Emotion regulation (ER) is a relatively understudied area of intervention for young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Parents play a significant role in the development of ER in children with and without developmental disabilities (Cole et al., 1994; Norona & Baker, 2014). Morris and colleagues (2017) reviewed a number of ER studies and found that many parental factors influence the development of ER, including parent-child relationships, positive parenting, parental affect, and parental emotional support. Many studies to date have demonstrated the effectiveness of parent-implemented interventions in the ASD population, but the influence of a systematic training procedure that teaches targeted ER strategies to parents of preschoolers with ASD has yet to be examined experimentally. There is also a gap in the existing literature examining how training procedures used to transfer evidence-based interventions to family intervention agents (such as parents) influence child ER and parent stress. The present study examined the use of evidence-based parent training techniques as a method to train two parents to use targeted strategies to promote ER in their young children with ASD within the Regulation of Emotional Lability in Autism Through Caregiver Supports (RELACS) intervention via telehealth. A multiple-case study design was utilized in the study. Visual analysis, effect size calculations, and non-parametric analysis of individual data of parent targeted strategy use was used to assess whether a functional relationship existed between the evidence-based parent training techniques and parent strategy use in each case. While a functional relationship between the training techniques and total frequency of parent strategy use was observed in both cases, results were variable across specific strategies within each case study. Parent ratings of child dysregulation were assessed using visual analysis and calculation of the Reliable Change Index (RCI). In both cases, parents reported a significant decline in emotional reactivity from pre- to post-intervention and pre-intervention to follow-up. Parent ratings of stress were also assessed using the Reliable Change Index. Low stress ratings were reported in both cases throughout all study phases. Intervention acceptability was also measured by analysis of the Behavior Intervention Rating Scale (BIRS; Elliot & Treuting, 1991). The intervention was reported to be acceptable by both parents, as was the telehealth-delivery aspect of the intervention. Study implications and future research directions based on these findings are provided.
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