Coaching Parents of Young Children with Autism

“Drawing on a wealth of experience and a command of the scientific literature, Rogers, Vismara, and Dawson have crafted a unique and valuable guide. The book is filled with wisdom, practical advice, immediately usable tools, examples, and summaries of the science (to which the authors themselves have contributed greatly). It will be immediately useful to practitioners who currently provide parent coaching, as well as coaches in training. While it focuses on autism and other developmental disorders, I expect that this book will become a go-to resource for anyone who works with families of young children in home settings.”

—Samuel L. Odom, PhD, Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill


“The unique voice of the authors comes across—confident in the ability to help, but also realistic; flexible and creative, but also clear and organized. This book exudes enormous respect for the irreplaceable role of parents in the lives of their children, and empathy for the difficulties that parents of children with ASD can experience. It describes the significant contribution of the coach as a well-traveled guide who can provide the parent a secure base for joint, collaborative exploration. The authors emphasize the importance of the parent coach’s creativity, flexibility, commitment, and humility, and they embody these characteristics themselves.”

—David Oppenheim, PhD, School of Psychological Sciences, University of Haifa, Israel


“This book provides systematic strategies for coaching parents to support learning in young children with autism. It emphasizes how to teach parents basic behavioral principles, and includes specific examples, helpful checklists and tables, and detailed ways to address the challenges of this work. This how-to manual on collaborative coaching is a rich, supportive introduction to this important approach to working with young children with autism.”

—Catherine Lord, PhD, ABPP, George Tarjan Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and Education, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles


“An easy-to-read, user-friendly guide for early intervention practitioners. The book demonstrates how to move from a practitioner–child focus to a focus on supporting caregivers to promote children's learning within and across their daily activities. The authors bring together research about adult learning and family-centered coaching with their experiences as developers of the highly regarded Early Start Denver Model. The book provides a parent coaching toolkit for ASD that is equally relevant for preservice students and for practitioners who have been working with young children with ASD and their families for many years.”

—Dathan Rush, EdD, CCC-SLP, Director, The Family, Infant, and Preschool Program (FIPP), North Carolina