scholarly journals 2022 Using father-mediated intervention to increase responsive parental behaviors and child communication in children with autism spectrum disorder: A pilot study

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (S1) ◽  
pp. 50-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle Flippin
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Practice ◽  
Pilot Study ◽  
Parental Stress ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Instructional Program ◽  
Language Models ◽  
Communication Styles ◽  
Single Subject ◽  
Children With Asd ◽  
Autism Intervention

OBJECTIVES/SPECIFIC AIMS: Although parent involvement is recognized as an integral autism intervention component, and two-thirds of children are currently raised in 2-parent families, the majority of ASD parent research to date has focused on mother-implemented interventions, and fathers have been largely overlooked. However, fathers use interaction styles and language models that are different from mothers and may benefit children with ASD in unique ways. Thus there is a critical need in the field to expand our understanding of the potential contributions of various caregivers to communication outcomes. This investigation aimed to address this void in the research literature and contribute to clinical practice by including fathers in parent-implemented intervention, and adapting parent-implemented autism intervention to fit paternal interaction and communication styles. Specifically, this pilot study investigated the effects of a father-mediated intervention on parent use of responsive verbal and play strategies. Distal effects on child communication and pre-post changes in parental stress levels were also investigated. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: A single subject, multiple baselines across strategies experiment was conducted with one dyad (i.e., father, child with ASD). In-home father coaching sessions were delivered weekly, targeting 4 responsive strategies (i.e., follow-in comments, follow-in directives, symbolic object play, rough-tumble play). Single subject designs are particularly suitable for autism interventions, as they allow for experimental control with participants who are from heterogeneous populations (McReynolds and Kearn, 1983). Child participant was 3 years, 1 month at the start of intervention and had previously received a received community diagnosis of ASD by a psychologist. Throughout the duration of the study, the child participant attended part-day community-based day care and received 20 hours per week of Applied Behavioral Analysis intervention both in-home and community daycare, as well as occupational therapy and speech-language therapy for 1 hour per week. The participating father was a biological parent who resided with the child continuously since birth. In addition, the father had no other formal parent training in communication intervention before participating. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: The results of the father-implemented intervention program yielded positive results for both father and child participant. The father quickly achieved a high level of competency using 3 of the 4 targeted strategies (i.e., follow-in comments, follow-in directives, and rough-and-tumble/physical play). Follow-in comments were used more frequently than follow-in directives and rough-and-tumble play strategies were used more frequently than symbolic play. Child use of single words increased over baseline and beginning use of multiword utterances was documented. Pre-post changes in parental stress for participating father and his spouse were not significant, however patterns of change across Parental Stress Index subscales scores were noted. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF IMPACT: This pilot investigation provided information regarding the treatment efficacy of a clinically relevant instructional program designed to enhance fathers’ ability to use responsive strategies to increase communicative acts or children with ASD. The results of this investigation advance clinical practice in the ASD field by providing intervention data relating to the efficacy of father-implemented instructional programs on child communication goals.

Comparative Effects of Picture Symbol With Paired Text and Text-Only Augmentative and Alternative Communication Representations on Communication From Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 584-597
Author(s):  
Christine Holyfield
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Augmentative And Alternative Communication ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
School Age Children ◽  
Book Reading ◽  
Single Subject ◽  
Alternative Communication ◽  
Children With Asd

