Nesrhtens…..

There is a great and varied range of programs and services providing parent training or parent education to parents who have children with Autism Spectrum Disorders. Many of these are based on research and empirical date, but there are still too many not having any empirical data to support the effect. Having a child with ASD is a task most parents are not prepare of, so it should be an obligation for service providers to offer services and education that has reasonably chance of enhance quality of life for the child with ASD and their family, based on good research and empirical data.

It should also be a range of parent services, as different problems and different ages gives different challenges in raising a child with ASD. In the early years and with children who are non-verbal or have very limited language, the service should teach parents to provide effective communication intervention in their daily life, and the families routines. Such as Pivotal response intervention or other well designed behavior analytic intervention.

As language skills increase and the child gets older, we often experience that parents meets new challenges. Many parents struggle with problem behavior and non-compliance. Not the most severe forms of problem behavior, but behavior that greatly influence their family life. As there are several programs for parents experiencing similar problems, as PMTO and The Incredible Years, these programs often exclude parents with a child with ASD.

So we are implementing a behavior analytic program teaching parents techniques to deal with this behavior, in a group format. It consist of some teaching, but mainly practical training through role-play and exercises. We provide the program to 6 pair of parents in a group and the program last for 12 weeks. The service is some what new, but the initial data indicates that children’s problem behavior decrease, the parents experience this behavior as not so intruding, and the parents are experience more confidence in their parent role.

We will collect more data on the effect, but so far it looks good…..

Related posts:

1. Data collection in Early Intensive Behavioral Intervention – part 1
2. Family factors, data collection and social validity.
3. ABAI Autism 2010 in Chicago