Parent-implemented interventions (PIIs) hold promise for young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and their families. Yet, reports of parent and family perceptions regarding PIIs are limited. The present study’s purpose was to gain parent perceptions regarding the helpful and challenging intervention components and contextual factors in the implementation of one PII in their daily lives. Six interviews were conducted and analyzed using an exploratory qualitative approach. Findings included considerable parent satisfaction with intervention experiences, particularly related to the use of videos taken of themselves and their children during intervention sessions. Some parents voiced discouragement after watching video examples, and parents reported challenges finding time to implement the intervention. Parents valued the supportive relationship formed with their interventionist. Additional findings and implications for research and practice are discussed.

Översättning av Øyvind Vågen Individer från nästan alla kulturer ger uttryck för värdet av att erbjuda utvecklingsmässigt stödjande erfarenheter under livets första år (Odom et al., 2003). Den här gemensamma kulturella övertygelsen är att stödjande erfarenheter lägger en stark och nödvändig grund för den fortsatta utvecklingen. För en del spädbarn och yngre barn kan dock den miljörelaterade kontexten, inneboende biologiska faktorer eller en kombination av dessa två resultera i en suboptimal levnadsloppsbana. För att förhindra eller förbättra sådana levnadsloppsresultat, har forskare och praktiker utvecklat tidiga interventionsprogram vilka kan påverka den framtida utvecklingen och levnadsloppen. I det här kapitlet kommer vi först att definiera tidig intervention liksom de spädbarn och barn och familjer för vilka detta kan vara gynnsamt. Därefter kommer vi att tillhanda en teoretisk motivering (rationale) för sådana program, redogöra kort för den tidiga interventionens historiska framväxt och för vad som kännetecknar ett urval av de program för tidig intervention som utvecklades. Kapitlet avslutas med en översikt över de longitudinella resultaten för spädbarn och barn som har deltagit programmen, en diskussion om nettokostnaden samt hur programmen kan tänkas utvecklas framöver.

Preschoolers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) present with social-communication and play challenges and would benefit from interventions targeting these skills. One way to ensure this is by engaging parents in technological supports to learn about an intervention and increase home-school collaboration. Thus, a website could potentially address both needs. This study describes the initial developmental processes of one such website. Specifically, we describe how engaging parents as stakeholders in the website development enhanced its future usability and feasibility. Data were collected through focus groups, interviews, and surveys to obtain parent feedback about website usability and applicability and about the intervention. Survey data were descriptively analyzed. Focus group and interview data were analyzed using systematic qualitative analysis. Parents perceived the website to be useful in helping them target social-communication and play with their preschoolers with ASD and highlighted specific aspects of the website and intervention they perceived as effective. Child outcomes and parent fidelity to the intervention supported these perceived developmental gains. Findings suggest that engaging parents in developmental processes may help ensure usability and applicability of resources and interventions. Furthermore, findings support the use of technology to help parents learn to use an intervention with their preschoolers with ASD. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Early intervention (EI) services are intended to be delivered in a family-centered manner. Thus, it is important to obtain family perspectives as they relate to implementation experiences in EI. Using an implementation science framework to guide the questioning. Twelve interviews were conducted with parents who participated in 1 EI program to explore their perceptions of challenges and successes around the intervention practice components, parent coaching processes, and contextual factors in which the intervention was delivered. Parents perceived many of the aspects of the intervention such as specific strategies, strong relationships with their interventionists, and intervention delivery in home and clinic settings as useful and beneficial. They reported challenges related to embedding the intervention into daily activities, feelings of discomfort when practicing intervention strategies, and struggles with scheduling sessions. Implications for research and practice are discussed.