Evaluation of Hanen Parent Program on Communication, Interaction and Language Skills in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental disability that can cause significant communication challenges. Because communication skills are essential to developing other skills, it seems necessary to use early interventions to improve communication skills in children with ASD. Therefore, the aim of this systematic review was to summarize current research about the effect of the Hanen parent program on the communication, interaction, and language skills of children with ASD. Accordingly, it was searched for all articles and dissertations indexed in Persian and foreign databases, in ScienceDirect, Sagepub, Eric, Wiley, Springer, Pubmed, ProQuest, Noormags, Sid, Magiran, and Irandoc in the period 1990 to 2022; using a combination of expressions including “autism spectrum disorder”, “Hanen parent program”, “communication skills” and “early intervention”. Thus, according to the eligibility criteria (Inclusion and exclusion), thirteen articles were included in this systematic review. The results of these studies showed that the Hanen parent program can lead to the natural acquisition of communication skills in children with ASD by relying on strategies in the natural environment and parent-child interaction. Therefore, it is suggested that the Hanen parent program be used as a beneficial early intervention for children with ASD. However, due to the research limitations that reduce the generalization of the results, its effectiveness requires more detailed studies.