Purpose Technology features that maximize communicative benefit while minimizing learning demands must be identified and prioritized to amplify the efficiency and effectiveness of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) intervention. Picture symbols with paired text are a common representation feature in AAC systems for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who are preliterate, yet little research about their comparative benefit exists. Method Four school-age children with ASD and limited speech who were preliterate participated in two single-subject studies. In one study, communication of high imageability words (e.g., nouns) on an AAC app during a book-reading activity was compared across two representation conditions: picture symbols with paired text and text only. In the second study, communication of low imageability words (e.g., verbs) was compared. Both studies had baseline, intervention, generalization, and maintenance phases. Results Prior to intervention, participants communicated across both representation conditions at low rates except two participants who were relatively successful using picture symbol with paired text representations of high imageability words. In response to intervention, all participants demonstrated increases in communication across representation conditions and maintained the increases. Participants demonstrated generalization in the text-only representation condition. Conclusions Children with ASD who were preliterate acquired communication at comparable rates regardless of whether an AAC app utilized picture symbol with paired text or text-only representation. Therefore, while larger scale research is needed, clinicians and technology developers could consider increasing the use of text in AAC representation given the inherent value associated with learning to recognize written words. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.13661357

Augmented reality coloring book: An interactive strategy for teaching children with autism to focus on specific nonverbal social cues to promote their social skills

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 256-274 ◽  
Author(s):  
I-Jui Lee
Keyword(s):  
Augmented Reality ◽  
Maintenance Phase ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Social Cues ◽  
Single Subject ◽  
Social Signals ◽  
Social Situations ◽  
Single Subject Research ◽  
Children With Asd ◽  
Ability To Act

Abstract Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) reduce one’s ability to act appropriately in social situations. Increasing evidence indicates that children with ASD might ignore nonverbal social cues that usually aid social interaction because they do not recognize or understand them. We asked children with ASD to color an augmented reality coloring book (ARCB) to teach them how to recognize and understand some specific social signals and to ignore others. ARCB materials teach children to recognize and understand social signals in various ways. They can, for example, view 3D animations of the ARCB materials on a tablet computer. Thus, the ARCB can be used to help children with ASD focus their attention on the meaning and social value of nonverbal behaviors in specific social situations. The ARCB has multiple functions: it extends the social features of the story, and it restricts attention to the most important parts of the videos. Single-subject research with a multiple-baselines across-subject design was used in this study. After five weeks of ARCB training intervention, all 3 participants’ scores rose significantly and dramatically during the intervention phase (mean rate of correct answers improved from 14.24% to 47.33%), and remained significantly higher in the maintenance phase than at baseline. We conclude that coloring pictures of social situations may help children with ASD recognize and better understand these situations.

Automated Measures to Understand Communication Opportunities for Young Children With Autism in the Community: A Pilot Study

2019 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 124-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren M. Little ◽  
Joanne P. Rojas ◽  
Anna Bard ◽  
Ying Luo ◽  
Dwight Irvin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pilot Study ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Community Participation ◽  
Social Communication ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Similar Amount ◽  
Social Communication Skills ◽  
Children With Asd ◽  
Young Children With Autism

Community participation is vital to children’s development and provides opportunities to practice social communication skills. Although previous studies suggest that young children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) experience decreased community participation, there is little empirical evidence on the precise patterns of participation that may influence social communication opportunities. Therefore, this pilot study investigated the communication among families of children with ASD ( n = 5) versus typical development (TD; n = 5) across various community locations. We used automated, objective measures: the Language ENvironmental Analysis (LENA) system™ to measure the amount of communication and integrated this with a Global Positioning System (GPS; that is, Qstarz™) to measure community location. Results showed that families of children with ASD and TD spent a similar amount of time in community locations; however, there were differences in the amount of adult talk directed toward children with ASD versus TD across community locations. Findings suggest that automated measures may be successfully integrated to quantify social communication during community participation.

Social Skills Instruments for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Critical Interpretive Synthesis

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca West ◽  
Michael J Silverman
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Clinical Practice ◽  
Social Skills ◽  
Music Therapy ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Children With Asd ◽  
Critical Interpretive Synthesis

