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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry
Sec. Autism and Other Neurodevelopmental Disorders
Volume 3 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/frcha.2024.1509828

"The package has been opened"-Parents' Perspective and Social Validity of an Early Start Denver Model Intervention for Young Children with Autism

Provisionally accepted
Emilia Carlsson Emilia Carlsson 1,2,3,4*Gudrun Nygren Gudrun Nygren 3,4Christopher Gillberg Christopher Gillberg 3Petra Linnsand Petra Linnsand 3,4
  • 1 University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
  • 2 Speech and Language Pathology Unit, Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, University of Gothenburg,, Gothenburg, Sweden
  • 3 Gillberg Neuropsychiatry Centre, Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden, Gothenburg, Sweden
  • 4 Research department, Angered Hospital, SV Hospital Group, Gothenburg, Sweden, Gothenburg, Sweden

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

    Introduction: This study aimed to capture experiences and perspectives of parents of children with autism participating in an intervention program based on the Early Start Denver Model (ESDM). Specifically, we wanted their views regarding feasibility, acceptability, and significance of the intervention program, i.e. its social validity. Methods: Fourteen parents, whose children has been diagnosed with autism, were interviewed. Results: The results included three themes 1) Comprehensive approach: the participants emphasized the importance of early detection and interventions in their local setting in close cooperation between themselves, health care professionals, and preschool staff. They also highlighted the individual goals based on the child’s needs in different developmental areas, as well as the whole family’s needs and prioritizations. 2) Hands on – available locally and accessible: focused on different aspects of procedures, including features of the ESDM, parent education, the parent-therapist relationship and nearby location. 3) Sense of empowerment – parents got increased knowledge: the intervention was significant within family daily living and daily activities. The participants expressed that the interventions program contributed to an increased knowledge about autism and the ESDM strategies, positively impacted their child, and improved the collaboration with the preschool. Conclusion: Parents emphasized the naturalistic, comprehensive, and local setting of the intervention and described that they had gained new knowledge as well a sense of empowerment. The results indicated that the intervention program based on the ESDM was socially valid according to parent descriptions.

    Keywords: Early Intervention, Social validity, autism, Preschool children, Parents' views

    Received: 11 Oct 2024; Accepted: 11 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Carlsson, Nygren, Gillberg and Linnsand. 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: Emilia Carlsson, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden

    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.