Family-Centered Implementation of Parent Training for Autistic Toddlers in Early Intervention

Early Intervention (EI) systems are ill-equipped to serve the many children 12 to 36 months with early signs or a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). EI funded by Part C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) uses home-based service delivery, emphasizes family-centered care, and prioritizes family-defined concerns (i.e., patient-centered outcomes). The Part C system is ideally situated to provide family-based intervention to children aged birth to three. However, Part C EI providers receive little training in ASD or the challenges characterizing ASD in toddlerhood, most notably emotion regulation. This study introduces Parent Training for emotion regulation for autistic toddlers into the Part C EI system, determines its feasibility and preliminary efficacy in this setting, and assesses what family, provider, and system-level factors may facilitate the uptake of parent training in the Part C EI system.