Effect of Social Animation Program on Improving Parent-child Interaction in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Parents of children with autism usually experience high levels of anxiety and depression, and the parent-child interaction is worsening. The purpose of this study was to design and construct a social animation program for children with autism disorder and to investigate its effect on promoting parents' interaction with these children. The research method was quasi-experimental and in the framework of pre-test-post-test design. The sample consisted of 16 boys of children with autism spectrum disorder in the age range of 5-10 years old in Tehran in 2017 who were selected by convenient sampling method and then randomly assigned into two experimental and control groups. Then the children of the experimental group received a social animation program in 30 sessions per 1 hour. Parents responded in both groups before and after intervention to the parent child relationship scale (1994). To analyze the data at inferential level, multivariate covariance analysis was used. The results showed that there was a significant difference between the two groups in all the subscales of the test (conflict, closeness, dependency) (p <0.001). These findings indicate an increase in the parent-child interaction in the experimental group after intervention. Overall, the results show that the social animation program can improve and enhance the parent-child interaction, and can provide the opportunity to use the learned skills in real life by enjoying the learning and learning process.