Research in Autism:  Parent Intervention

Schreibman, Laura

Abstract

The results of our previous funding period indicate that parent training is an extremely effective approach to the treatment of autism. It is fast, economical, and produces relatively broad treatment changes. However, one rather serious limitation to date has been that the children are extremely dependent upon their treatment provider (in this case their parents) and continue to exhibit relatively limited autonomous peer related responding even after treatment. Based upon the literature and existing pilot data, we hypothesize that the most productive parent training avenue will be one that involves the child as a major component in the treatment delivery. Specifically, we feel the parents are going to need to learn how to teach self-management skills to these children. The types of changes that are required of the children over the years are those that need to be evidenced in an almost infinite number of environments. Also, as the child matures, the need for independence becomes increasingly great. As a result, we are proposing to compare a control treatment condition consisting of a typical parent training approach where the parents are taught to manage their children's behavior (Parent-Management or PM condition) in comparison to a new parent training approach where the parents are taught to include their child as a central part of the treatment delivery through self-management techniques (Self-Management or SM condition).