Early Interventionists’ Perspectives on Teaching Caregivers

Relatively little is known about the role of early interventionists as teachers of caregivers. The current study was conducted to better understand interventionists’ perspectives about teaching caregivers. A national sample of 1,525 multidisciplinary interventionists completed an online questionnaire, which elicited information about interventionists’ preferences for use of caregiver teaching strategies, factors influencing decisions about teaching strategy use as well as comfort in, frequency of, and barriers to teaching caregivers. Use of a range of teaching strategies across contexts was reported. Differences emerged in teaching strategy preference based on experience in teaching specific skills and years of experience in early intervention. Ten themes emerged as rationales for teaching strategy selection. Interventionists reported moderate confidence in and frequency of caregiver teaching and few barriers to teaching. Results suggest a preference for use of multiple strategies and selection factors based on experience, perceived caregiver benefit, or other general factors such as interventionist preference.