What is parent training?

Parent training is a collaborative effort between caregivers and behavioral specialists. It allows parents to get the support and guidance they need to be successful caregivers while improving the entire family’s well-being.

As the journal Autism and Developmental Language Impairments reports, parents of children with autism frequently experience higher stress levels than parents of neurotypical children. Having a child with autism can prove challenging for caregivers. Managing behavioral difficulties, learning disabilities, and language barriers are stressful for most adults.

Unfortunately, high stress levels in caregivers can exacerbate the symptoms of autism. To help caregivers manage the challenges of caring for a child with autism, the team at project MIND, Inc., offers parent training.

What does parent training involve?

Project MIND, Inc., individualizes parent training for each family to promote treatment success. What your parent training involves depends entirely on your child’s unique strengths and challenges. Parent training aims to foster a healthy family dynamic that encourages skill building and developmental growth.

One example of parent training is teaching caregivers how to build on existing skills without overwhelming their child. Language is one of the most important — and most difficult — skills for children with autism to learn.

Rather than overwhelming a child with long words and complete sentences, parent training shows caregivers how to build upon language skills in small steps. For example, if your child understands single words, the next goal is learning two-word phrases. With the right tools, you can continue building your child’s vocabulary without increasing your family’s levels of stress.

How can parent training help my family?

Parent training is essential for families of children with autism. Not only does it help support your child’s ability to learn new skills, manage unhelpful behaviors, and regulate emotion, parent training can also improve your entire family’s quality of life.

The proper parent training techniques can:

• Encourage positive behavior changes

• Improve language and communication skills

• Promote healthy self-care strategies for the whole family

• Reduce aggression

• Relieve unnecessary stress

• Encourage play

• Improve social skills