.Frontiers in Psychology 
- Brian JA, Smith IM, Zwaigenbaum L & Bryson SE. - 2017 - Cross-site randomized control trial of the social ABCs caregiver‐mediated intervention for toddlers with autism spectrum disorder. Autism Research 
- Brian, J. A., Smith, I. M., Zwaigenbaum, L., Roberts, W., & Bryson, S. E. - 2016 - The Social ABCs caregiver-mediated intervention for toddlers with autism spectrum disorder: Feasibility, acceptability, and evidence of promise from a multisite study. Autism Research: Official Journal of the International Society for Autism Research 
- Brian, J., Bryson, SE., Zwaigenbaum, L. - 2015 - Autism Spectrum Disorder in infancy: developmental considerations in treatment targets. Current Opinion in Neurology 
- Brian, J., Roncadin, C., Duku, E., Bryson, S. E., Smith, I., Roberts, W., Szatmari, P., Drmic, I., & Zwaigenbaum, Lonnie. - 2014 - Emerging cognitive profiles in high-risk infants with and without autism spectrum disorder. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders 
Project: Parent-mediated Intervention for Toddlers with Autism: A multi-site Randomized Controlled Trial of a Group-based Virtual Program that Empowers Parents as Change Agents.
Researchers: J. Brian (PI), I. M. Smith; L. Zwaigenbaum; P. Andreou
Agency: Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) ($569,926, 2022-2025)
Project: Earlier Intervention and Improved Access: Extending the Reach of Social ABCs through Nimble Models of Care and Capacity Building
Researchers: J. Brian (PI)
Agency: Kids Brain Health Network Implementation Project Award (Networks of Centres of Excellence) ($597,580, 2020-2023)
Project: Infant Screening and Treatment of Autism
Researchers: L. Zwaigenbaum (PI), J. Brian and co-investigator team
Agency: Women and Children's Health Research Institute (WCHRI) ($750,000, 2018-2024)
