Parent Language Intervention for Autism
Condition: Autism
MeSH terms: Autistic Disorder
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      Improving social communication outcomes for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) has
      important public health implications. The proposed research is a randomized controlled trial
      of 108 children with ASD that examines how specific parent characteristics influence outcomes
      of two different parent-mediated language interventions. Evaluating effective language
      intervention strategies for children with ASD supports NIDCD's mission of behavioral research
      aimed to remediate the disordered process of language development in children with ASD.
    

Detailed description: 
      High dosage of early intervention is critical to language skill development in young children
      with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and including parents is a cost-effective approach to
      maximize intervention dosage. However, parent-mediated interventions have inconsistent
      effects on parent and child outcomes. This variability is likely because parents do not have
      the same training as clinicians and little effort has been spent examining parent
      characteristics that may influence their ability to implement different types of intervention
      strategies. Given the known cognitive, personality and language features present among many
      parents of children with ASD, examining the relationship between learning styles in parents
      and their implementation of different parent-mediated intervention strategies is an important
      first step in identifying potential sources of variability in parent-mediated intervention
      outcomes. The objective of the proposed study is to examine how parent learning style
      influences parent use of language intervention strategies and subsequent child language
      skills. The central hypothesis is that the parent learning style will be associated with: (a)
      differential use of language intervention strategies and (b) child language skills. The
      specific aims include determining the extent to which: (a) parent learning style and type of
      parent-mediated intervention are associated with mother use of language intervention
      strategies and subsequent child language skills, (b) parent learning style moderates the
      relationship between intervention type and mother use of language intervention strategies,
      and (c) parent learning style is associated with their use of language intervention
      strategies and their children's language skills. The proposed study will enroll 108 children
      with ASD between 24 and 36 months of age and their mothers. Mother-child dyads will be
      randomly assigned to one of two parent-mediated intervention strategies that are contrasted
      in their theoretical approach (responsive-developmental, directive-behavioral). Mother-child
      dyads will be assessed before randomization (pre-test), after intervention (post-test) and 3
      months after the end of intervention to monitor maintenance. Children in both groups will
      receive 8 weekly intervention sessions at home using the same experimental procedures. The
      proposed research is significant because it will be the first examination of the impact of
      parent learning style on both parent and child outcomes of two different parent-mediated
      intervention strategies (directive, responsive). Understanding the effects of parent learning
      style on parent use of intervention strategies and subsequent child language skills is a key
      step in customizing parent-mediated interventions based on parent characteristics. The
      long-term positive effect of the proposed research is to improve language outcomes of
      interventions for children with autism by tailoring parent-mediated interventions that
      capitalize on parental strengths.
    

Intervention name(s): Responsive Intervention; Directive Intervention
Intervention type(s): Behavioral; Behavioral
Intervention description(s): Mothers assigned to the responsive experimental condition will learn how to talk about what is in their child's focus of attention and to respond to all child communicative attempts by either: (a) assigning a presumed meaning to preverbal communication or vocalizations or (b) by repeating the child's verbal communication and adding words.; Mothers assigned to the directive experimental condition will learn how to: (a) set up a prompting trial through management of toys or by responding to a child request, (b) recruit the child's attention, (c) provide a discriminative stimulus (cue), (d) wait for the child's response for 5 seconds, (e) reinforce the child for correct production of the target or provide additional prompts after incorrect productions. Parents will perform one prompting trial per minute for a total of 20 trials per parent session.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Factorial Assignment
Masking: Double (Participant, Outcomes Assessor)
Primary purpose: Treatment
Keywords: Language Intervention; Parent-Mediated Intervention