Cindy Smith

Curtin University, Australia

Title: Motivational Interviewing as a Support for Adolescents with Autism who have Experienced Trauma

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Biography

Cindy Ann Smith, PHD serves as Senior Lecturer and Researcher in Educational Psychology in the School of Education, Curtin University. She has extensive experience conducting research regarding educational and behavioral outcomes of children with disabilities, including children who have experienced trauma. She is particularly interested in the research areas of mentoring as an intervention for adolescents, gender equity, and cross-cultural understandings. Cindy has taught and conducted research at universities in three countries and currently collaborates extensively with international partners.

Abstract

Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) often experience difficulties in mainstream classrooms due to deficits in communication and social skills. This can lead to difficulty in relationship development with both teachers and peers, resulting in bullying, increased levels of anxiety, social isolation and school refusal. This paper reports on a pilot study which utilizes Motivational Interviewing to support preadolescents with ASD as a strength-based intervention to support mental well-being, social skill development and improve academic engagement. This intervention focuses on the students’ interests and goals to allow them to develop the autonomy and social skills needed to interact effectively with peers and adults. Not only does this lead to positive social outcomes but it also supports the development of greater self-sufficiency, which will be essential as they progress towards adulthood. Initially termed by Miller (1983), Motivational Interviewing (MI) is based upon the principles of social psychology and has been successfully used for many years to support adult behavior change (Markland, Ryan, Tobin, & Rollnick, 2005). Utilizing the theoretical foundations of traditional motivational interviewing, the Motivational Interviewing Mentoring Program (MIMP) was developed to provide a proactive, strength-based intervention to help students set goals, develop specific skills, and improve their performance in ways that are important to them (McQuillin, Lyons, Becker, Hart, & Cohen, 2019). In this study, MIMP has been adapted with the permission of the authors to support preadolescent students with ASD as a strength based, student centered intervention allowing the preadolescents to develop an increased understanding of their goals, motivations, and ability to act upon these same goals and motivations. The mixed method study uses both quantitative and qualitative data to measure outcomes. The paper will report these outcomes and discuss future research directions as well as limitations of the study.