Abstract The primary focus of this research project was an evaluation of the Group Stepping Stones Triple P parenting program for parents of a child with a disability. In addition there was an investigation into the similarities and differences in child behaviour and parenting experience, and program outcomes, for families of children with different developmental disabilities. While the Triple P Positive Parenting Program has an impressive evidence base (Sanders, 1999; Sanders, Markie-Dadds, Tully & Bor, 2000) and research indicates that the standard Stepping Stones Triple P Program is efficacious for different disability groups (Roberts, Mazzucchelli, Studman & Sanders, 2006) and for parents of children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders (Whittingham, Sofronoff, Sheffield & Sanders, 2009), to date the group version of Stepping Stones Triple P has not been comprehensively evaluated, nor the efficacy of the program evaluated when administered concurrently to parents of children with different developmental disabilities. Currently, there is a lack of participant-friendly, evidence-based group parenting programs that can be utilised in a cost-effective manner with all parents of children with disabilities. Many interventions have been designed specifically to cater to the requirements of a particular disability group. While there is some divergence in disability characteristics and in the experience of families of children with different disabilities, there is compelling evidence that many of the most challenging experiences faced by parents of disabled children (such as emotional and behavioural disturbance and delays in skill development) are shared by many disability populations (Raina et al., 2005; Bourke et al., 2008). Consequently there is empirical support for the implementation of a broad, skill-based parenting program for all parents of children with disabilities. The first study in this research project was a randomised controlled trial the Group Stepping Stones Triple P program for parents of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), Down syndrome, other intellectual disabilities and Cerebral Palsy. Fifty-two families were included in this trial and were randomly allocated to treatment and wait-list control groups. The results demonstrate significant improvements in child behaviour and parenting difficulties that were maintained at follow-up six months later. For over a third of participants the change in child behaviour and parenting styles was clinically reliable (Jacobsen & Truax, 1991; Evans, Margison & Barkham, 1998). In addition, the majority of parents reported the attainment of their program goals following the intervention. The second study was a comparison of program outcomes for parents from different disability groups. The sample was divided into two groups; parents of children with ASD and parents of children with intellectual and physical disabilities. The results demonstrated significant improvements in child behaviour and parenting difficulties from pre- to post-intervention for both the ASD group and the Intellectual and Physical disability group. For a third of parents in the ASD group and over a third of parents in the Intellectual and Physical disability group, the changes were clinically reliable (Jacobsen & Truax, 1991; Evans et al., 1998). In addition, the means for both groups on the child behaviour, parenting style and parental psychological functioning variables were compared. The results indicated that there were some differences in child behaviour, parenting styles and parent distress between the two groups, and in the program goals set by parents. However, overall the results revealed no systematic differences in treatment outcomes across disability groups, demonstrating that the program was effective for families of children with ASD and families of children with Intellectual and Physical disabilities. Finally, a series of three case evaluations were conducted to examine program outcomes and differences in child behaviour and parenting experiences for the families of a child with ASD, Down syndrome and Cerebral palsy. The results of the case studies revealed significant improvements in child behaviour and parenting styles for all three families, along with high levels of program satisfaction and successful attainment of parenting goals. For all three families these changes in child behaviour and parenting style were clinically reliable (Jacobsen & Truax, 1991; Evans et al., 1998) and maintained at six-month follow up. The results also provided information about the similarities and differences in parenting experiences, child behaviour and program goals across the three disabilities. Overall, this research project has demonstrated that the Group Stepping Stones Triple P program is an effective parenting intervention for challenging behaviour and dysfunctional parenting in families of children with a range of developmental disabilities. The results of this research provide evidence to suggest that mixed disability group format used in the administration of the Group Stepping Stones Triple P program did not preclude positive program outcomes. Finally, the results of this research project indicate that there are many shared parenting experiencing across families of children with different disabilities and that regardless of observed differences in disability characteristics and family experiences, the Group Stepping Stones Triple P program is sufficiently flexible and comprehensive in its scope to meet the needs of families from different disability populations.

This study evaluated the effectiveness of a procedure for teaching a caregiver to shape vocal language in a young child with autism. A multiple baseline design was employed to assess caregiver use of shaping procedures, child vocal language progress, and the social validity of the procedures. Following baseline and introductory sessions, the coach and caregiver reviewed video from the previous session and the coach gave descriptive feedback to the caregiver about her performance. Following the review of the videotaped segment, procedures to increase skills were selected and practiced. Rates of responsive opportunity arrangement, model presentation, responsive model delivery, and responsive event delivery, as well as the child's rate of requests, vocalizations, diversity of vocalizations, and social validity were measured. Data suggested that the procedures effectively taught the skill of shaping to a caregiver, which in turn seemed to produce increases in the child's vocal responding.

