There have been recent calls for multi-directional knowledge exchange involving active collaboration and partnership between researchers and the community stakeholders they are trying to assist (Addis, 2002; Beutler, Williams, Wakefield, & Entwistle, 1995; Wells & Miranda, 2006). The use of participatory or collaborative models to develop effective community interventions is congruent with the need for a paradigm shift in how intervention research for the ASD population is conducted (Lord, et al., 2005). Yet, there have been few examples of how to develop collaborative groups, elicit information from stakeholders and utilize findings to improve implementation. We will present two examples of adaptation of evidence-based interventions, one for use in school settings and the other for very early parent intervention. In both cases, community collaboration and input was used to guide researchers in choosing an intervention or developing adaptation studies and procedures. Proximal and distal outcomes of each collaboration will be presented and benefits and barriers of collaborative research will be discussed.
Review Aubyn C. Stahmer’s biographical statement.