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Abstract
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Aims: To identify Danish parents’ intrinsic use of Naturalistic Developmental Behavioral Intervention (NDBI) strategies, characteristics of their newly diagnosed autistic child, and how these may be associated, before entry into a randomised clinical trial of a parent-mediated autism intervention.
Methods: 280 2-6 year-old Danish children with a new diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and their parent were included. This cross-sectional study assessed parental NDBI strategy use as measured by the five subdomain and individual strategy item scores of the Measure of Naturalistic Developmental Behavioral Intervention Strategy Implementation - Caregiver Change (MONSI-CC); the child’s baseline autism symptom severity, as measured by the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, 2nd Edition, Calibrated Severity Score (ADOS-2 CSS); child expressive language, play skills, and ability to engage with others in play in a familiar interaction, as measured by the three MONSI-CC basis items, Language Level, Play Level, and Dyadic Engagement. Possible relationships between intrinsic parental NDBI strategy use and child characteristics will be assessed using two-tailed Pearson correlation coefficients. If significant associations between a subdomain score and a child characteristic are present, associations between the individual strategies in that subdomain and that characteristic will be tested and examined.
Results and Conclusions: Baseline data analysis for this study is still ongoing. Relationships between MONSI-CC subdomain scores and children’s ADOS-2 CSS, and MONSI-CC basis items language level, play level, and dyadic engagement scores will be presented. A clear understanding of an autistic child’s symptom severity and social communication development, and their parent’s intrinsic NDBI strategy use is vital before the efficacy of a parent-mediated intervention, designed to improve these areas, can be evaluated.
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