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Abstract
The aim of this exploratory study was to examine father’s perspectives on their level of involvement in early autism services, as well as their feelings regarding how well the service providers are doing to include them in these services. A total of 10 fathers participated in an electronic survey, and 3 fathers participated in 1:1 interviews, recruited through 6 Early Intervention agencies serving families and children with autism. A mixed-methods study was conducted to first get an idea of how easy or difficult fathers found it to be involved with their child whom has autism and, in their services, while the interviews were conducted to give a voice to the fathers’ experiences and to see if they align with the results of the study. Findings show while fathers are being included in early intervention services, there is more that service providers can be doing (e.g. using technology, encouraging engagement, understanding fathers’ feelings). Possible implications for further research would be including non-English speaking fathers into the study to examine their perspectives, as well as exploring how fathers’ perspectives on involvement differ across? various early intervention services (e.g. speech therapy, ABA, early childhood special education programs, etc.).