Teaching Reciprocal Imitation Training (RIT) to Puerto Rican Parents of Young Children with Autism

Abstract

Providing early intervention and continuous service provision to children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and their families in Puerto Rico can be complex due to multiple factors including limited resources, difficulty accessing service providers, and yearly environmental impacts such as hurricanes (Chandra et al., 2021). Implementing tele-therapy parent-mediated approaches could address service delivery challenges for these families (e.g., Cheng et al., 2022). Parent-mediated Reciprocal Imitation Training (RIT) is an evidence-based intervention showing positive parental outcomes and with potential alignments with the Puerto Rican parenting culture. I evaluated the feasibility and perceptions of an RIT tele-therapy parent-mediated program with Puerto Rican parents (n = 6) of young children with autism using a multiple baseline across participants design. I assessed changes of parent-child interactions within a mealtime routine and explored changes in child spontaneous imitations. Results indicated increases in parent implementation of key RIT strategies and improved parent-child interactions during mealtime routine. I observed improvements on child spontaneous imitations and overall positive perceptions of RIT strategies and program implementation procedures. Specific variability on parental outcomes and perceptions are potentially related to cultural impacts. I concluded that parent-mediated approaches may be effective and feasible for Puerto Rican parents of children with ASD. This could address delayed and inconsistent service provision in Puerto Rico. Cultural factors may impact RIT principals’ perceptions and immediacy of effectiveness within this population.