Parent Implemented Intervention and Parent Empowerment for Autism Spectrum Disorder

Abstract

The literature has highlighted the importance of the active role played by the family in interventions with autistic children. Parental empowerment redefines the situation for parents. They cease to be passive subjects and grow into active agents in control of their actions, contributing to the achievement the desired goals. The objectives of this study were: 1) to produce an assessment on the effects of an intervention implemented by the parents on the socio-communicative skills of the mother and her autistic child; 2) to verify the influence of this intervention on parental empowerment. Sixteen episodes of mother-child interactions were filmed before and after the intervention in order to assess its effect on the socio-communicative skills of a mother and her autistic child. A scale assessed parent empowerment in the pre- and post-intervention moments. The results showed an increase in both the dyad’s socio-communicative skills and parent empowerment.