Evaluating a screening‐to‐intervention model with caregiver training for response to name among children with autism

Conine and team worked with three toddlers who had autism.

They first screened each child to see how many trials it took to master response-to-name.

Then they taught the parents how to run the drills using behavioral skills training (BST).

The parents practiced with feedback until they hit a large share fidelity.

Finally, the team checked if the kids kept responding to their names weeks later.

The screening step cut the number of trials needed to master response-to-name.

After BST, all parents ran the drills correctly and their kids responded more often.

But when the team stopped praise and prompts, both parent fidelity and child skills dropped.

A quick booster session brought both back up.

McGarty et al. (2018) adds a twist: they paid parents 50 cents per session and saw even higher adherence.

This extends Conine’s work by showing a tiny reward can keep parents on track.

de Kuijper et al. (2014) looks like a contradiction at first.

They found Hanen parent training raised stress in highly depressed parents.

The difference is parent mood: Conine’s parents were not screened for depression, so stress did not show up.

Yassa et al. (2024) used BST to train staff, not parents, and also saw skill loss without boosters.

Both studies agree: plan for booster sessions or gains fade.

You can shorten response-to-name programs by screening first and then coaching parents with BST.

Schedule booster sessions right away—skills fade fast when reinforcement stops.

If a parent seems stressed or low, add a small reward or extra support to keep them engaged.