Project

Development of a Program to Promote Parent-Child Interaction in Family Environments for Children with Autism

Summary

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), which is characterized by social impairment, has a high rate of prevalence of 1 in every 59 people. A recent study indicated that the strongest predictor of adult outcome (living situations, employment, friendships ) was the reciprocal social interaction domain score in childhood (Howlin et al., 2013). It was also reported that behavioral and developmental support programs were effective in improving reciprocal social interactions in children with ASD (Dawson et al., 2010; Eldevik et al., 2009). However, several existing support programs require a lot of time and effort and are difficult to implement for every child with ASD. Furthermore, there are no widespread support programs for parents of children with ASD to reduce child-rearing stress and negative mood states.

 

With the goal of promoting parent-child interaction, we will develop a comprehensive parent-child support program for children with ASD and their parents through workshops to reduce child-rearing stress and anxiety for parents, consultations for parents to support development of social communication in children with ASD and remote support of at-home parent-child interaction through application of tools for behavioral observation. The results of this program will be verified from behavioral data and standardized test scores. Furthermore, by using pediatrics departments connected to local hospitals and welfare organizations as research bases, support personnel professionals from various fields will manage the program from multiple bases.

 

Once this is established, support personnel will verify the results of behavioral observation application under the guidance of a supervisor. Through this, we will acquire advanced scientific evidence while furthering the goal of social implementation with program operability nation-wide.

 

 

Company

Interdisciplinary Autism Research

Main member