Expanding Training Capacity for the Group-Based Social ABCs Program: Evaluation of Coaching Models and...

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Neurodevelopmental Disorders
• Early Intervention Services
• Health Services Research

Background:

• Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a rapidly growing neurodevelopmental condition requiring accessible early interventions.
• Caregiver-mediated programs, like the Social ABCs, enhance early social communication and caregiver empowerment in children with ASD.
• Adapting interventions into condensed, group-based formats can improve accessibility and scalability.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the implementation and sustainability of a group-based Social ABCs intervention at a pediatric hospital.
• To examine child and caregiver outcomes across different coach training pathways and French-language delivery.
• To assess the feasibility of multi-pathway training models for scaling early autism interventions.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective chart review of 361 families with children aged 12-42 months diagnosed with or suspected of having ASD.
• Intervention involved six weekly group sessions and nine individual caregiver coaching sessions.
• Coaches were trained via expert-led, hybrid, or site-led pathways; outcomes analyzed across training models and language delivery (English/French).

Main Results:

• Caregiver implementation fidelity significantly improved from 33.6% to 70.0% (p < 0.001) in both English and French.
• Child vocal responsivity increased substantially from 5.7% to 43.2% (p < 0.001).
• No significant differences in outcomes were observed across training pathways, supporting site-led training and multi-pathway models that increased service capacity by ~86%.

Conclusions:

• Group-based Social ABCs is an effective intervention for improving caregiver fidelity and child social communication outcomes in early autism.
• The multi-pathway training model enhances clinician capacity, increases the number of children served, and improves accessibility for diverse linguistic groups.
• This adapted intervention model demonstrates feasibility for scaling early autism interventions and supporting families in Canada.