Through Parents' Eyes: Perspectives on Child Development and Family Experience During ESDM Intervention

Area of Science:

• Developmental Psychology
• Clinical Psychology
• Pediatric Medicine

Background:

• Early intensive intervention is crucial for autistic children's social and communication development.
• Standardized measures often overlook valuable parental perspectives in assessing intervention outcomes.
• Parental insights are essential for a holistic understanding of early intervention effectiveness.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine parental perceptions of child progress after 6 months of intensive Early Start Denver Model (ESDM) intervention.
• To explore the relationship between parental perceptions and standardized developmental assessments.
• To identify factors influencing parental well-being and family life during early intervention.

Main Methods:

• Longitudinal study of 104 autistic children (aged 1.3-3.5 years) receiving individualized ESDM intervention.
• Parental questionnaire assessing perceived child progress, parenting skills, and family impact at 6-month follow-up.
• Descriptive analyses, correlation, and principal component analysis (PCA) to identify key components and associations.

Main Results:

• Parents reported general improvements across all assessed domains, with rare negative experiences.
• PCA identified three components: Social Communication, Nonverbal Social Engagement, and Positive Parental Experience.
• Parental perceptions strongly correlated with child developmental assessments, particularly in social communication.

Conclusions:

• Parental perceptions provide a valuable complement to standardized measures in evaluating early autism intervention.
• Parental well-being and family impacts were linked to parental education and household size, not directly to child developmental gains.
• Integrating parental perspectives is vital for family-centered care and informing future intervention strategies.