Parent Training: The Role of the Caregiver on a Child’s Treatment Team
Our parent education and training include immediate family members and extends to additional family members or caregivers that have regular and routine care responsibilities of the child. This part of service delivery involves discussions, instructions, demonstrations, and practice of therapeutic skills and protocol implementation and is organized and customized for each child and family. Considerations of family goals and values as well as household dynamics play a part in our caregiver education and training.
For Families Receiving Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) Treatment for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
Parents and caregivers are an important part of a child’s treatment but can often be overlooked for the critical role they play in a learner’s success. At the end of the day, when members of the child’s treatment team have gone home, it is the caregiver’s role to continue learning and behavior supports beyond the structured service delivery. When parents and other persons caring for a child have not received effective and on-going training in therapeutic procedures or when the dynamic of the family has not been adequately considered, treatment gains or progress may slow.
Findings from applied literature and outcomes from clinical practice tell us that the involvement of parents and caregivers in the treatment of the child enhances the efficacy of the therapeutic program and provides optimal circumstances for the maintenance and generalization of skills over time. As a standard of care, every family receives parent training by a Licensed and Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) as part of their child’s ABA treatment.
For Children and Families Who Need Help with Select Problematic Behaviors, on Waitlists, or Living in Rural Communities
Sometimes a family may not receive treatment that includes service delivery from technicians that are under the supervision of a behavior analyst. This may be the case because a family needs focused training on a select number of behavior issues within the home or community setting (i.e., targeted treatment rather than a comprehensive treatment program), a family may be on a waitlist for a comprehensive treatment that includes technician service delivery, or a family may live a in rural community where technician service delivery is not available.
When a family needs targeted caregiver training to help remediate a few, specific undesirable behaviors impacting a child’s success at home, school, or in the community, parent training with a behavior analyst is an option. This service is designed to be delivered for shorter periods of time or as gateway into a more comprehensive treatment model that includes technician service delivery.
Given the high number of children waiting for ABA services in Nevada, parent training may be an option for families wishing to access ABA services and jumpstart their child’s treatment. A child may be on a waitlist for services or no services may be provided in the area a family currently resides. Following an assessment and treatment plan’s development, caregivers can be trained to begin to implement learning and behavioral protocols supervised by the behavior analyst to improve their child’s symptoms. Targeted parent training is NOT designed to replace the need for comprehensive services that include technician-provided service if a provider has determined that these types of service are medically necessary. If full ABA services become available to your child while you are receiving parent training with us, then your supervising behavior analyst will work with your new ABA services provider to transfer your child’s clinical care. Should you be interested in targeted parent training services, please contact our office to speak to our intake provider.