The Effectiveness of Hanen Parent Program on the Quality of the Relationship between Parent and Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Because the deficiency of communication skills in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has a negative effect on the relationship between them and their parents, it seems necessary to use early interventions to improving the communication skills of these children. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of Hanen parent program on the parent-child relationship of families with children with ASD.

Methods and Materials:

 This study was pre- test/ post- test and follow up with control group design. The Statistical population of this study included all children with ASD (ages 3 to 7) that lived in Isfahan county. The research sample included 22 children and their parents that were selected by convenience sampling. These participants assigned in two groups of 11 people, the experimental group and the control group. Then, parents of the experimental group received Hanen parent program for 3 months and 2 sessions per week. At this time, the control group did not receive any intervention. The study data collected by the child- parent relationship scale- CPRS (Pianta, 1994). The repeated measures MANCOVA analysis was used to analysis of data.

The results showed efficiency of Hanen parent program on child- parent relationship and Subscales (conflicts, closeness and dependence) is significant in α= 0/05 level.

According to the results of the present study, Hanen parent program can be used to improve the quality of child- parent relationship in children with ASD and their parent by providing opportunities for parent training.