Parent implemented early intervention for young children with autism spectrum disorder: a systematic review
Open accessAbstract
Background Recent estimates concerning the prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) suggest that at least one in 200 children is affected. This group of children and families have important service needs. The involvement of parents in implementing intervention strategies designed to help their autistic children has long been accepted as helpful. The potential benefits are increased skills and reduced stress for parents as well as children. Methods This research review focused on interventions for children aged 1–6 years, and was carried out using systematic methodology: a comprehensive search of psychological, educational and biomedical databases, as well as bibliographies and reference lists of key articles, contact with experts in the field, and hand search of key journals. Only studies which involved a concurrent element of control were included. Results The review found very few studies that had adequate research design from which to draw conclusions about the effectiveness of parent‐implemented early intervention. Both randomized and controlled studies tended to suggest that parent training leads to improved child communicative behaviour, increased maternal knowledge of autism, enhanced maternal communication style and parent child interaction, and reduced maternal depression. Conclusion It seems that parent training can successfully contribute to intervention for young children with ASD. However, the review highlights the need for improved research in this area.
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Training parents of young children with autism improved child communication and parent-child interaction, but most studies had inadequate research design.
“Provision of training to parents of young children with autism spectrum disorder led to improved child communication and parent-child interaction, but the research design was inadequate in most studies.9,10”
From Parent-mediated communication-focused treatment in children with autism (PACT): a randomised controlled trial (2010) · cites this paper as [10]
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- Authors
- McConachie, H., & Diggle, T.
- Affiliations
- Newcastle University (GB)
- ORCID
- McConachie, Helen
- Venue
- Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2006-10-24
- Volume
- 13
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 120-129
- ISSN
- 1356-1294 (ISSN-L)
- 1365-2753
- OpenAlex
- W2146295012
- Cited by
- 627
- References
- 5
- Citations by year
- 2026: 16 · 2025: 19 · 2024: 30 · 2023: 23 · 2022: 33 · 2021: 35 · 2020: 61 · 2019: 70 · 2018: 44 · 2017: 28 · 2016: 64 · 2015: 32 · 2014: 45 · 2013: 30 · 2012: 26
- FWCI
- 0.76
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Newcastle University ePrints (Newcastle Univesity)
- Funders
- Nuffield Foundation
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Family and Disability Support Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Behavioral and Psychological Studies
- Keywords
- autism spectrum disorder, parent-mediated intervention, early intervention, parent training, young children, maternal depression, parent-child interaction
- MeSH terms
- Autistic Disorder, Child, Child, Preschool, Humans, Parents, Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic, Treatment Outcome, Early Intervention, Educational
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