Ask A REL Response
September 2020
Question
What research has been conducted on the Son-Rise program?
Response
Following an established REL Southeast research protocol, we conducted a search for research reports as well as descriptive study articles on the Son-Rise program. We focused on identifying resources that specifically addressed the Son-Rise program The sources included ERIC and other federally funded databases and organizations, research institutions, academic research databases, and general Internet search engines (For details, please see the methods section at the end of this memo.)
We have not evaluated the quality of references and the resources provided in this response. We offer them only for your reference. These references are listed in alphabetical order, not necessarily in order of relevance. Also, we searched the references in the response from the most commonly used resources of research, but they are not comprehensive and other relevant references and resources may exist.
Research References
- Williams, K. R. (2006). The Son-Rise Program intervention for autism: Prerequisites for evaluation. Autism: The International Journal of Research & Practice, 10(1), 86-102. http://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ734843
From the abstract: "With increasing availability of interventions for children with autism, it is important that these are backed by rigorous evaluation data that have high levels of ecological validity. To achieve this, a key prerequisite for any evaluation is to gather data on typical consumers and typical implementation patterns of the intervention. This study collected such data longitudinally in relation to the Son-Rise Program, a home-based parent-run intervention for autism. Questionnaires and interview data on family demographics, implementation patterns, and perceived treatment fidelity were gathered three times over the course of a year from families who had attended a Son-Rise initial training course. Although it proved possible to produce a profile of intervention use, findings indicated that the programme is not always implemented as it is typically described in the literature. The study also highlighted methodological challenges likely to be encountered in any future evaluation of this and similar interventions for autism."
Methods
Keywords and Search Strings
The following keywords and search strings were used to search the reference databases and other sources:
- Son-Rise Program
- Son-Rise intervention, effectiveness
- Son-Rise program, autism
Databases and Resources
We searched ERIC for relevant resources. ERIC is a free online library of over 1.6 million citations of education research sponsored by the Institute of Education Sciences. Additionally, we searched Google Scholar and PsychInfo.
Reference Search and Selection Criteria
When we were searching and reviewing resources, we considered the following criteria:
- Date of the publication: References and resources published for last 15 years, from 2003 to present, were include in the search and review.
- Search Priorities of Reference Sources: Search priority is given to study reports, briefs, and other documents that are published and/or reviewed by IES and other federal or federally funded organizations, academic databases, including ERIC, EBSCO databases, JSTOR database, PsychInfo, PsychArticle, and Google Scholar.
- Methodology: Following methodological priorities/considerations were given in the review and selection of the references: (a) study types - randomized control trials,, quasi experiments, surveys, descriptive data analyses, literature reviews, policy briefs, etc., generally in this order (b) target population, samples (representativeness of the target population, sample size, volunteered or randomly selected, etc.), study duration, etc. (c) limitations, generalizability of the findings and conclusions, etc.
This memorandum is one in a series of quick-turnaround responses to specific questions posed by educational stakeholders in the Southeast Region (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, and South Carolina), which is served by the Regional Educational Laboratory Southeast at Florida State University. This memorandum was prepared by REL Southeast under a contract with the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences (IES), Contract ED-IES-17-C-0011, administered by Florida State University. Its content does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of IES or the U.S. Department of Education nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.