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Parent and Child Factors Predicting Early Intervention Choices of Australian Parents of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 October 2019

Sarah Carlon Open the ORCID record for Sarah Carlon [Opens in a new window] ,
Mark Carter ,
Jennifer Stephenson  and
Naomi Sweller
Sarah Carlon*
Affiliation:
Macquarie University, Australia
Mark Carter
Affiliation:
Macquarie University, Australia
Jennifer Stephenson
Affiliation:
Macquarie University, Australia
Naomi Sweller
Affiliation:
Macquarie University, Australia
*
*Corresponding author. Email: sarah.carlon@mq.edu.au
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Abstract

Extant research addressing implicit factors related to intervention decisions made by parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is limited and findings have been inconsistent. In the present study, 74 parents of preschoolers with ASD were surveyed regarding intervention use. The possible relationships between implicit parent factors (education level, age, causal beliefs about ASD, complementary and alternative medicine [CAM] use, and family income) and child factors (time since diagnosis, and perceived severity of ASD), and the number and type of interventions used were examined. Consistent with previous research, only a small number of significant relationships were found, including that family income, parent use of CAM, mother’s education, parent belief in an unknown aetiology of ASD, and time since child’s diagnosis were all related to the number of interventions used. Some specific findings of previous research were not replicated in the present study (e.g., neither beliefs in environmental aetiology of ASD nor parent education levels were related to the use of specific CAM interventions), indicating that factors affecting decision-making may not be consistent across samples. Nevertheless, future research including an expanded range of possible implicit factors with more diverse samples may provide a more accurate predictive model of parent decision-making.

Keywords

ASDautismchoicedecision-makingearly interventionparent
Type
Original Articles
Information
Australasian Journal of Special and Inclusive Education , Volume 43 , Issue 2 , December 2019 , pp. 83 - 101
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2019 

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Footnotes

†

This manuscript was accepted under the Editorship of Umesh Sharma.

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