Parent Perspectives on Receiving Support for Enhancing Parent–Child Interactions

Abstract

Capacity-building practices actively promote the skills and abilities of parents to provide development-enhancing learning opportunities for their child. Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) use parent-implemented interventions to enhance parent-child interactions, often using a training and coaching approach. In this article, we present feedback from three New Zealand parents of young children on the autism spectrum regarding their experience of a training and coaching intervention offered by an SLP. Parent feedback stems from a broader research project that explored the impact of an intervention targeting parents’ implementation of interaction promoting strategies and embedded naturalistic interaction practices. This article describes the significance of coaching parents to use more systematic and precise practices in their interactions with their child and how this approach could be applied in the context of speech-language services.

Keywords:

• Autism Spectrum Disorder
• Early Intervention
• Embedded Interventions
• Interaction Support
• Parent Perspectives
• Training and Coaching

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Estelle Pretorius

Estelle Pretorius is a speech-language therapist at the McKenzie Centre and a PhD candidate in the School of Education at Massey University.

Sally Clendon

Sally Clendon is a senior lecturer in speech and language therapy in the School of Education at Massey University.

Tara McLaughlin

Tara McLaughlin is a senior lecturer in early years in the School of Education at Massey University.