JCPSLP Vol 22 No 2 2020

necessary to investigate whether the training and coaching opportunities that are offered are viewed as supportive and helpful; not only to master the practices that are taught, but also to embed these practices successfully. Parent perspectives and experiences can yield valuable insights for practitioners such as SLPs. Leko (2014) explains that interventions that are perceived as useful, meaningful, and contextually appropriate, are likely to be implemented with accuracy and offer positive outcomes. Information that would be beneficial when offering interventions for young children on the autism spectrum include understanding the knowledge that parents gain through formal learning opportunities, and the impact of the individualised support they receive to implement and embed these strategies with precision in naturally occurring routines and activities. In this paper, we describe parents’ experiences with an embedded and naturalistic social communication intervention utilising a training and coaching approach. This was conducted as part of a broader practitioner-based research project (Pretorius, 2018) which explored three dimensions: (a) the impact of the training plus coaching intervention on parents’ use of naturalistic interaction practices with preschoolers on the autism spectrum, (b) the effect of parent-implemented naturalistic instruction on the acquisition of children’s early social communication skills, and (c) parents’ experiences and perceptions of the intervention and the use of naturalistic interaction practices. This paper focuses on informal parent narratives which were captured as part of the third dimension. A brief description of the methodology is provided. The overarching themes from the parent narratives are then described and supported by quotes. We then conclude with a discussion of the relevance of gathering and listening to parents’ perspectives and experiences, within the context of family- centred and capacity building practices in speech-language services for families of young children on the autism spectrum. Methodology Ethical considerations Ethical approval for the larger study, from which this data was drawn, was obtained from Massey University Human Research Ethics Committee. Participants Three parents and their preschool children ranging in age between 3 years, 2 months and 4 years, 8 months, were recruited from a waiting list at an early intervention centre in New Zealand. All child participants presented with a formal diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder, had English as the language medium at home, presented with normal hearing and vision, and presented with limited functional social communication skills, as per parent report. Details of the intervention The parent participants attended four 2-hour workshops plus received eight in-home coaching sessions with an emphasis on developing their competency in the use of interaction promoting strategies and naturalistic interaction practices, to encourage their child’s social communication skills. Interaction promoting strategies include the use of intentional pausing, tuning in to the child’s communication attempts and copying or matching the child’s interests, actions, sounds or words. These strategies were combined with naturalistic interaction practices whereby parents received support to create embedded learning opportunities (ELOs) and engage in complete learning trials

(CLTs) (Snyder et al., 2013; Snyder et al., 2015; Snyder et al., 2018) within daily routines and interest-based activities using a project-developed interaction plan. CLTs generally involve the use of planned or naturally occurring antecedents to elicit a target response from the child (target behaviour). The target behaviour is followed by either the parent providing a naturally occurring consequence (when the child uses the targeted skill) or additional help in the form of a prompt or cue and feedback (when the child does not use the targeted skill). During the workshops, parents learned how to individualise these strategies, plan for, and create development-enhancing interactions, while targeting the social communication goals they selected before the intervention started. Examples of child goals selected by parents at the start of the study included an increase in (a) the use of single words, (b) the functional use of spoken language or gestures, (c) social turn-taking, and (d) intelligible speech. Home coaching visits generally followed a sequence of steps based on the broader literature on coaching (Friedman, Woods, & Salisbury, 2012; Kemp & Turnbull, 2014; Stephan, 2015; Stephan & Manning, 2017). Strategies included the use of information sharing, focused observation, individualised feedback including video feedback, demonstration, problem-solving, reflection, and personalised action planning (Brown & Woods, 2016; Rush et al., 2003). Data collection and analysis The data collected relevant to the present article consisted of informal feedback received from parents after completing the training plus coaching intervention. A prompt-sheet with open-ended questions was used to collect narratives related to parents’ perspectives and experience with (a) embedded instruction practices, (b) the training and coaching intervention, and (c) changes in their interactive behaviour with their child. Parent responses were audio-recorded, transcribed, and then analysed using a general inductive approach to identify overarching themes (Thomas, 2006). Results The analysis of the parent narratives revealed themes related to knowledge and skill acquisition, having space and time to plan and reflect, receiving support for strategy use through coaching, and positive family outcomes. These themes will be discussed below with examples of parent voice. Knowledge and skill acquisition Parents reported that the workshops provided them with the knowledge they required regarding useful strategies to support their child’s use of spoken language. They also noted that the workshops offered them insights into the value of engaging their child in interest-based and naturally occurring activities. Parents confirmed that the training workshops equipped them with knowledge of what was required to create and plan for more naturalistic play opportunities. They felt inspired to take a more active interest in their child’s play by joining in and extending their child’s play ideas. One parent mentioned this: Knowing ways to speak to him, get down and play with him instead of trying to talk to him from a distance. Actually, sitting down and playing with him. I never really used to do that, sit down, and play with him that much, because I always thought he was happy on his own; just sort of left him to it. Parents talked about gaining knowledge in using meaningful language that reflected their child’s interest,

Tara McLaughlin

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JCPSLP Volume 22, Number 2 2020

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