The Effectiveness of the Turkish Version of the Responsive Teaching Program Applied as an Online Group Intervention on Autistic Children and Their Fathers: A Randomized Control Study

Kaymak A., Diken İ. H., Mahoney G.

BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES, cilt.15, sa.3, ss.1-24, 2025 (SSCI)

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 15 Sayı: 3
  • Basım Tarihi: 2025
  • Doi Numarası: 10.3390/bs15030309
  • Dergi Adı: BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, Academic Search Premier, Linguistic Bibliography, Directory of Open Access Journals
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.1-24
  • Anadolu Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to explore the effectiveness of the Turkish Version

of the Responsive Teaching program applied as an online group intervention on autistic

children and their fathers. In this study, conducted with pre-test–post-test control group

experimental design, 20 father–child pairs were randomly assigned to the experimental

and control groups. This study’s independent variable was the implementation of the

Turkish Version of the Responsive Teaching (TV-RT) program (TV-RT) applied as an online

group intervention. The dependent variables of this study were (a) fathers’ interactional

behaviors, (b) fathers’ ability to use TV-RT strategies, (c) children’s interactional behaviors,

(d) children’s ability to use TV-RT pivotal behaviors, (e) children’s social interaction

behaviors (typical social interaction and autistic interaction), and (f) the opinions of the

fathers and mothers of the children in the experimental group about the program and

results. Data were collected with the Turkish Version of the Maternal/Parent Behavior

Rating Scale (M/PBRS-TV) to measure fathers’ interactional behaviors; the Responsive

Teaching–Parent Strategy Profile (RT-PSP) to measure fathers’ level of use of the TV-RT

strategies; the Turkish Version of the Child Behavior Rating Scale (CBRS-TV) to measure

children’s interactional behaviors; the Responsive Teaching–Pivotal Behavior Profile (RTPBP)

to measure children’s level of displaying TV-RT pivotal behaviors; and the Turkish

Version of the Social Interaction Assessment Instrument (SIAI-TV) to measure children’s

social interaction behaviors (typical social interaction and autistic interaction). In addition,

social validity data were collected from the fathers and mothers in the experimental group

through satisfaction questionnaires. Results revealed that the fathers of autistic children

who received the intervention differed significantly on the use of TV-RT strategies and the

quality of interactional behaviors from the fathers who did not receive the intervention.

On the other side, autistic children in the experimental group showed significant progress

on interactional behaviors, TV-RT pivotal behaviors, and social interaction behaviors and

improved changes on autistic interaction behaviors. Fathers who participated in the online

group TV-RT program, and their wives (mothers) as outside observers, reported high

satisfaction with the program. Results were discussed extensively, and future suggestions

are provided.

Keywords: autistic children; Turkish version; responsive teaching (RT) program; fathers;

online training