Autism is more than twice as common than it was 15 years ago. But the number of clinicians who treat the developmental disorder is growing more slowly than the number of new cases, prompting caregivers to look for novel ways to share their expertise as widely as possible.
One possible approach: Teach groups of parents an autism therapy they can deliver at home. A new study from Stanford and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford, published today in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, found that small groups of parents could learn to deliver a scientifically validated autism treatment to their own children in a short series of classes.
The therapy, called pivotal response training, which has been validated in several prior studies, was targeted to kids’ language skills. The therapy gives parents a structured method for nurturing children’s verbal skills during everyday interactions.
The approach of having parents give treatment is meant to complement, not replace, one-on-one therapy with autism professionals. But it can still be valuable to children and their families, as our press release explains:
“There are two benefits: The child can make progress, and the parents leave the treatment program better equipped to facilitate the child’s development over the course of their daily routines,” said study co-author Grace Gengoux, PhD, clinical assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and a psychologist specializing in autism treatment at the hospital. “The ways that parents instinctually interact with children to guide language development may not work for a child with autism, which can frustrate parents. Other studies have shown that learning this treatment reduces parents’ stress and improves their happiness. Parents benefit from knowing how to help their children learn.”
… To use the treatment for building language skills, parents identify something the child wants and systematically reward the child for trying to talk about it. For instance, if the child reaches for a ball, the parent says, “Do you want the ball? Say ‘ball.’”
“The child might say ‘ba,’ and you reward him by giving him the ball,” [lead author Antonio] Hardan, MD, said. “Parents can create opportunities for this treatment to work at the dinner table, in the park, in the car, while they’re out for a walk.”
The researchers are now following up with studies that will give them more information about which children and families are most likely to benefit from this therapeutic approach.
