Parents of Preschool Children Newly Diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder: The Effectiveness of a Self-Directed on-Line Parent Training and Support Program on Parent and Child Outcomes

Background: In community funded systems there is often a critical gap in service from diagnosis to the start of formalized autism treatment services. During this stressful gap in service, parents could be supported with an affordable, easily accessible, on-line training and support program.

Objectives: The primary purpose of this study was to address the gap in service between diagnosis and access to formal services, by developing and evaluating the effectiveness of a self-directed on-line ASD training and support program. The secondary purpose was to assess how parent stress interacts with participation in training, as well as parent and child outcomes.

Methods: A set of six multi-media on-line modules were developed based on the existing literature, with content specific to: Understanding ASD; Dealing with the diagnosis; Accessing community services; and Parent implemented, naturalistic, early intervention practices. An on-line support forum for parents in the treatment group was also included. The present study used a randomized, masked, waitlist control design, comparing an intervention treatment group to a waitlist control group. A prospective consecutive sample of participants was recruited from the local children’s hospital (n = 10; child mean age 50 months). Parents were initially assessed using the Parenting Stress Index –Short Form, an ASD knowledge measure, and an early intervention treatment fidelity measure. Child outcome measures included observational measures of child engagement and expressive communication. After initial assessment, half the parents were given access to the on-line learning modules (treatment group). Four months later, all parents and children were re-assessed and then the parents in the waitlist control group received access to the on-line learning modules. Data was analysed to determine: i) if children in the treatment group had significant gains in engagement and expressive communication when compared to the waitlist control group; ii) if parents in the treatment group had significant increases in ASD knowledge and early intervention skills compared to the waitlist control group; and iii) if there was an interaction effect between parent stress and parent gains.

Results: Preliminary results (n=10) indicate children in the treatment group increased joint engagement (71% to 85%) and expressive communication scores (33% to 47%), while children in the waitlist control group stayed relatively the same (65% to 61% and 37% to 43% respectively). Parents in the treatment group had increased ASD knowledge scores (64% to 83%) and early intervention skills (82% to 96%) while parents in the waitlist control group stayed relatively the same (64% to 70% and 90% to 89% respectively), while parent stress scores decreased in the treatment group (78% to 69%) and increased in the waitlist control group (85% to 92%). An interaction effect between stress and parent knowledge and early intervention skills was not evident.

Conclusions: Preliminary results indicate that parents are able to gain ASD knowledge and early intervention skills from on-line multi-media autism learning modules and that participation in the learning modules and the on-line parent support forum helps to reduce parent stress. Parent gains also had a positive effect on their child’s engagement and expressive communication.