Abstract
The lack of rehabilitation teachers for autistic children is common in lower-middle income countries. Designing programs to train parents to become “para-rehabilitators,” that is, “lay experts,” is one of the ways to solve this problem. The purpose of this study was to explore the feelings, problems, and hopes of Chinese parents participating in the parent-implemented rehabilitation model. Semi-structured qualitative interviews with 19 parents of autistic children were conducted and analyzed thematically. The study found positive changes in the parental understanding of and response to autism disorders, suggesting that training parents to become para-rehabilitators to address the shortage of rehabilitators is useful, and that improvements in training methods are needed.