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Increasing Responsive Parent–Child Interactions and Joint Engagement: Comparing the Influence of Parent-Mediated Intervention and Parent Psychoeducation

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Abstract

Enhancing immediate and contingent responding by caregivers to children’s signals is an important strategy to support social interactions between caregivers and their children with autism. Yet, there has been limited examination of parents’ responsive behaviour in association with children’s social behaviour post caregiver-mediated intervention. Eighty-five dyads were randomized to one of two 10-week caregiver-training interventions. Parent–child play interactions were coded for parental responsivity and children’s joint engagement. Significant gains in responsivity and time jointly engaged were found post JASPER parent-mediated intervention over a psychoeducation intervention. Further, combining higher levels of responsive behaviour with greater adoption of intervention strategies was associated with greater time jointly engaged. Findings encourage a focus on enhancing responsive behaviour in parent-mediated intervention models.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to acknowledge funding for the larger randomized controlled trial provided by the National Institutes of Mental Health (PI Kasari: HD055784). Thank you to the children and families who participated in this study as well as the interventionists who provided the services. A version of this paper was presented at the 2015 Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development in Philadelphia, PA.

Author Contributions

SS engaged in coding, analyses and drafted the manuscript; AG coordinated the larger study, assisted with analyses and drafting of the manuscript; CK is the principal investigator of the intervention trial, and assisted in drafting the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, 67-448 Neuropsychiatric Institute (NPI), University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), 760 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, CA, 90024, USA

    Stephanie Y. Shire

  2. Center for Autism Research and Treatment, UCLA, 760 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, CA, 90024, USA

    Amanda Gulsrud & Connie Kasari

Authors
  1. Stephanie Y. Shire
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  2. Amanda Gulsrud
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  3. Connie Kasari
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Stephanie Y. Shire.

Appendix

Appendix

See Table 4.

Table 4 JASPER and parent education intervention (PEI) topics
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Shire, S.Y., Gulsrud, A. & Kasari, C. Increasing Responsive Parent–Child Interactions and Joint Engagement: Comparing the Influence of Parent-Mediated Intervention and Parent Psychoeducation. J Autism Dev Disord 46, 1737–1747 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-016-2702-z

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