Addressing Systemic Health Disparities in Early Identification and Treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD): ABCD Project

Not Applicable

Completed

• Conditions: Autism Spectrum Disorder
• Interventions: Behavioral: Parent Preschool Engagement intervention; Behavioral: Attention Control

• Registration Number: NCT02457169
• Lead Sponsor: University of Massachusetts, Boston

Brief Summary

The intervention under examination is designed to promote parents' school engagement following the transition from Early Intervention (EI) to preschool for parents of young children who were diagnosed with ASD through our screening and assessment protocol. The brief intervention employs principles of motivational interviewing to address not only the particular child characteristics and needs associated with ASD but also the unique, system-related challenges of navigating the special education system and advocating for appropriate services. Motivational interventions with parents are designed to elicit parents' specific, action-oriented goals for themselves and their children, enhancing motivation to pursue change, and addressing and resolving obstacles or sources of ambivalence.

By identifying and capitalizing on parents' strengths, empowering parents to develop specific goals, and improving parents' readiness to engage actively with their children's school, teacher, and educational team, we expect that this brief intervention will lead to higher levels of parental school involvement, higher special education engagement, and closer and more productive parent teacher relationships.

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2014-09
• Study First Submitted: 2015-04-24
• Study First Submitted QC: 2015-05-26
• Study First Posted: 2015-05-29
• Primary Completion: 2018-04
• Study Completion: 2018-04
• Status Verified: 2018-11
• Last Update Submitted: 2018-11-30
• Last Update Posted: 2018-12-04

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 31

Inclusion Criteria

Parents of children who participated in our screening and assessment study, whose children received diagnoses of autism through our assessment, AND

• whose children are turning 3 and transitioning out of Early Intervention services.

Exclusion Criteria

Children who are medically complex OR

• have a previous diagnosis of ASD outside of our study OR
• Don't have a parent/guardian who speak/understand sufficient English or Spanish to complete study materials OR
• Don't qualify for Early Intervention services

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Parent Engagement Intervention group	Parent Preschool Engagement intervention	This group of parents will receive the brief, 2-4 hour intervention which will utilize motivational interviewing principles to enhance parents' preschool engagement as their children transition from Early Intervention to preschool.
Attention Control	Attention Control	Waitlist Control Group: This group will receive the brief, 2-4 hour intervention which will utilize motivational interviewing principles to enhance parents' preschool engagement as their children transition from Early Intervention to preschool after a 3 month delay.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
parent-teacher relationship quality	3 months post-intervention	parent-report on the relationship subscale of the Parent-Teacher Involvement Scale
parental school involvement	3 months post-intervention	parent report on the school involvement subscale of the Parent-Teacher Involvement Scale
parent-special education engagement	3 months post-intervention	parent report on the Parent-Special Education Engagement Scale