SAATHI: A Pilot Transition Intervention for South Asian Parents of Children With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.
A short, culturally tuned Zoom course lifted South Asian parents’ transition knowledge and advocacy guts.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Shikarpurya et al. (2025) tested a free, six-week online course called SAATHI. The course teaches South Asian parents how to plan for their teen’s move from school to adult life.
Parents met on Zoom once a week. Each session gave short talks, worksheets, and group chat in Hindi or English. The team asked parents questions before and after the course.
What they found
After the six weeks, parents knew more about transition services. They felt braver about asking for help and said they had more friends in the same boat.
No child data were taken. The gain was in parent power, not teen skills.
How this fits with other research
JMcQuaid et al. (2024) also ran parent training in India, but for toddlers with autism. They used in-clinic coaching while SAATHI used Zoom. Both saw parent gains, showing the model can slide both younger and older.
Awasthi et al. (2021) moved ABA online when COVID closed clinics. Like SAATHI, they kept lessons short and parents happy. The two studies together say telehealth parent training works across ages and goals.
Chin et al. (2025) had parents keep teens with ASD active for a full year. SAATHI did not track long-term use, so we still need to see if transition knowledge sticks as well as exercise habits.
Why it matters
If you coach South Asian families, you can copy SAATHI tonight. Run a six-week Zoom circle, share plain-language transition handouts, and let parents talk in their own language. You will boost their know-how and network without leaving your desk.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Racially minoritized parents often experience significant systemic barriers when accessing and navigating transition planning for their young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Despite the benefits of transition-focused parent interventions, only a few studies have developed or adapted these interventions for racially minoritized parents. We developed a 6-week, transition-focused online parent education intervention for 31 South Asian parents, South Asians Accessing and Advocating for Transition and Higher Education Inclusion (SAATHI). We found that SAATHI increased parents' transition knowledge, advocacy skills, and coping skills. Parents reported an increased sense of community and belonging after participating in SAATHI. Participants considered SAATHI feasible and beneficial. Implications of SAATHI for research, practice, and policy are also discussed.
Intellectual and developmental disabilities, 2025 · doi:10.1352/1934-9556-63.4.271