Abstract Identifying and critically analyzing the most frequently used social skills psychometric instruments (SSPI) for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can inform future music therapy research and clinical practice. Therefore, the initial purpose of this critical interpretive synthesis was to identify the SSPI most frequently used as dependent measures in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders (JADD) for children with ASD from 2012 to 2018. Results indicated that the Social Responsiveness Scale (n = 35), Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (n = 19), and Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales (n = 15) were the most frequently used instruments. Congruent with critical interpretive synthesis methodology, we then identified the psychometric properties and advantages and disadvantages of the 9 most commonly used instruments. To compare these results with the existing music therapy literature, we also identified nonmusical SSPI used as dependent measures in music therapy research for children with ASD in studies published between 2012 and 2018. In comparing the data sets, music therapy researchers used 5 of the 9 SSPI we identified from our JADD review. Understanding frequently used SSPI has applications for consultation and communication with other professionals as well as how future music therapy research is conducted. Implications for clinical practice, limitations of the study, and suggestions for future research are provided.

scholarly journals How Sex of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders and Access to Treatment Services Relates to Parental Stress

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irina Zamora ◽  
Eliza K. Harley ◽  
Shulamite A. Green ◽  
Kathryn Smith ◽  
Michele D. Kipke
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorders ◽  
Parental Stress ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Individual Characteristics ◽  
Comprehensive Treatment ◽  
Parental Distress ◽  
Treatment Services ◽  
Children With Asd ◽  
Spectrum Disorders

Parents of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) experience higher levels of stress in comparison to parents of neurotypical children and consequently are more susceptible to negative health and social outcomes (Dunn et al., 2001). However, less is known about how individual child characteristics impact stress levels in parents of children with ASD. In this study, we examined the relationship between individual characteristics (i.e., sex) of children with ASD and parental stress. Access to comprehensive treatment services was also examined as a contributing factor to parental stress. Parenting stress was higher for parents of girls than for parents of boys, and for parents of girls (but not boys) fewer services predicted higher parental distress. Findings highlight the importance of providing parents of girls with ASD with more tailored support.

scholarly journals A Randomized Feasibility Trial of a Fundamental Motor Skill Parent-Mediated Intervention for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (23) ◽  
pp. 12398
Author(s):  
Luis Columna ◽  
Laura A. Prieto ◽  
Pamela Beach ◽  
Natalie Russo ◽  
John T. Foley
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorders ◽  
Pilot Study ◽  
Motor Development ◽  
Retention Rate ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Recruitment Rate ◽  
Feasibility Trial ◽  
Children With Asd ◽  
Spectrum Disorders

The purpose of this pilot study was to examine the feasibility of a fundamental motor skills (FMS) intervention with two groups on the acquisition of FMS of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). We randomly assigned families (n = 15) of children with ASD aged 4–11 years into two groups (a workshop or a home-based group) focused on FMS development. Both groups participated in a 10-week intervention and were given the same instructional manual and adapted physical activity equipment. The workshop group also attended four in-person workshops targeting the needs of children with ASD and their parents. Children were tested on their FMS using the third edition of the Test of Gross Motor Development at the start and end of the intervention and then three months following the intervention. The recruitment rate was 50%, and the retention rate was 80% for all participants. The intervention for groups was safe and accepted by the participants as evaluated by post-program interviews. The outcomes of this pilot study suggest that parents can facilitate the acquisition of FMS of their children with ASD. Although these results are positive, there is a need to further identify effective interventions for FMS development in children with ASD.

scholarly journals Father communication coaching for children with autism spectrum disorder: A single-subject study

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 239694151987737
Author(s):  
Michelle Flippin
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Communication Skills ◽  
Parental Stress ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Single Subject ◽  
Post Intervention ◽  
Object Play ◽  
Physical Play

