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

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.

Conditions

• Autism Spectrum Disorder

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Parent Preschool Engagement intervention

This 1-2 session intervention (2-4 hours total) will involve one-on-one session(s) for parents whose children (all of whom have received a diagnosis of ASD through our study) are turning 3 and therefore transitioning from the Early Intervention system to the public school special education system. The intervention will utilize motivational interviewing (MI) principles to equip parents with the skills, knowledge, and clarity of goals necessary to collaborate effectively with school special education staff and teachers, to advocate for their children's needs, and to be empowered to navigate the special education system.

BEHAVIORAL

Attention Control

The attention control condition is parallel in format (one-on-one between parent with interventionist) and intensity (1-2 sessions, or 2-4 hours total). It involves open-ended interviews with parents about their child's development and plans for school.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Tufts Medical Center

  collaborator OTHER

• Northeastern University

  collaborator OTHER

• National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

  collaborator NIH

• University of Massachusetts, Boston

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Alice S Carter, PhD · University of Massachusetts, Boston

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

14 Months

Max Age

3 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2014-09-30

Primary Completion

2018-04-30

Completion

2018-04-30