A recent article in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry highlighted the importance of addressing the emotional needs of parents who have a child diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disability (ASD).
Finding: The study found, parents who reported higher levels of emotional stability, had children who experienced more developmental progress through therapy.
This article points out two very important concepts:
- Parents need to ensure they are managing their self-care needs.
- Parents play a significant role in whether therapy for their child is successful.
Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) therapy, is the most researched and effective model of therapy for children with an ASD diagnosis. At Caravel, we use and intensive, in-home ABA therapy.
In a nutshell, staff come into a child’s home, for 30-40 hours per week, to work one-on-one to help the child develop skill sets and reduce problem behavior. If you think about the 168 total hours in a week, therapy staff is usually only working with the child for less than 20%. Who is the child with the other 80% of the time? His or her parents.
Therapy does not stop once the therapy team leaves for the day. Parents play a vital role in continuing the therapeutic process outside of those 30-40 hours. For example, if a child is working in therapy on appropriately requesting attention, but those strategies only exist during the therapy time, then the skill will not generalize to the child’s real life. Parents need to work with their therapy team to ensure they are aware of interventions being used and how to help with implementation. The ultimate goal with this type of therapy is for the child to be able to tolerate “normal” situations and expectations. If the child is allowed to continue to assert control over their environment, then tolerance for not getting their way will likely not occur.
Findings
The reason why parents with high levels of emotional stability have children who are more successful in therapy, is because they are better equipped to continue the therapeutic process during the remaining 80% of the week. Raising an autistic child is difficult and requires much patience and self-control. When a parent is able to have his or her emotional needs satisfied, and is effectively engaging in appropriate self-care activities, then their child will benefit.
Parent emotional health leads to improved participation and adherence to therapy plans, which leads to better progress for the child.
Autism Support for Parents
Looking for more parent support? Check out our Parenting a Child with Autism resources.
Interested in starting ABA therapy with your child? Contact us to learn more.
