A parent-mediated intervention to enhance levels of functioning of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Abstract

A parent-mediated intervention is one of the ways to involve caregivers in a structured and supervised manner. This study aims to assess the effect of such intervention in several aspects, focusing on communication. Families performed the intervention over a 12-week period. Two groups of children participated in this study: Group 1–Children with ASD, aged 3 to 5, who performed the intervention together with one of their parents (N = 21); Group 2 consisted of 21 typically developing children in the same age bracket, without developmental issues, randomly selected. Both groups consisted of 17 boys and 4 girls. In order to measure change, parents of the children in both groups completed the Focus on the Outcomes of Communication Under Six (FOCUS) instrument before and after the intervention. The differences between the first and the second measurement in children with ASD in Part 1 (Subscales: Speech; Expressive language; Pragmatics; Receptive language/attention) and Part 2 (Subscales: Intelligibility; Expressive language; Social play; Independence; Coping strategies/emotions) of Focus were significant. Based on ourresults, we found that children with ASD show improvement in the areas of language, speech, coping strategies & emotions, independence, and social play, when involved in a shared structured activity withcaregivers at home.