A new finding about the potential of behavior therapy for kids with autism is one of Time Magazine’s “Top 10 Medical Breakthroughs” for the year.

The newsweekly called out the autism development in one of a series of year-end lists featuring the highs and lows of 2012.

The study highlighted by Time found that an approach known as the Early Start Denver Model has the potential to normalize brain patterns in children with autism in addition to helping them improve social skills.

The research, which was published this fall in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, came in at number five on the Time list under the headline “hope for reversing autism.”

Other remarkable medical advancements that made the magazine’s medical breakthroughs list include new findings about breast cancer, HIV and the human genome.

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