Facing Your Fears in Schools: Implementing CBT Program for Students with ASD or Other Special Learning Needs
Project Description:
Our research group has been developing and evaluating an anxiety intervention for youth with Autism Spectrum Disorders for over a decade. Our program, "Facing Your Fears," has been shown to be effective in reducing the interference of anxiety symptoms for youth with ASD. Parents who participate also report gains in family functioning. Up to now, most of our research has focused on the effects of the program when its delivered in outpatient clinics. Unfortunately, access to outpatient clinics is difficult for many families of youth with disabilities, particularly for those living in low resource communities. One strategy for improving access to evidence-based interventions is to adapt those programs for delivery in schools. In order to adapt the program accordingly, we need to engage the people who will be interacting with it in the real-world to help us to figure out the best way to approach logistics, intervention content and processes. Therefore, this IRB covers the community engagement strategies (e.g., focus groups, advisory council) that we plan to use in order to revise our intervention program for delivery in schools. Once this study is completed, we will develop a pilot study (and another IRB proposal) to examine how well the revised version works.
Keyword(s):
autism, anxiety, CBT, special learning needs
Core Function(s):
Performing Direct and/or Demonstration Services, Performing Research or Evaluation, Continuing Education/Community Training
Area of Emphasis
Education & Early Intervention
Target Audience:
Professionals and Para-Professionals, Children/Adolescents with Disabilities/SHCN
Unserved or Under-served Populations:
Racial or Ethnic Minorities, Disadvantaged Circumstances, Limited English, Specific Groups
Primary Target Audience Geographic Descriptor:
Mulit-County
COVID-19 Related Data:
N/A
