Parent-Child Interaction Therapy for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Research, Training, and Clinical Considerations

Table 1: Clinical and training considerations.

Concern	Recommendation
Age	1. Work with children between the ages of 2 and 6 years.
Language	2. Work with children with receptive and expressive language abilities at or above 24 months.
Cognitive Functioning	3. It may be easiest to work with children with IQ scores above 70.
Training Readiness	4. Become a certified PCIT therapist. 5. PCIT therapists should seek out additional training and experience with children on the autism spectrum. 6. Consult with PCIT therapists with expertise in ASD. 7. Experienced PCIT therapists may require only 1-8 hours of extra workshop training to be effective with higher functioning children on the autism spectrum.

Note. Seven tips for practitioners are outlined in the above table. PCIT = Parent-Child Interaction Therapy. ASD = Autism Spectrum Disorder.