Parent Training & Support
What is Parent Training & Support?
Sometimes parents simply require some advice, training and support on addressing certain specific issues, such as tackling toilet training, implementing a sleep intervention, advice on how best to support functional communication or perhaps require guidance on addressing specific behaviour difficulties. Alternatively, perhaps parents are seeking something more long-term. This is when parent training is necessary.
There is a wealth of research demonstrating not only the effectiveness of parent training, but the successful outcomes for children and the family as a whole. There certainly are many benefits to opt for this. Please read below to find out more, and if you have any queries relating to parent training and support, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
What Are The Benefits Of Parent Training?
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Sessions are flexible – done whenever you like!
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Children acquire new skills at a faster rate
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Plentiful opportunities to practice newfound skills at home and with family
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Cost-effective for parents
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Puts the control and power of teaching into parents’ hands
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Zero disruption to your child’s therapy
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Deeper relationships are established
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A new understanding of your child is discovered
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Reduces despair and increases a proactive approach to your child’s learning
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Eliminates the feeling of being ill-equipped when it comes to your child
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Increase in parent satisfaction
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Improves parental mental health
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Reduces the use of corporal punishment
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Increase confidence when teaching your child
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Celebrating the fact that your child learned x,y,z and it was you that taught them!
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Promotes skepticism of therapies that are not grounded in evidence-based research – you will become a data head like me!
Why Is Parent Training Necessary In
Ireland Today?
A long wait time for assessment leads to long periods of time passing with nothing being done. It is typically in these moments, early on in your child’s development, that intervention is paramount. In addition, long wait times for therapy from the HSE such as SLT and OT further fuel this waiting period. Parent training offers a solution in the here and now for you and your child.
Quality private therapists are not so plentiful, and they too have a heavy workload and a long waiting list, as a direct result of the above issue. Aside from this, this latter option may not be an option for many families, who cannot take the financial strain that weekly therapy slots bring, especially when there is more than one form of therapy ongoing.
Add to the mix that there is an increase in children being diagnosed with developmental disorders, and so there is an increase in the number of parents seeking therapy for their children, and the waiting list grows longer again.
Barlow, J. (1997). Systematic review of the effectiveness of parent-training programmes in improving behaviour problems in children aged 3-10 years: a review of the literature on parent-training programmes and child behaviour outcome measures. Oxford: University of Oxford, Health Services Research Unit.
Symon, J. B. (2005). Expanding interventions for children with autism: Parents as trainers. Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, 7, 159-173.
