Measuring the relationship between the parental Broader Autism Phenotype, parent–child interaction, and children’s progress following parent mediated intervention

Abstract

Parents of children with ASD may show ASD type behaviours including particular social communication interaction styles—the Broader Autism Phenotype (BAP). Understanding the potential impact of defined parent characteristics may be relevant when designing and evaluating the efficacy and effectiveness of parent-mediated interventions. In this proof of principle analysis, 18 mothers who had taken part in an early parent-mediated intervention later completed Family History Interviews. Parent data were split into lower and higher BAP groups. There was a significant negative correlation between BAP factor total scores and mother–child interaction total and post-intervention change scores. Change in number of words understood was significantly greater in children of mothers scoring in the lower BAP group compared with children of mothers in the higher BAP group. These preliminary findings provide some support for further investigation of parent BAP status as a potential moderator of the impact of early parent-mediated psychosocial interventions.