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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychol.
Sec. Psychology for Clinical Settings
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1408847
This article is part of the Research Topic Between Emotional Regulation and Dysregulation: Perspectives, Interventions, Tools and Technologies for Psychological Well-Being View all 10 articles

Examining the Effectiveness of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy on Children with Subthreshold Level Autism

Provisionally accepted
İsmail Seçer İsmail Seçer *Sümeyye Ulaş Sümeyye Ulaş Eda Tatlı Eda Tatlı Fatmanur Çimen Fatmanur Çimen Burcu Bülbül Burcu Bülbül Beyzanur Tosunoğlu Beyzanur Tosunoğlu
  • Atatürk University, Erzurum, Türkiye

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is an increasingly prevalent neurodevelopmental disorder. However, the number of children who exhibit subthreshold levels of ASD symptoms, significant enough to experience functional and adaptive difficulties, is also substantial. These children require early interventions, similar to those diagnosed with ASD, due to their exhibited adaptive and behavioral challenges. PCIT offers a unique opportunity for children and their parents exhibiting subthreshold ASD to address such challenges through its practices and techniques. Aim: This study aims to assess the initial result effectiveness of standard PCIT on the adaptive skills and school refusal behaviors of children exhibiting subthreshold ASD, as well as on the levels of parental stress and caregiving burden. The study intends to test these effects and report the outcomes. Method. This study is a case study, and it involves three children with subthreshold ASD symptoms and their parents. The therapy processes were conducted for approximately one year. Result: Results obtained from this study revealed that PCIT holds promising prospects for improving adaptive and interaction skills, reducing school refusal, and alleviating parental stress and caregiving burden among children exhibiting subthreshold ASD. Discussion: PCIT is considered a functional approach for children and parents demonstrating subthreshold ASD symptoms, besides interventions addressing diagnosed ASD children. It is suggested that future studies should evaluate the effectiveness and sustainability of PCIT through randomized controlled trials in the context of subthreshold ASD.

    Keywords: ASD, subthreshold ASD, PCIT, intervention, Parents

    Received: 28 Mar 2024; Accepted: 12 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Seçer, Ulaş, Tatlı, Çimen, Bülbül and Tosunoğlu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: İsmail Seçer, Atatürk University, Erzurum, Türkiye

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.