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.

Plusieurs enfants ayant un trouble du spectre de l’autisme (TSA) manifestent des comportements d’autostimulation. Ces comportements peuvent interférer avec l’apprentissage, la socialisation et les comportements adaptatifs. Même si les interventions comportementales sont reconnues efficaces pour réduire les comportements d’autostimulation, ces types d’intervention ne sont pas accessibles à toutes les familles. En réponse à ce problème, ce mémoire vise à évaluer les effets d’iSTIM, une application mobile conçue pour accompagner les parents dans la réduction des comportements d’autostimulation de leur enfant ayant un TSA. Une série de protocoles de recherche AB pour évaluer l’efficacité d’iSTIM sur les comportements d’autostimulation et les comportements appropriés auprès de sept familles. L’utilisation d’iSTIM par les parents a mené à une réduction des comportements d’autostimulation chez six des sept participants et une augmentation des comportements appropriés chez trois des participants. Les résultats indiquent que l’utilisation de la technologie peut être une méthode efficace, peu coûteuse et facilement accessible pour les parents dans le but de réduire les comportements d’autostimulation chez les enfants ayant un TSA. / Many children with ASD engage in stereotypy, which may interfere with learning, socialization as well as adaptive functioning. Although behavioral interventions have been known to effectively reduce stereotypy in children with ASD, these types of interventions are not accessible to all families. In response to this issue, the purpose of our study was to evaluate the effects of the iSTIM, an iOS application designed to support parents in the reduction of stereotypy in their child with ASD. We used a series of AB designs to determine the effectiveness of iSTIM on stereotypy and appropriate behavior in seven families. The use of iSTIM by the parents led to a reduction in stereotypy for six of our seven participants as well as an increase in an alternative appropriate behavior in their three children. Our results indicate that the use of technology may be a cost effective and easily accessible method for parents to reduce stereotypy in children with ASD.

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.

This applied dissertation was designed to provide online multimedia training materials for parents of children, ages 2-11, with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), who use or need Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC). Many children with ASD have communication difficulties, and the best path to communication competence is through some form of AAC. Parents can have an enormous impact on their children’s ability to learn and use AAC effectively. By implementing a few supportive strategies, they can help their children become successful communicators. Implementing strategies in a home-based learning environment is important to provide generalization of skills across settings. Typically, parents do not have access to AAC learning materials to facilitate their child’s AAC learning and language growth. Barriers to accessing this material may be time, accessibility, stress, transportation, or financial constraints. Online education is becoming increasingly more popular and is looked upon as a means to obtain information in an efficient manner. Using specific AAC strategies to enhance receptive and expressive language, parents will be taught how to increase their child’s language skills during this natural routine. Along with input from content-area experts, training materials have been created to help parents better understand ways to support AAC learning at home. Parent participation allows for the materials, which focus on two key strategies, Aided Language Stimulation (ALgS) and Communication Temptations, to be field tested. The information provided by the content experts resulted in changes to the online multimedia training materials in order to determine content validity, evaluate the design, and assess the feasibility. The results indicated that the participant’s knowledge and self-efficacy did significantly increase from the pretest to the posttest after completing the online multimedia training materials. Additionally, the participant’s self-efficacy from The Usage Rating Profile – Intervention Revised (URP-IR) significantly increased after viewing the online multimedia training materials and the URP-IR is a reliable assessment to utilize when measuring self-efficacy.

Modeling, a process by which a learned behavior is observed and imitated, has been demonstrated to be effective in the acquisition of skills. Several factors appear to enhance or detract from the effect a model has on subsequent observer behavior and contradictory findings have been reported based on the type of model used. A less explored factor is the impact of correct and incorrect models as often employed in parent training packages when teaching skills that are to be acquired by the observer. To further investigate, the current study compared the effectiveness of correct and incorrect video models using an empirically supported treatment for child behavior problems: The Incredible Years. Using a fairly minimal, and mostly remote intervention 5 out of 6 participants improved from baseline sessions. Several areas of future research are presented for modeling and parent training to assess effectiveness of model types and treatment programs used.

Previous research has shown that parent implemented intervention is effective in increasing the speech and language development of children with cleft lip and palate. To further determine the efficacy of this intervention, this study compared the speech and language development of children with CLP, who received parent implemented intervention, with a group of younger, typically developing children, matched for vocabulary size. This study also evaluated the language differences between the mothers of both groups of children. Speech and language assessments were administered to the typically developing children and their mothers at two times to mirror the time of assessment for the children with clefts who received a three-month intervention, in a prior study. The findings revealed that both groups of children demonstrated the same amount of speech and language growth as well as the cleft group exhibiting a decrease in compensatory articulation errors.

No description available.