Emily Shurer

EDA 503.90
Article Summary
Full APA Citation:
Shire, S. Y., Goods, K., Shih, W., Distefano, C., Kaiser, A., Wright, C., & ... Kasari, C. (2015).
Parents' adoption of social communication intervention strategies: Families including
children with autism spectrum disorder who are minimally verbal. Journal of Autism and
Developmental Disorders, 45(6), 1712-1724.
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Overview of Topic/Article:
Parents are able to influence their child over many years and helping them to learn ways
to improve interaction is important. The study sought to look at interventions for parents of
school-aged children with autism who are minimally verbal as this type of research is
uncommon. Participants were 61 autistic children, ages five to eight. All participants exhibited
limited spontaneous communication. A six-month social communication intervention was used
which included parent training in the following evidence based approaches: joint attention,
symbolic play engagement and regulation, and parent to child play interactions. The study
utilized three phases. In the first stage parents observed others working with their child. In the
second stage parent coaching began and included one-on-one sessions, content workshops, and
passive and active coaching. Following the study follow-up videos were recorded monthly for

eight months to show how the parents were interacting with the child and utilizing the strategies
they learned. Future studies may be needed in order to establish the best combination of
approaches for different types families, and to personalize the process for families of children
with ASD who have limited communication abilities.
Key Points/Findings:

Parents were able to successful apply the intervention strategies taught throughout the
study in order to support their school age, minimally verbal, children with autism. Some

parents continued to use the strategies after the study.

Parents who used the strategies more strictly were more successful in engaging their child
in interactions.
Parents showed increased mastery of the strategies during the stage in which they parents
engaged in active hands on coaching.
Although hands on training may be most effective, parents benetted from a variety of
approaches including observational learning, didactic workshops, as well as both passive
and active coaching

Implications to Current/Future Practitioners:

Parents could benefit from support in identifying times when they can utilize strategies to
engage their children in play.
The amount of time that autistic children may spend unengaged or stuck in a fascination
may make it difficult for parents to engage in social interactions with their child. With
intervention, parents were better able to interact with and engage their children.