On this week’s The Sci-Files, your hosts Chelsie and Danny interview Diondra Straiton.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by challenges with social communication as well as restricted and repetitive interests. Parent training is an evidence-based treatment for ASD in which providers train parents to build on their child’s skills or address their child’s challenging behavior. However, it is not frequently offered in community settings like mental health clinics or public schools. Diondra Straiton is a doctoral student in the Clinical Psychology program at MSU. Her research is focused on improving access to evidence-based practices in community settings for traditionally underserved children with ASD, including families who are of racial and ethnic minority backgrounds, of lower resourced backgrounds, or who have limited English proficiency. Recently, her research has focused on barriers and facilitators to the use of parent training within the community mental health system for Medicaid-enrolled families of children with ASD. Tune in to learn more about how to overcome challenges that arise when trying to increase providers’ use of parent training with this population.

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