Abstract
Purpose: We know very little about Hispanic autistic children’s response to intervention as, historically, Hispanic children are underrepresented in intervention studies. Pathways parent-mediated early autism intervention is one of the few naturalistic developmental behavioral interventions (NDBIs) that is contextually and linguistically responsive to Hispanic families. However, some child-centered NDBI strategies do not align with the Hispanic caregiving value of respeto. A child exhibiting respeto demonstrates affiliative obedience by displaying deference and respect toward adults. Furthermore, theories of the ontogeny of cultural learning suggest that certain levels of social development may be necessary to learn cultural values. The current study investigates (1) the relationship between Hispanic autistic children’s social skills and affiliative obedience and (2) the efficacy of Pathways in improving affiliative obedience in Hispanic children. Methods: This quasi-experimental design study used preexisting standardized test data and video recordings from 26 Hispanic participants who took part in a previous Pathways efficacy study. Recordings were coded for affiliative obedience and social connectedness. Residual change variables were used to measure progress from baseline to post-intervention, and correlation and hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to analyze the data. Results: We found significant positive correlations between social skills and children’s affiliative obedience for baseline and change variables. In addition, we found Pathways had a significant medium-large magnitude effect on change in affiliative obedience skills. Conclusion: This study highlights the benefits of NDBI interventions that advance social development in autistic children and support Hispanic parents in enculturating their children in the value of respeto.
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Acknowledgements
This research was supported by grants from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board’s Autism Grants Program (THECB AGP 2018–2020 #20476, NCE #22842; THECB AGP 2020–2022 #22974, NCE #22974). The opinions and conclusions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the opinions or policy of the THECB. The authors would like to thank the families who participated in this study and the bilingual clinical researchers who provided intervention and assisted with coding.
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EEK assisted in measure development, data reduction, analyses and interpretation of the data, development and writing of the manuscript, and revisions. SDP assisted with analyses of the data, development and writing of the manuscript, and revisions. PRR conceived of the study, led the design of the study, supervised data collection and data reduction, led the analyses and interpretation of the data, and led the development and writing of the manuscript and revisions.
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All procedures involving human participants were conducted in accordance with the ethical standards of the University of Texas at Dallas (IRB 18–149) and with the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its amendments.
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Rollins has received research grants from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board’s (THECB) Autism Grant Program (THECB AGP 2018–2020 #20476, NCE #22842; THECB AGP 2020–2022 #22974, NCE #22974) and has received speaker honorariums for several speaking engagements. Kosloski and Patel’s research assistantships are supported by the THECB Autism Grant (Rollins, PI). A version of this manuscript was presented at the Symposium on Research in Child Language Disorders in 2023.
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Kosloski, E.E., Patel, S.D. & Rollins, P.R. The Role of Pathways Early Autism Intervention in Improving Social Skills and Respeto for Young Hispanic Autistic Children. J Autism Dev Disord (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-024-06419-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-024-06419-x