Psychosocial Effects of a Parent-Child Communication Activity on Siblings of Children with Autism

The goal of the project was to decrease the worries of siblings of children with autism through a parent-child communication activity. Other goals of the project were to increase the accuracy of the parent\u27s perception of the child\u27s worries and to increase the quality of parent-child autism specific communication. The perceived effectiveness of the intervention as well as general family communication were also explored. Participants were be recruited through school districts and support groups serving families of children with autism. 15 parents and 16 siblings of children with autism, between the ages of6 1/2 and 13, participated in this study. Half the child-parent pairs were randomly assigned to the intervention group, which completed a workbook activity designed to enable the siblings to talk about their autism-related worries with their parents. The other child-parent pairs were assigned to a placebo-control group, which played games together. The hypotheses received marginal support for decreasing worries and for increasing the accuracy of parent\u27s perceptions of child\u27s worries