Adherence to behavioral and medical treatment recommendations by parents of children with autism spectrum disorders.

Lawer et al. (2009) asked parents how well they followed two kinds of advice for their kids with autism. One kind was medical, like giving pills. The other kind was behavioral, like using praise or time-out.

Parents filled out a survey. They said how often they did each thing at home.

Parents stuck with medical plans far more than behavior plans. They liked reward ideas more than punishment ideas.

The big take-away: parents often drop the ABA parts you write.

Breider et al. (2024) seems to disagree. Their new RCT shows face-to-face parent training beats a wait-list. Kids’ problem behavior stayed down six months later. The trick: the team coached parents live and checked in often. R et al. only asked what parents did with no coaching.

Burrell et al. (2025) backs Breider. A meta-analysis of nine RCTs found parent training cuts disruptive behavior and lowers parent stress. Again, every study gave hands-on teaching, not just paper plans.

Old hints said the same. Lovaas et al. (1973) saw kids slip back when parents stopped the program. Singh et al. (1982) saw half of parents quit skills once helpers left. R et al. simply measured the gap those papers warned about.

Low parent follow-through is still the norm unless you build support in. Add live coaching, short check-ins, and clear demo videos. Start with easy reward steps so parents feel quick wins. When you write a plan, also write how you will help them do it.