Developmental growth for most children unfolds naturally and spontaneously. For these children, the primary role of parents is to support and foster their children’s development through provision of safe and nurturing home environments. However, parents of children with autism, need to learn the most effective instructional techniques directly to help their child and also to learn how to process appropriate community and educational services.
Professionals, teachers or one-one workers typically come and go throughout their child’s life. It is important that parents are supported in learning the instructional methods for teaching their young child with autism and learning the strategies to manage difficult behaviour.
At Adora Bright, we ask parents to participate in the initial assessment of their child, participate in the development of the target areas of the curriculum and learn how to deliver direct instruction. While parents are encouraged to provide some direct treatment of their child, living with a child with autism places the family under much emotional strain, and consequently, we recommend that trained therapists be utilized to implement the majority of the work in providing intensive home-based behavioural interventions.
This arrangement allows parents not only to get respite but ensures that they have the time and energy to focus on generalizing the strategies of the program to other areas of the child’s life, such as outings to the mall, going to the park or extended family. In addition, parents are also in a position to facilitate the incorporation of the program skills into their child’s daily living routines in the home, such as during bath or meal time. In this way, the child’s entire life becomes part of the therapy process and the parents become an integral part of the team.