Communication in ASD – parents as partners for improving language development

The increase in the prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has important consequences to the health and educational systems. The need for specialized care that can improve the chances for a good prognosis must be considered in the research about intervention proposals. Parents can be very important participants in this process. Several intervention programs include the participation of parents but there is relatively little information in the literature about the results of these proposals. This poster will present the results of three different intervention programs with the participation of parents in three different regions of Brazil. In Rio de Janeiro, the parents were instructed about everyday attitudes and interactive management in six monthly group sessions discussing specific issues. In Rio Grande do Sul, specific themes regarding communication awareness and language development were discussed with parents in eight individual sessions conducted once each month. In Sao Paulo, parents were instructed once a week, during ten weeks, about executive functions stimulation. Participants were 18 children and they were all receiving regular speech-language therapy before, during and after the period of instruction to the parents. The results regarding the social-cognitive and communicative performance show a clear effect of the parents’ instruction. Each program's results will be discussed individually but the overall results point out to the value of including parents as partners in language and communication intervention processes.