Supporting parents in the use of the early start Denver model as an intervention program for their young children with autism spectrum disorder

Abstract:

Parents are the logical intervention agents for young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The early start Denver model (ESDM) is a promising early intervention approach for children with ASD that can be implemented by parents. This study evaluated the effects of training parents in the use of the ESDM. We used a non-concurrent multiple probe across participants design to evaluate the effects of providing five mothers of young children with ASD with one hour per week of training for 12 weeks. Outcome measures included mothers use of the ESDM techniques and measures of the children’s levels of engagement and imitation, and expressive language skills. Maintenance of outcomes after one month was also assessed. Results showed four of the five mothers increased the percentage of ESDM techniques that they were using usually or consistently. Four of the five children showed some improvement on at least one of the child outcome measures. This suggests mixed results for supporting parents in the use of the ESDM. Implications and future research directions are discussed.

Keywords:

• Autism spectrum disorder
• early start Denver model
• parent training
• preschool children

Funding

This research was supported in part by a PhD scholarship awarded to Hannah Waddington from the Autism Intervention Trust, through Victoria University of Wellington.

Conflicts of interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Compliance with ethical standards

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Informed consent was obtained for all individual participants included in the study.