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Hybrid implementation model of community-partnered early intervention for toddlers with autism: a randomized trial

Stephanie Y Shire1, Ya-Chih Chang2, Wendy Shih1

  • 1University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.

Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, and Allied Disciplines
|December 15, 2016
PubMed

Insights

The Joint Attention, Symbolic Play, Engagement, and Regulation (JASPER) intervention improved developmental outcomes for young children with autism in community settings. These gains in joint engagement, attention, and play skills were maintained after treatment.

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Clinical Psychology
  • Special Education

Background:

  • Research-effective interventions often show reduced efficacy in community settings.
  • Few studies use randomized controlled designs to test lab-based autism interventions in community settings.
  • This study addresses the gap by evaluating a specific intervention in a community context.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To examine the efficacy of the Joint Attention, Symbolic Play, Engagement, and Regulation (JASPER) intervention for children with autism in community-based early intervention classrooms.
  • To compare outcomes for children receiving JASPER intervention versus treatment as usual.
  • To assess the maintenance of intervention effects at follow-up.

Main Methods:

  • A randomized controlled trial involving 113 children with autism in low-resource neighborhoods.
  • Participants were assigned to either the JASPER intervention or a treatment-as-usual waitlist for 10 weeks.
  • Outcomes were assessed immediately after the intervention and at a 1-month follow-up.

Main Results:

  • Teaching assistants successfully delivered the JASPER intervention with adequate fidelity.
  • Children in the JASPER group showed significant improvements in joint engagement, joint attention, and play skills compared to the control group.
  • These developmental gains were sustained at the 1-month follow-up assessment.

Conclusions:

  • Supervised teaching assistants can effectively deliver the JASPER intervention to toddlers with autism in community settings.
  • The JASPER intervention leads to significant improvements in core developmental outcomes for young children with autism.
  • Findings support the use of JASPER as a viable community-based intervention for autism.
Abstract

Keywords:
AutismJASPERearly interventionimplementationjoint attentionjoint engagementparaprofessionalsplay

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