Parent coaching increases the parents’ capacity for reflection and self-evaluation: results from a clinical trial in autism

ABSTRACTFamily-centered parent coaching interventions in autism strive to encourage family engagement and support parent reflection and self-evaluation. This includes the parents’ capacity to: (1) carefully observe the child’s behavior; (2) reflect upon the child’s thoughts, motives, and feelings; (3) consider links between the child’s internal experiences and observable behavior; and (4) grapple with the complex interplay among the child’s experiences and behaviors, contextual factors, parenting strategies, as well as parental goals and emotions. The current study reports data from a clinical trial of Focused Playtime Intervention (FPI), a parent coaching intervention targeting responsive parental behaviors and child communication. Seventy children with autism between 2 and 6 years and their parents were randomly assigned to participate in FPI for 12 weeks or an active control intervention. The Insightfulness Assessment was administered and used (a) to classify parents’ baseline capacity for reflection a...