30218
A Parent-Mediated Intervention to Increase Academic Motivation for Homework Completion Among Students with ASD
Background: Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder(ASD) often exhibit limited motivation to complete academic tasks and consequently engage in a number of off-task and disruptive behaviors (Koegel,L.,Singh,& Koegel,R.,2010). This limited motivation can also impact home-based academic tasks, making homework completion exceptionally challenging for both the student and parents(Endedijk,Denessen,&Hendriks,2011). Although studies indicate that behavioral interventions in the classroom can increase academic performance in students with ASD (Koegel,L.,Matos-Freden,Lang,&Koegel,R.,2012), few have focused on in-home academic challenges and practical strategies parents can implement to alleviate these difficulties(Abel,Gadomski,&Brodhead,2016). Proper parentfacilitation can increase child engagement with homework(Hampshire,Butera&Bellini,2011),making it likely that themotivational components of Pivotal Response Treatment (PRT;Koegel,R.,Koegel,L.,Vernon,&Brookman-Frazee,2018) can be used as a framework to enhance in-home academic engagement.
Objectives: The current study adapted the motivational techniques of the PRT model to a parent-delivered program focusing on the teacher-assigned academic homework.Previous academic adaptations of PRT used highly customized academic activities to teach general concepts toparticipants (Koegel et al.,2010);however, these activities did not include actual school assignmentsthat students were required to complete.By adapting assigned homework to fit within a PRT framework, the current study aimed to directly target the student’s mastery of the classroom curriculum.This study set out to see how these motivational techniques can be applied in the context in the home by parentsand evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of these teaching methods.
Methods: Participants were three grade-school students in inclusive general education classrooms at different schools with a current diagnosis of ASD(ages 7,8, and 9) and their parents(2 mothers, 1 father).During intervention, parents were provided with a manualized intervention outlining adapted PRT strategies for homework, as well as immediate in-vivo feedback from a clinician trained in PRT.Using a multiple baseline across participants design, parents were provided with information and examples on the PRT techniques of child choice(Reutebuch,El Zein&Roberts,2015), task interspersal(Cowan,Abel&Candel,2017), reinforcement with preferred interests(El Zein,Solis,Lang &Kim,2016), and self-management(Lee,Simpson&Shogren,2007).Sessions were video-recorded and behaviorally coded for on-task behavior, latency to begin work, disruptive behavior, negative comments, and frequency of adult redirection.Follow up data were also collected.
Results: Results indicate that overall on-task behavior increased between baseline and intervention (Cohen’s d=5.50); while latency to begin work (Cohen’s d=2.05), disruptive behavior (Cohen’s d=2.36), negative comments (Cohen’s d=5.0), and frequency of adult redirection (Cohen’s d = 4.18) decreased. Social validity surveyswere indicativeof parent and student perceptions that the intervention was useful and effective: Meanparent rating was 4.41and the meanparticipant rating was 4.43,on a scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree).When asked about the impact of specific PRT strategies, parents found the techniques of embedding child choice (4.75) and incorporating preferred interests (4.75) the most effectivehomework modifications.
Conclusions: This research may help inform the development of an intervention package that parents can use to alleviate persistent homework challenges for their child.Many students with ASD face academic challenges, and homework can be mutually stressful for both child and parent.This study has important implications for both the parent-child relationshipthe context of homework, in additional to child perceptions of academic confidence and mastery.
