GROWING UP AWARE: A PARENT-BASED SEXUALITY INTERVENTION FOR CHILDREN WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDERS

This study seeks to test a five-week, psychoeducational intervention designed to help parents of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) understand and promote their child's healthy sexual development. The Growing Up Aware intervention is derived from the application of a behavioral change model from the public health field. This model focuses on Protection-Motivation theory and uses a task-centered group approach. Based upon the methods of applied behavioral analysis, social mapping and social stories, the intervention is designed to help parents impart communication and educational strategies for competency-based sexuality instruction. A sample of 120 parents of children with ASD, ages 8 through 13, will be recruited from seven school districts within Bergen county, New Jersey. An adaptive randomization procedure will be used to assign participants to either a control or intervention condition. Primary outcomes address: (1) change in parental attitudes and knowledge concerning the sexuality of their children with ASD; (2) change in parental communication skills related to issues of sexuality; and (3) change in level of children's awareness of sexuality. This study is an initial step towards developing empirically-validated, effective theory-based parent interventions that target children with ASD with appropriate knowledge and skills for navigating normative sexual behavior associated with maturation and transition to adolescence and adulthood.