Effects of a Parent-Mediated Multimodal Communication Intervention on Communicative Behaviors in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have communication deficits that lead to difficulties in expressing their needs and establishing relationships with others. Parent-mediated intervention is a method to improve communication skills of children with ASD. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of parent-mediated multimodal communication intervention with behavioral strategies on communication outcomes of children with ASD. Results indicated that children’s communicative behaviors improved as their parents learned intervention strategies. There was a moderate positive correlation between parent implementation and the child’s target behavior. Effect sizes of individual types of communication across participants ranged from small to large. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.