Parent Coaching in Early Intervention for Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Brief Report

Abstract

Coaching caregivers of young children on the autism spectrum is a critical component of parent-mediated interventions. Little information is available about how providers implement parent coaching for children on the autism spectrum in publicly funded early intervention systems. This study evaluated providers' use of parent coaching in an early intervention system. Twenty-five early intervention sessions were coded for fidelity to established caregiver coaching techniques. We found low use of coaching techniques overall, with significant variability in use of coaching across providers. When providers did coach caregivers, they used only a few coaching strategies (e.g., collaboration and in-vivo feedback). Results indicate that targeted training and implementation strategies focused on individual coaching components, instead of coaching more broadly, may be needed to improve the use of individual coaching strategies. A focus on strengthening the use of collaboration and in-vivo feedback may be key to improving coaching fidelity overall.

Keywords: autism spectrum disorder; caregiver coaching; early intervention; parent coaching.

Figure 1.

Observed Coaching Fidelity During Usual Early Intervention Sessions Note. This figure displays mean fidelity scores and standard deviations for coaching strategies used by providers working with caregivers of young children with ASD during usual early intervention sessions.