Parent Training for Families of Children with Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities

2011

Research in the field of social skills training indicates the importance of teaching new skills through the use of ABA and facilitating skill generalization by providing opportunities to practice skills outside of the treatment setting. However, researchers have not yet investigated the impact of an additional behavioral-focused education component. Teaching behavioral principles is likely to produce trained parents capable of teaching novel skills to their children as well as help them to maintain these skills across settings and over longer periods of time. The curriculum developed for the Learning Effective Approaches to Developing Social Skills program consists of eight weekly 1.5 hour classes that focus on a specific behavioral principle (e.g., reinforcement, social skills generalization) and are followed by parent-child role-playing opportunities. Research investigating this additional education component may lead to improved social skills training and technique identification, which continue to be identified as gaps in the current research.

Conference presentations and posters presented

Consumers/Families, Professionals, Students

N/A