The effects of coaching offered to parents of children with autism spectrum disorder on mother-child dyads

The main purpose of this study was to assess the impact of parent coaching on parents' implementation of functional communication training (FCT) and parent-implemented FCT on reducing problem behavior and on improving communication skills of their children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Another purpose was to assess if both parents and children would maintain the targeted skills after 2, 4, 8 and 12 weeks following the end of the intervention and if they would generalize those skills to different conditions. In this sense, three 4-year old childrens with ASD and their mothers aged between 30-40 participated in the study. A nested multiple-probe design across parent–child dyads was used to determine the effectiveness of parent coaching and the effectiveness of FCT. Findings of the study indicated that parent coaching was effective on acquisition of parents' implementation of FCT, promoting maintenance after 2, 4, 8 and 12 weeks following the end of the intervention and generalization of the acquired skills to different conditions. At the same time, parent-implemented FCT was found effective on reducing problem behavior and improving communication skills of children with ASD. It was also seen that children with ASD maintained those skills for a length of time and generalized them to different conditions. Lastly, social validity data showed parents had positive views about parent coaching and FCT.