Implementation of Caregiver and Educator Mediated Interventions to Best Support Outcomes for Young Children with Autism and Developmental Disabilities. This panel will share findings on from five different experimental intervention studies across four presentations, each examining considerations for the implementation of caregiver and educator-mediated interventions across delivery modalities (online, in person), age groups (toddler, preschool), and settings (classrooms, community early intervention programs, and family homes). The first presentation focuses on an adaption of caregiver-mediated Joint Attention, Symbolic Play, Engagement, and Regulation (JASPER) social communication intervention for online delivery. Results from a pilot randomized controlled trial including caregivers’ implementation fidelity and children’s joint engagement and initiations of joint attention and requesting will be shared. The second presentation focuses on baseline child level characteristics and their influence two types of strategies used by practitioners to support caregivers’ intervention implementation: (a) observation plus coaching: caregivers observe for 4 weeks and then receive 8 weeks of active in session coaching vs. (b) immediate coaching: caregivers receive 12 weeks of in session coaching. Analyses will explore how children’s challenging behavior at baseline may influence whether to start with caregiver observation or active caregiver coaching in caregiver-mediated JASPER in a public Canadian early intervention program. The third presentation considers the influence of coaching behaviors in caregiver-mediated interventions. While fidelity was high across coaching implementation and treatment, a closer look at the quality of the coaching delivery may suggest that quality also strongly influences caregiver and child behavioral outcomes. The analysis will explore the role of coaching behaviors’ quality and fidelity in caregiver-mediated interventions. Finally, the fourth presentation will shift to educators’ intervention implementation. Data from two randomized trials conducted in preschool and toddler classroom settings will examine how educator’ implementation of the JASPER intervention is associated with children’s time jointly engaged as well as their initiations of joint attention. Altogether, the four presentations explore will share critical considerations for adult learning to support high-quality implementation of intervention strategies to advance children’s outcomes.
Chair: Stephanie Shire, University of Oregon,
Discussant: Laura Lee McIntyre, University of Oregon
First Presentation: Adapting Caregiver-Mediated JASPER Intervention for Online Delivery: A Pilot Randomized Trial
Stephanie Shire, University of Oregon, Eunji Kong, University of Oregon; Yitong Jiang, University of Oregon; Marina Crain, University of Oregon; Wenjing Bao, University of Oregon; Wendy Shih, University of California Los Angeles
Second Presentation: The Relation Between Challenging Behaviors and Joint Engagement in Autistic Children: Insights from a Caregiver-Mediated Intervention
Yitong Jiang, University of Oregon, Eunji Kong, University of Oregon; Connie Kasari, University of California Los Angeles; Stephanie Shire, University of Oregon
Third Presentation: Virtual Synchronous Coaching in Caregiver-Mediated Interventions: A Closer Look at Fidelity and Quality
Megan Kunze, University of Oregon, Qi Wei, University of Nebraska, Omaha, Kellie-Anne Brown Campbell, University of Oregon, Giavanna Uvari, University of Oregon, Alexis Bacon Yates, University of Texas, Austin, Jing Wang, University of Nebraska, Lincoln
Fourth Presentation: Maximizing Outcomes in Autism Intervention: The Critical Role of Implementation Fidelity in JASPER
Ya-Chih Chang, California State University Los Angeles, Stephanie Shire, University of Oregon; Wendy Shih, University of California Los Angeles; Connie Kasari, University of California Los Angeles