Culturally Adapted RUBI-T for Spanish-Speaking Families in Texas and Mexico

Supporting young autistic children can sometimes be very stressful, especially when children show behaviors that are difficult to understand and/or manage in everyday life. Research has shown that teaching parents practical strategies through programs like the Research Units in Behavioral Intervention (RUBI) can reduce these behaviors and help parents feel more confident. However, most of these programs have only been studied with English-speaking families, which means Spanish-speaking caregivers often do not have access to support that feels relevant to their culture and language.

This study will test a version of RUBI that has been adapted for Spanish-speaking families in the U.S. and Mexico. We will invite 100 parents of autistic children between the ages of 2 and 9 to take part. Half will start the program right away, while the other half will wait and receive it later. Parents in the program will join eight online group sessions, use a Spanish handbook at home, and practice strategies with support from trained facilitators.

We will look at whether the program helps reduce children's challenging behaviors, lowers parent stress, and increases parents' confidence in managing behaviors. We will also ask parents to share their experiences and opinions about how well the program fits their culture and daily life.

By combining numbers (surveys) and stories (interviews), this project will show whether the adapted program works well for Spanish-speaking families. The results can help make autism services more fair, accessible, and supportive for families from diverse backgrounds.