Grant: Project Grant

Young children who have been recently diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may wait up to three years for treatment in Ontario, a situation that has only been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. This situation is particularly bad in rural areas, with these families often having to travel for hours to receive services for their children. Numerous research studies have shown that the earlier autistic children receive intervention, the better their prognosis. Much research has also shown that involving families in the intervention process (by teaching them how to interact with their children to encourage social-communication behaviours and reduce problematic behaviours) also increases the effectiveness of interventions. Given these two findings, we are proposing to conduct a randomized controlled trial of a completely-online programme which will teach parents how to encourage social-communication behaviours and discourage behaviours that interfere with learning in their children. Families will be randomly assigned to the online intervention, or to an educational provision which will teach them what autism is, how to obtain support for their children, how to advocate for their children, and what treatments are available to them while they wait for more traditional autism intervention. We will measure both groups change in autism symptoms and adaptive behaviour (how they function in their daily lives) as our primary outcomes, and parental stress and coping as our secondary outcomes. This study will be completed online, thus allowing for a large sample from across Ontario (including underserved rural populations), and will provide important services to families who would otherwise be waiting for services and thus not be treating their children at those critical early developmental stages.