Table 3.

Exit Interview Sample Quotations by Theme/Subtheme

Themes and Subthemes	Sample Quotations
Understanding Child’s impairment
Child’s impairment	“You know where he is, as a three year old compared to other three-year olds? It’s funny to see, you know, he may be three, but his brain is at like 15 months” “We had no idea what having an autistic child really meant”
Initial Concerns	“I just knew he was delayed. I had no idea how to communicate with him or talk to him”.
Reaction to Diagnosis	“I already knew most of it so I wasn’t shocked really. It was hard to take at first”
Child’s Future	“My goals are just for him to be –just to live a normal life. To hopefully just go to normal school and be with everybody. There may be some challenges along the way but he’s—he’s come a far way so he’s going to go even further.”
Advocacy and Empowerment
Benefits of Early intervention	“I read that it’s better if you find out and get your child help when they’re young because they actually may have signs of it at all time but they can be live to be productive normal people”
Advocacy	“I try get awareness out as much as I can… people will ask me questions and I’m like okay, hold on let me make sure I’m giving you the right information.”
Empowerment	“Dad was in denial before and now dad’s like “my son has autism you know, don’t stare, if you have any questions ask me.”
Benefit of other treatment programs	“He’s come a long way. And not just because of you guys but now I got him more therapy.”
Negative aspects of intervention
Scheduling	“If I was not working at all it probably would have been a lot easier. There were times when you guys had to come out really late.”
Difficulties implementing treatment	“It’s hard to get him to sit for that long and do blocks. Besides, he likes to line them up and play different.”
Questionnaires	“They were long. I didn’t mind doing them but they were long.”
Intervention structure	“I think the first couple of times [home visits] were kind of scary cause you’re like ‘wait, what does this person think of me,’ you know, ‘are they going to judge me,’ you know?”
Positive aspects of intervention
Change in child and caregiver	“He’s got a lot more eye contact, a lot more communication, like verbally and non-verbally.” “I’m more patient with him. I will have to say that. I’m way more patient now than I was before”.
Family impact	“I approach him more. Actually all of us do now. Because we didn’t know how to talk with him-- nobody knew how to talk to him at all.”
Relationship with interventionist	“Knowing that somebody else is going to come and give me feedback on my parenting skills instead of just family members being like, ‘oh, you know, you do a good job.’ She actually made you feel like you’re doing a good job. She gave me knowledge, help.”
After diagnosis	As a parent with a son on the aut-, you know, on the spectrum, I didn’t know where to start, where to begin, and like, I came to you guys, and like you guys, told us, this is what you do from here on out
Connection with university clinic	“I knew you guys had my back [advocating for community services]. You’re my people!”