Parent Training

It all begins with the parents...

Pacific Child and Family Associates have a profound respect for the responsibilities of the parents of special needs children. Parents are often understandably overwhelmed by raising a child with disabilities.  They might be emotionally exhausted from worrying about their child.  They might be struggling to address challenging behaviors or have no effective means of communicating with their child.  They must adjust to the presence of treatment staff in their homes.  Appointments and schedule changes must be juggled.  Attention is stretched and divided between spouses, partners, companions, siblings, work, home, and the child with special needs.  In some cases families are raising more than one child with special needs. 

Providing effective treatment to families of children with developmental disabilities requires the establishment of a partnership between treatment staff and parents.  This partnership involves many elements, including effective communication, mutual respect, clear boundaries, and clearly defined roles. All actions assume that the parents will eventually take over the active management of the child and must be empowered to do so effectively. 

Certified Family Life Educators…

PCFA understands that it is critical that the training being provided to families be consistent, scientifically supported and delivered in a collaborative manner. It is our intention, when working with families, to guide the development of the requisite skills, knowledge, and abilities required to: (1) allow the family to serve as effective and efficient direct interventionists and, (2) assume a lifelong role as advocates for their children. Our ultimate goal is to work with children and their families, on a time-limited basis, to establish the skills necessary to: (1) dynamically evaluate and marshal the depth and breadth of family resources, (2) support a child’s ongoing and comprehensive development and, (3) build the family’s capacity to serve as lifelong teachers, planners, and informed guides of behavioral treatment. In order to accomplish this goal, our clinical staff understands the relevance of consistent, scientifically supported instruction that is delivered in a consistent manner. To that end, our parent educators are certified as Family Life Educators by an accredited institution. The advanced training and accreditation model used by PCFA allows for high quality support that is consistent and replicable. By establishing this standard for parent training we are also committing to monitoring training as part of our quality management program to ensure we maintain the highest standards in the treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorders.

Everybody has a role...

Although every treatment team member plays a role on the team, parents play THE key role.  They are the most important members of their child’s treatment team.  While treatment staff will come and go, they will remain the central axis of for the child’s growth and well-being. 

The responsibilities of a parent as an active treatment team member include:

• Sharing expert information about their child—no one knows their child better
• Actively participating in parent training sessions
• Observing, and/or actively participating in, additional direct treatment sessions
• Following through with agreed-upon behavior plans, embedding target skills within daily routines, and completing parent follow-up assignments
• Effectively communicating and advocating for their child’s needs

While treatment staff and clinical specialists may have various expertise and responsibilities on a case, our overriding job is to progressively improve the abilities of parents to be effective with their children.  More to the point, we must transfer control to the parents, so that they can be independently successful with their child in the home and community.  Irrespective of our success when directly working with the child, if we do not accomplish this transfer we have not done our jobs.  

Parent training step-by-step:

To facilitate the enhancement of the parent’s confidence and behavior management skills the Pacific Child and Family Associates staff will engage the parents in a wide range of training and education activities including:

• The Pacific Child and Family Associates Parent trainers will work with the family to schedule parent training sessions on mutually agreed-upon dates and times.
• Parent support staff will always use instructional methods from the professional literature
• Parent trainers will act as guides when teaching parents.
• Parent trainers will utilize direct instruction, modeling, and role-play; practice with the child; and provide supportive feedback.
Parent participation will be incorporated into all treatment planning and progress will be document in case reporting.

The Pacific Child and Family Associates parent education and training program is design to evolve as the child progresses and will be customized to meet the unique needs and demands of the family. It recognizes the entire family and the totality of the treatment experience for all family members; it is the cornerstone of our success.

We offer 4 service models that may be employed dependent upon the unique needs of the family:

1. Parent training consultation: We provide in-home and community behavior management designed to teach parents and caregivers the foundation principles of behavior change and the practical application of these principles in their everyday life.

1. Group parent work shop: We teach a six-week series of behavior management workshops designed to teach parents and caregivers behavior management, the foundation principles of behavior change, and the practical application of these interventions in the home and community life.  This workshop encompasses the advantages of peer learning, peer support, and role-play of the interventions to facilitate application in the natural setting.

• Parent training is a component of ABA programs: This is an important component of all of our current ABA programs. Parent participation is KEY to a child’s progress in the program. The parent begins this process by participating in therapy sessions, learning the behavior management plan and understanding the foundational principles of behavior change, and applying the behavior plan to their everyday life (outside of therapy).
• Remote parent training: We provide parent training via the internet video conference.  Parents can receive the benefits of this service across the globe where internet connection is available. In a live video conference, we teach parents and caregivers behavior management, the foundation principles of behavior change, and practical application of these interventions in the home and community life. If internet connection is not an option, we can facilitate phone consultation.

We all come from a different place…

The parent training programs provided by Pacific Child strives to incorporate and address the diverse experiences, languages, history, and culture of each family.
• Diverse experiences: Every family is unique. Our parent training services will address unique needs and experiences to build a behavior management plan that is successful and effective.
• Historical and cultural sensitivity: We combine cultural, historical sensitivity and evidence-based interventions in our parent training programs. This trainer combines qualitative and quantitative approaches to understanding the family’s cultural needs while supporting the knowledge and application of the behavior management plan.
• Languages: Pacific Child can provide services in many languages including English, Spanish, Armenian, and Korean. We may provide parent training services in other languages that are not listed here, please contact us.
For more information regarding our parent training services, please email info@pacificchild.com or call us toll free at (855) 295-3276.