Abstract
Parents (N=11) belonging to a parents' group for early behavioral intervention for autistic children were divided into 2 groups, and, for a month, the groups were separately given group training, especially discrete trial training (DTT), intended to increase their knowledge and skills about behavioral therapy. Following the training, the parents' teaching skills generally improved and the children's newly acquired behaviors increased. These tendencies were maintained at follow-up. The parents' mental health was improved after the training, but, 1 year later, was found to have deteriorated in some of them. Several parents stopped their home therapy within a year. These results suggest that a 1-month group training can improve skills of parents to do homebased behavioral therapy, but that a 1-month intervention is not enough to keep parents continuing to do the therapy for 1 year after the intervention.
