Training parents of a child with autism to increase the frequency of their child's social behavior may improve the quality of parent-child interactions. The purpose of this methodological study was to develop a direct observation method for rapidly sampling social harmony between parents and their toddlers with autism during parent training interactions. The current study used a pre and post probe design, with benchmark comparisons to test the discriminability of the measurement protocol across two sets of data. The first set of data came from pre and post training videos from a parent training program for children with a diagnosis of autism or at risk for a diagnosis. The second set of data came from videos of typically developing toddlers and their parents. The results of the study show that the measurement system differentiated in the level of harmonious engagement between the benchmark sample and the sample including children diagnosed with autism. The results are discussed in the context of future directions and the utility of the measurement system for behavior analytic practices in parent training and other settings where rapport and complex interactional behaviors are an intervention priority.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:unt.edu/info:ark/67531/metadc1248433 |
| Date | 08 1900 |
| Creators | Cunningham, Isabel L. |
| Contributors | Ala'i-Rosales, Shahla, Rosales-Ruiz, Jesus, Becker, April |
| Publisher | University of North Texas |
| Source Sets | University of North Texas |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | v, 61 pages, Text |
| Rights | Public, Cunningham, Isabel L, Copyright, Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise noted. All rights Reserved. |
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