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Sustained Community Implementation of JASPER Intervention with Toddlers with Autism

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Abstract

Intervention research is increasingly conducted in community settings, however it is not clear how well practices are sustained locally or how children progress once external research support is removed. Two school-year cohorts of toddlers with autism (year 1: n = 55, year 2: n = 63) received Joint Attention, Symbolic Play, Engagement, and Regulation (JASPER) intervention from teaching assistants (TAs) with external support in year 1 and local, internal support in year 2. TAs sustained intervention strategies with more modest maintenance of high-level skills. Children in both years 1 and 2 made similar gains in initiations of joint attention during independent assessment. Year 1 children made significantly greater play gains. JASPER sustained into year 2, however advancing play may require additional supports.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the program staff including the teachers, paraprofessionals, and group supervisors. They also thank the leadership of the program including Michael Gordon and Evelyn Blanck. The authors acknowledge the data coding supports provided by Kiana Krolick, Alyssa Tan, Nicole Tu, and Marta Wirga.

Funding

The data presented in this study were collected from participants enrolled in two randomized controlled intervention trials funded by the FAR fund (to NYCCD) and in part by Autism Speaks (Grant No. 7495).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Special Education and Clinical Sciences, College of Education, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA

    Stephanie Y. Shire

  2. Center for Autism Research and Treatment, Semel Institute, University of California Los Angeles, 68-268, Los Angeles, CA, 90024, USA

    Wendy Shih & Connie Kasari

  3. Division of Special Education and Counseling, California State University Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Ya-Chih Chang

  4. New York Center for Child Development, New York, NY, USA

    Suzanne Bracaglia & Maria Kodjoe

Authors
  1. Stephanie Y. Shire
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  2. Wendy Shih
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  3. Ya-Chih Chang
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  4. Suzanne Bracaglia
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  5. Maria Kodjoe
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  6. Connie Kasari
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Contributions

SYS coordinated study year 2 and coordinated study year 1 with YCC. SYS draft the manuscript. YCC and SYS contributed to study outcome coding. WS conducted the randomization for both trials, all study analyses, and drafted the results sections of the manuscript. SB and MK provided on site leadership, coordination and data management for the study in both years. CK conceived of the intervention trials and helped to draft the manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Stephanie Y. Shire or Connie Kasari.

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Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in this study were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional review board at the University of California Los Angeles and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in this study.

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Shire, S.Y., Shih, W., Chang, YC. et al. Sustained Community Implementation of JASPER Intervention with Toddlers with Autism. J Autism Dev Disord 49, 1863–1875 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-018-03875-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-018-03875-0

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