Handbook of Parent-Implemented Interventions for Very Young Children with Autism

This handbook offers practical strategies and evidence-based parent-implemented interventions for very young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). It explores this important subject within the context of rapidly increasing numbers of toddlers who are diagnosed with ASD during the second year of life. The handbook discusses how parents of young children with ASD can effectively be supported, taught, and coached to implement evidence-based parenting strategies and intervention techniques, and describes a broad range of developmentally appropriate programs at the family, community, and service delivery levels. In addition, the handbook examines individual differences in parenting cognitions, emotions, and practices and proposes strategies for supporting the varying capacities of diverse families to meet the needs of young children with ASD. Chapters provide diverse coverage, spanning cultural/socio-economic differences as well as differences in family structure; parenting cognitions, emotions, and practices; parental learning styles; and access to social support. 

Featured topics include: 

• Supporting families of high-risk infants who have an older sibling with ASD.
  
• The use of video feedback strategies in parent-mediated early ASD intervention. 
  
• The Incredible Years (IY) Parent Program for preschool children with ASD and language delays. 
  
• Self-help for parents of children with ASD. 
  
• The Family Implemented TEACCH for Toddlers (FITT) support model. 
  
• Parent-implemented interventions for underserved families in Taiwan.  
  
• Family and provider-based interventions in South Asia. 

The Handbook of Parent-Implemented Interventions for Very Young Children with Autism is a must-have resource for researchers, clinicians/professionals, and graduate students in clinical child, school, and developmental psychology, family studies, behavioral therapy, and social work as well as rehabilitation medicine/therapy, child and adolescent psychiatry, pediatrics, and special education/educational psychology.

Michael Siller, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the Emory University School of Medicine, and co-directs (with Dr. Lindee Morgan) the Education Sciences Research Core as well as the Preschool Education Lab at Marcus Autism Center, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. Dr. Siller received his doctorate in developmental psychology from the University of California at Los Angeles. Prior to joining the faculty at Emory in 2016, Dr. Siller held a position as Associate Professor of Psychology at Hunter College of The City University of New York. Dr. Siller published the first pair of longitudinal studies to show that responsive parental behaviors reliably predict the long-term (16-year) language gains in children with autism, and completed two clinical trials evaluating the efficacy of Focused Playtime Intervention, a parent-coaching intervention that aims to improve the quality of parent-child communication during shared toy play. Between 2007 and 2010, Dr. Siller co-directed (with Dr. Sally Rogers) the Autism Speaks Toddler Treatment Network. Currently, Dr. Siller collaborates with his colleagues at Marcus Autism Center to develop, evaluate, and implement community-viable educational innovations for children, adolescents, and young adults with autism in Georgia and beyond.  

Lindee Morgan, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, is Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the Emory University School of Medicine, and co-directs (with Dr. Michael Siller) the Education Sciences Research Core as well as the Preschool Education Lab at Marcus Autism Center, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. Dr. Lindee Morgan completed her Ph.D. in Communication Disorders at Florida State University in 2002. Prior to joining the faculty at Emory in 2016, Dr. Morgan served as the Director of the Center for Autism and Related Disabilities and the Associate Director of Implementation in the Autism Institute at the Florida State University College of Medicine. Dr. Morgan's primary clinical/scholarly focus is intervention, largely classroom-based, for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Her research has focused on investigating treatments to improve active engagement, social communication, and other relevant outcomes for individuals with autism across the lifespan. She is a developer of the Autism Navigator, a unique collection of web-based tools and courses designed to bridge the gap between science and community practice. Dr. Morgan is one of four authors of the Autism/Communication Navigator for Early Intervention Providers, and is currently collaborating with colleagues at Florida State University to develop Autism Navigator for Kindergarten Classrooms. Her articles have been published in a number of leading journals including Pediatrics, the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, and the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.