Child-rearing routines among Mexican-heritage children with autism spectrum disorder.
Three-quarters of a Mexican-heritage child’s day holds no autism teaching—turn meals, chores, and bedtime into quick ABA moments.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Researchers asked 35 Mexican-heritage families to log every activity for one day.
They wanted to see how often autism teaching happened during normal life.
Parents noted meals, chores, play, and screen time with their autistic child.
What they found
Only a large share of daily moments included any kind of autism support.
That means three out of four hours held zero teaching.
Bath time, cooking, and tablet use were mostly untouched by ABA.
How this fits with other research
Klusek et al. (2022) shows parents coaching can fill these gaps.
They taught parents to use the Social ABCs program during meals and play.
Kids gained language and social skills in just 12 weeks.
Esposito et al. (2024) gives a concrete example: tooth-brushing.
Staff and parents used prompting and video modeling during the nightly brush.
Accuracy jumped from a large share to a large share in eight short sessions.
McGonigle et al. (2014) seems to disagree at first glance.
That study says Asian families cope through skills, not routines.
But the difference is culture, not method.
Both surveys simply show families use daily life differently.
Why it matters
You can triple intervention time without adding clinic hours.
Pick one daily routine this week—maybe breakfast or bedtime.
Coach parents to embed one teaching target into that moment.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
This study examined the daily routines and activities of Mexican-heritage mothers and their children with autism spectrum disorder. Experienced sampling methods were used to capture families' current daily routines and activities, how parents valued those activities, and whether the activity was part of the child's autism spectrum disorder intervention. A total of 32 mothers were texted five times per day over five consecutive days for a total of 721 observations. Mothers frequently engaged in Self-Care (e.g. showering), General Caregiving (e.g. cooking), and House Chores (e.g. laundry). Children engaged in activities in which interventions could easily be integrated (e.g. Academics, Self-Care, and Playing with Others). Families spent less than one-third (26.1%) of their activities participating in interventions. Mothers and children jointly spent time in General Caregiving, Playing with Others, and Using Electronics. Practitioners should focus on integrating evidence-based interventions into daily joint routine activities.
Autism : the international journal of research and practice, 2020 · doi:10.1177/1362361319849244