International Meeting for Autism Research: Teaching Parents of Children with Autism to Empirically Evaluate Their Child's Interventions

Teaching Parents of Children with Autism to Empirically Evaluate Their Child's Interventions

Friday, May 21, 2010
Franklin Hall B Level 4 (Philadelphia Marriott Downtown)
2:00 PM
K. L. Berquist , Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA
M. H. Charlop , Psychology, Claremont McKenna College, Claremont, CA
Background: Currently there are various intervention options for children with autism that proponents claim are effective.  However, efficacy of these interventions, with the exception of Applied Behavior Analysis and some psychotropic medication, is based on non-scientific evidence.  Studies report that 74% to 92% of children with autism are enrolled in programs that are not empirically validated. To decrease children’s enrollment in ineffective and non-empirically interventions, research suggest that parents should be taught to empirically evaluate the efficacy of their child’s interventions.
Objectives: The purpose of the current study was to investigate the effectiveness of a parent education program to teach parents 1) how to distinguish between treatment options for their children with autism and 2) scientifically design and evaluate their child’s interventions.
Methods: A multiple baseline design across parent participants was used to assess the effectiveness of a parent education program to teach parents evaluative behaviors (e.g., operationally defining a variable of interest, data collection, taking baseline data, accurately analyzing data) necessary to determine the efficacy of their child’s interventions. Pre- and post-test comparisons with a non-experimental control group were used to assess variables related to parent reported behavior, psychosocial indicators, and knowledge of evaluative information. 
Results: Six parents have participated so far in this project. Preliminary analyses indicate that all participants increased in their evaluative behaviors from baseline to after implementation of the parent education program. Additionally, evidence of generalization and maintenance of parents’ evaluative behaviors was demonstrated. Results also revealed that, in comparison to controls, parents with training increased their ability to distinguish between interventions that are empirically validated and those that are not.
Conclusions: This study is the first of its kind to address the need of educating parents on how to evaluate the effectiveness of their child’s interventions. To date, no study has attempted to empirically investigate reducing the adoption of non-empirically supported interventions through the implementation of a parent education program. This study provides preliminary results on how to successfully increase parents’ abilities to scientifically evaluate their child’s interventions.
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