Changes in Child Compliance after Parent-Child Interaction Therapy for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Emily Lafferty*, Kelsey Keen*, Suzi Naguib, Rachel Piper, Robin Han, and Cheryl McNeil

Department of Psychology, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506

Presentation Category: Behavioral & Social Sciences (Poster Presentation #83)

Student’s Major: Psychology

There has been a recent uptick in Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) diagnosis of children so that now every 1 in 54 children are diagnosed with an ASD (CDC, 2020). Many children with ASD also report having a behavior disorder (Kaat & Lecavilier, 2013). Parent Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) is an evidenced based treatment used with children who demonstrate disruptive disorders. PCIT is similar to ASD treatments like caregiver involvement, so clinicians are becoming more likely to refer them for PCIT (Knap 2018). PCIT is composed of two phases: Child-Directed Interaction (CDI) and Parent-Directed Interaction (PDI). In CDI, parents are instructed to go along with their child’s play while using positive verbalization. In PDI, parents are taught to give effective commands and respond in a consistent manner to both child compliance and noncompliance. This study aims to examine the change in compliance for children with ASD from pre-treatment to post-treatment. The study sample included 11 parents and their children, all of whom had been diagnosed with an ASD and had been referred to a community-based clinic for PCIT. Parent commands and child compliance to the commands were coded using the Dyadic Parent-Child Interaction Coding System (DPICS) during a 5-minute play interaction conducted at pre- and post-treatment. Child compliance to parental commands was coded as either comply, noncomply, or no opportunity to comply. Pre-post differences in child compliance codes will be examined by conducting paired sample t-tests. The effects of PCIT on the increase of child compliance will be discussed.

Funding:

Program/mechanism supporting research/creative efforts: WVU's Research Apprenticeship Program (RAP) & accompanying HONR 297-level course