Background and aims Parent-mediated interventions have been shown to be effective for improving communication skills for children with autism spectrum disorder when implemented by mothers. Little is known about the efficacy of autism spectrum disorder communication interventions implemented by fathers. This study investigated the effects of a 12-week coaching program on a father’s use of responsive strategies. Targeted responsive strategies included follow-in comments, follow-in directives, responsive physical play, and responsive object play. Collateral measures of changes to child communication skills and parental stress levels were also investigated. Methods A single subject, multiple baselines across behaviors experiment was conducted with one dyad (i.e. father and child with autism spectrum disorder). Results Results showed that the participating father was able to quickly learn to use three of the four targeted responsive strategies (i.e. follow-in comments, follow-in directives, responsive physical play). Child’s use of single words increased over baseline level and beginning use of multi-word utterances was documented. Pre–post intervention changes in ratings of stress for the participating father and mother were noted across child and parent domains. Conclusions and implications Findings of this pilot study may have important implications for developing much-needed parent coaching programs to enhance fathers’ use of responsive strategies and increase social communication skills for children with autism spectrum disorder.

“You Still Have to Try It!”: Helping Picky Eaters in Classroom Groups

2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 142-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanny F. N. Freeman ◽  
Kristen Hayashida ◽  
Tanya Paparella ◽  
Gazi Azad ◽  
Cyndi D. Flowers ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Behavior Analysis ◽  
Applied Behavior Analysis ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Single Subject ◽  
Preschool Special Education ◽  
Self Help ◽  
Children With Asd ◽  
Group Programs

Many teachers struggle with implementing self-help eating goals for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). No group programs exist to target this important problem. We used findings from applied behavior analysis research and adapted single-subject interventions into a group-based eating program. In describing the program using two vignettes, children in two preschool special education classrooms are introduced to a character called “Esther the Eater” and then taught to expand their eating choices. The program is designed to be routine, fun, and classroom-friendly to help children with ASD try new foods.

Effects of a Robot-Enhanced Intervention for Children With ASD on Teaching Turn-Taking Skills

2019 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel O. David ◽  
Cristina A. Costescu ◽  
Silviu Matu ◽  
Aurora Szentagotai ◽  
Anca Dobrean
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Single Subject ◽  
Similar Extent ◽  
Children With Asd ◽  
Human Partner ◽  
Turn Taking ◽  
Core Symptoms

Among social skills that are core symptoms of autism spectrum disorder, turn-taking plays a fundamental role in regulating social interaction and communication. Our main focus in this study is to investigate the effectiveness of a robot-enhanced intervention on turn-taking abilities. We aim to identify to what degree social robots can improve turn-taking skills and whether this type of intervention provides similar or better gains than standard intervention. This study presents a series of 5 single-subject experiments with children with autism spectrum disorder aged between 3 and 5 years. Each child receives 20 intervention sessions (8 robot-enhanced sessions—robot-enhanced treatment (RET), 8 standard human sessions—standard human treatment, and 4 sessions with the intervention that was more efficient). Our findings show that most children reach similar levels of performance on turn-taking skills across standard human treatment and RET, meaning that children benefit to a similar extent from both interventions. However, in the RET condition, children seemed to see their robotic partner as being more interesting than their human partner, due to the fact that they looked more at the robotic partner compared with the human partner.

scholarly journals What is Parental Stress Connected to in Families of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder? Implications for Parents’ Interventions

2021 ◽  
pp. 0192513X2110307
Author(s):  
Magda Di Renzo ◽  
Viviana Guerriero ◽  
Massimiliano Petrillo ◽  
Federico Bianchi di Castelbianco
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Parental Stress ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Specific Role ◽  
Parental Distress ◽  
Children With Asd ◽  
Couple Adjustment ◽  
Assessment And Treatment

Raising a child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can be a very stressful experience, impacting parents and their ability to take care of their child. We examined the relationship between parenting stress and child, and parent and contextual factors in a sample of 61 families of children with ASD recruited in a centre for ASD assessment and treatment. Results showed that mothers had a higher level of stress related to their parental role when compared to fathers. Data also showed the importance of considering the specific role of parental emotion regulation, family functioning and educational level in influencing maternal stress and the specific role of couple adjustment in influencing fathers’ parental distress. This study pointed out the importance of employing a vision that embraces different domains of family life in cases of children with ASD and in parents’ intervention programmes because these factors may contribute to parental stress.

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