M.A. / From both a practical and a theoretical viewpoint, it seemed necessary to formulate a parent education programme that highlighted in terms of content both the needs and developmental tasks of the adolescent. In order to confirm the content on the process level of this programme, it was important for the adolescent to be involved in the presentation of the programme. The purpose of the research was therefore to formulate and evaluate a parent education programme with the adolescent as partner. The assumption was made that the programme would be more effective, should the adolescent be involved in the presentation thereof, than should the mother be the sole participant. The programme that was formulated for this research is an integration of several approaches to parent education. Relevant information with regard to the developmental stages of both parent and adolescent was included in the programme. Specific importance was however placed on the parent-adolescent relationship and on communication skills •. A single subject research design was used to evaluate the programme. Two middle aged mothers and their two adolescent daughters were used as subjects. In the case of the experimental sample, both mother and daughter attended the programme. The control sample, however, was only represented by the mother's participation in the parent education programme. Target behaviours were defined in operational terms for the research in order to make possible the objective observation thereof. Each person's target behaviours were seperately observed, but the comparison of the two mothers' behaviours, as well as that of the daughters, was made possible by graphic representations.

M.A. (Social Work) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

Behaviors related to joint attention have been described by behavior analysts and developmental psychologists alike as having a distinctly social function. Children with autism often do not emit these behaviors. Research on the collateral effects of teaching joint attention suggests far reaching consequences. Given the reported benefits of using these behaviors, and the theoretical descriptions of their function, we assessed joint attention as a collateral effect of a naturalistic parent training program. Data suggest that although these behaviors were not directly targeted, they increased in all 3 children. Implications of parent training goals and child intervention targets are discussed in terms of a behavior analysis of joint attention and child development.

As more toddlers are being diagnosed with autism there is an increased need for very early intervention. Preliminary research on interventions suggests toddlers can make important developmental progress and that parents can be part of the intervention process. The purpose of this study was to systematically replicate a parent training program reported by Alai-Rosales et al. (2009). Specifically, the present study taught parents a set of teaching strategies that included arranging the environment, setting up learning opportunities, and using positive reinforcement. Baseline-intervention conditions were replicated across four parent-toddler dyads in order to assess the effects of training on parent and child behaviors. Results indicated increases in parent teaching behaviors, the child targeted behavior (facial orientation), as well as a non-targeted skill, joint attention. Findings are discussed in relation to the challenges of intervention and considerations for future research.

Social deficits are one of the defining symptoms of autism spectrum disorder and affect a child’s ability to build relationships with others. These deficits put children with autism at a disadvantage when most of their world is focused on building connections with others – family, friendships, and community ties. Sunny Starts, a service-learning project, was created to specifically meet the needs of families with young toddlers with autism. The primary focus of Sunny Starts is to enhance the quality of the parent-child relationship by teaching parents a basic teaching interaction and to arrange the child’s environment in ways that are mutually reinforcing. The purpose of this experiment is to study the effects of the Sunny Starts DANCE training package, a responsive parent training program, on three levels of parent and child behaviors: 1) teaching episodes, 2) turn taking, social attending, vocal requests, and 3) synchronous engagement. Participants included two parent-child dyads. Parent training included 5-minute video assessments, video review, descriptions, rationales, modeling, practice, and feedback. The effects of the parent training were evaluated using a concurrent multiple baseline across participants. Results indicate parent teaching episodes and child behaviors (turn taking, social attending, and verbal requests) increased during the intervention phase. The duration of parent-child synchronous engagement maintained at high levels and slightly increased.

The study conducted, sought to assess the effectiveness of an established divorce education program in reducing parental conflict and increasing cooperative coparenting relationships among former spouses and also to assess the participant satisfaction with the program's format.

This project entails a curriculum targeted at helping improve the parenting skills of single parents that have children who are considered "at risk" by societal standards. This curriculum is the survival kit for the single parent. Learning the skills provided in this curriculum, the single parent will discover that parenting their "at risk" youth on a positive realm will become a fundamental standard for their lives.

The effects of an Adlerian-based parent education program on parents' attitudes toward their children's behavior and techniques used in child rearing were examined in this study. Parents in one primary elementary school were invited by letter to participate in a parent education program.

This investigation examined the effect of a biochemical and parent education program emphasizing the physiological aspects of the hyperkinetic disorder and the effect of a parent education program teaching parenting skills found in Systematic Training for Effective Parenting on the behavior of hyperkinetic children. The following conclusions are presented as a result of these findings: 1. The intake of nutrients in conjunction with parent education groups which teach physiological reasons for hyperkinesis has an effect on the behavior and physiological symptoms of hyperkinetic children. 2. The education of parents using Systematic Training for Effective Parenting is effective in changing the behavior of hyperkinetic children. 3. Aberrant behavior in children, in some cases, may be due to a condition, or conditions, subject to manipulation.

The need to compare parenthood adjustment experiences for mothers and fathers of full term and preterm infants was identified. Stressors, coping strategies, and marital adjustment were variables examined. It was hypothesized that parents of preterm infants, despite gender category, would indicate experiencing greater stress and would use more emotion-focused coping strategies than parents of full term infants. Parents of full term infants were hypothesized to use more problem-focused coping strategies than parents of preterm infants. Reports of marital adjustment were expected to be different between the parent groups by infant term category, and marital satisfaction was hypothesized to remain unchanged from the time prior to conception to 0 - 3 months postpartum. A description of the investigation that includes discussion of methodological issues and suggestions for intervention is presented. / Ph. D.