Feasibility of Group Parent Training for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Disruptive Behavior: A Demonstration Pilot.

Burrell et al. (2020) ran a small pilot to see if RUBI parent training can work when you teach the parents in groups instead of one-to-one. Eighteen families of autistic children with disruptive behavior met for eleven weekly group sessions. Therapists used the standard RUBI lessons and homework. No control group was used.

After the last session, 65% of parents rated their child as 'much' or 'very much' improved. Observers saw high treatment fidelity and parents said they liked the group format. The results suggest group RUBI is doable and acceptable.

Lee et al. (2024) later tested the same RUBI lessons delivered one family at a time to Korean parents. They also saw big behavior gains, showing the program works whether you run it individually or in a group. Andrews et al. (2024) shortened RUBI to only five sessions for parents of children with Down syndrome and still saw good behavior drops, proving you can trim the dose. The 2020 group pilot, the 2024 individual trial, and the 2024 five-session study all line up—no contradiction, just different ways to deliver the same core tools.

If your clinic has a waitlist, switch to group RUBI. You can serve six families at once without losing impact. Keep the eleven-lesson script or try the shorter five-lesson version—both have data. Start a new cohort every month and cut your wait time fast.