Effectiveness of the Caregiver-Mediated Intervention: A Pilot Study for Children with Neurodevelopmental Disorders

Background: The Caregiver-Mediated Intervention(CMI), based on Parent Skills Training(PST), is one family-mediated intervention model for children with neurodevelopmental disorders(NDDs), especially for ASD. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of CMI. Methods: : 33 children (aged 22-69 months from our department) and their caregivers were included in a two-week training of ten 90-minute lessons. Then caregivers were encouraged to try their best to apply intervention skills in both home routines and play routines, in order to prompt the ability of cognition, motion, social adaptability and behavior of children. The based demographic information, video-taking data and diagnostic sales were collected at two key time‐points at least: Baseline(BL); Post-training (PT; within six months). Results: : The outcomes mainly involved three aspects - primary variables, secondary variables and correlation analyses. Compared with BL, those favored PT in (1) Adult/Child Interaction Fidelity Rating (P<0.01), (2) adaptability of Gesell Developmental Scale and stereotyped behaviors and limited interests of Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (P<0.05, P<0.01). Moreover, a negative correlation appeared between caregiver skill improvement and parent education(P<0.05), without correlation with other demographics. Conclusions: : As an efficacious family intervention for both children and their caregivers, CMI, with little limitation, is worth being generalized widely. Trial registration: China Clinical Trial Registry (ChiCTR-IOC-17013638, 15/12/2017).