Resources

Reflection Questions

The Reflection Questions document can be downloaded at any time and used in a variety of ways. You can view it before starting your work so that you know which questions will be asked in the videos and/or on the webpages. You can also access it at the end of your work so that you can see all your responses to the questions. This tool can be helpful for documenting your learning and referring to later or for sharing it with others in group discussions or as demonstration of your online progress.

Discussion Questions

The Discussion Questions provided below can supplement and extend your individual learning and be used by facilitators or coaches to prompt meaningful discussions.

1. Why is it important for parents of children with ASD to implement intervention strategies?

   A correct answer should include a statement such as:

   • Given the complexity of ASD and the challenges parents face, it is often beneficial, and necessary, for parents to implement intervention strategies in the home or community environment.
   • Parent-implemented intervention: allows intervention to be initiated at an earlier age, provides continuous opportunities for learning in a range of  situations, aids in generalization of skills, and provides consistent management of behaviors.
   • Direct parent involvement has become widely accepted as part of a total autism intervention program. Research has demonstrated that when parents serve as active participants in their child's treatment, positive effects in child performance occur.
   • Positive effects can extend beyond child behaviors and impact parents and families through increased parent confidence, reduced stress, and improved family functioning.

2. Why is it important to ensure that parent-implemented intervention includes family-centered planning  and involves the parents in every step of the process?

   A correct answer should include a statement such as:

   • Given the complexity of ASD and the challenges parents face, it is often beneficial, and necessary, for parents to implement intervention strategies in the home or community environment.
   • Parent-implemented intervention: allows intervention to be initiated at an earlier age, provides continuous opportunities for learning in a range of situations, aids in generalization of skills, and provides consistent management of behaviors.
   • Direct parent involvement has become widely accepted as part of a total autism intervention program. Research has demonstrated that when parents serve as active participants in their child's treatment, positive effects in child performance occur.
   • Positive effects can extend beyond child behaviors and impact parents and families through increased parent confidence, reduced stress, and improved family functioning. 

3. When training parents, how should you determine the content and duration of the training program?

   A correct answer should include a statement such as:

   • The amount and duration of parent training programs are to be individualized. The goal of parent training is for parents to learn to implement intervention strategies consistently over time, across settings, and with a variety of behaviors when direct support from service providers is no longer available.
   • The appropriate amount and duration of training should be based on child, parent, and family characteristics, any specific preferences expressed by the parents, personal factors including family commitments, convenience, travel considerations and costs, parents' learning style and the complexity of the intervention plan.
   • It is critical to monitor parent progress as training is conducted. Over time, parents should be expected to become more independent and master targeted skills and strategies. As parents demonstrate mastery over training content, practitioners systematically reduce the frequency of parent training sessions. Practitioners slowly increase the amount of time between sessions until a mutually agreed upon interval is reached. 

4. Describe a family that you think would benefit from parent-implemented intervention. What child goals need to be targeted for intervention? What parent goals need to be targeted for intervention? What family goals need to be targeted for intervention?

   Answers to this question will vary. Each answer should be supported by content derived from the module, but should vary based on the individual child and family being described. Generally, when using parent-implemented intervention, goals address areas of concern and priority for the child, parents, and/or family members. Further, goals are developed that will have a positive impact on family functioning, will not cause additional stress to the parents or family, can be implemented by parents with consistency, and are appropriate for parents to implement in home and/or community settings. 

5. Continuing your answer to the previous question, think of a family who would benefit from parent-implemented intervention. Develop an intervention plan  that provides step-by-step instructions for parents so they know how to implement the intervention. Justify your answer based on the family's individual characteristics.

   Answers to this question will vary. Each answer should be supported by content derived from the module, but should vary based on the individual family being described. Generally, the intervention plan should include the following:

   • The target skill or behavior
   • Who will implement the intervention
   • Where the intervention should be implemented
   • When the intervention should be implemented (the minimum amount of instruction, both frequency and duration, parents are to implement per day or week)
   • How long the intervention should be implemented (define how parents know when the intervention session or instructional trial is completed)
   • Materials required
   • Any steps needed to prepare the intervention
   • Strategies to be used
   • Prompting hierarchy to be used
   • Reinforcement schedule

Activities on this page are provided at both the introductory and advanced level and can be copied and used within existing professional development or university coursework.

Introductory Activities

1. Determining the Needs of the Family

   Identify a family who has a child with ASD with whom you currently work. Think about how you might use parent-implemented intervention with this family. What steps would you take to determine the needs of the family? What specific information would you gather and why? What forms might you use to gather information and why? Who would be involved in determining the needs of the family and why?

2. Developing the Intervention Plan

   Identify a family who has a child with ASD with whom you currently work. Think about how you might use parent-implemented intervention with this family. How would you use parent-implemented intervention to increase or decrease a target behavior for the child? During what activities would you have parents implement intervention? How frequently would parents implement intervention? For how long would parents implement intervention? What intervention strategies would you have the parents implement? What kind of data would the parents collect when implementing intervention?

Advanced Activities

1. Monitoring the Progress of Parent-Implemented Intervention

   What steps would you take to insure the intervention is effective and is resulting in an increase or decrease of the target behavior? How often would you assess the child's progress? If the child is not progressing, what steps would you take? What steps would you take to ensure parents implement the intervention correctly over time? How will you know when the parents no longer need training or support when providing the intervention? What steps will you take to make sure parents maintain or enhance positive gains over time and are able to generalize their new skills to other behaviors and goals?

2. Research Activity

   Using the evidence-based practice list provided in the resource section, read at least two articles on parent-implemented intervention and prepare a summary to share with a parent group or school team. 

3. Teaching Others about Parent-Implemented Intervention

   Using what you have learned from the parent-implemented intervention module, design a visual format for presenting this information to others who work with learners with ASD. This might include constructing a poster describing how a teacher can work with a family to help them implement intervention in the home, a brochure that explains to practitioners the steps and essential elements of parent-implemented intervention, or a fact sheet that explains to parents why parent-implemented intervention is important and behaviors that may be targeted effectively.