Increasing Verbal Responsiveness in Parents of Children with Autism:a Pilot Study

Overview

Journal Autism

Date 2011 Aug 18

PMID 21846665

Citations 33

Authors

Courtney E Venker

Andrea McDuffie

Susan Ellis Weismer

Leonard Abbeduto

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Correlational studies have revealed a positive relationship between parent verbal responsiveness and language outcomes in children with autism. We investigated whether parents of young children on the autism spectrum could learn and implement the specific categories of verbal responsiveness that have been suggested to facilitate language development. Parents were taught to increase their verbal responsiveness in the context of a short-term language intervention that included group parent education sessions, as well as individual and small-group coaching sessions of parent-child play interactions. Parents in the treatment group increased their use of comments that: described their child's focus of attention; interpreted or expanded child communication acts; and prompted child communication. Preliminary treatment effects were also noted in children's prompted and spontaneous communication. These results support the use of parent-mediated interventions targeting verbal responsiveness to facilitate language development and communication in young children with autism.

Citing Articles

Empowering Hong Kong Chinese families with autism: A preliminary study of the online Hanen More Than Words Program.

Qi X, Zhao Q, To C Autism Dev Lang Impair. 2024; 9:23969415241245096.

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Verbal Responsiveness in Parents of Toddlers With and Without Autism During a Home Observation.

Delehanty A, Hooker J, Wetherby A J Autism Dev Disord. 2023; 54(7):2440-2453.

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Teaching Caregivers to Support Social Communication: Results From a Randomized Clinical Trial of Autistic Toddlers.

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Looking back and moving forward: A scoping review of research on preschool autism interventions in the field of speech-language pathology.

Binns A, Smyth R, Andres A, Lam J, Oram Cardy J Autism Dev Lang Impair. 2022; 6:23969415211033171.

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