Preschoolers with Autism

‘Preschoolers with Autism’ ( Brereton & Tonge, 2005) is an effective, manualised parent education programme that was developed by the authors as a response to their concern that parents and carers of young children with autism can easily be left out of the learning loop right from the start. Their aim in designing this programme was to help parents/carers of young children with autism to understand what autism is and how it affects their child’s development, play and behaviour, communication skills and ability to socialise with others. The authors view is that families do better when parents/carers have the opportunity to work in partnership with professionals. Meeting with other parents whose children have autism to share feelings and experiences is also important.

The ‘Preschoolers with Autism’  programme was designed for children with Autistic Disorder diagnosed using DSM-IV criteria, aged 3-5 years and diagnosed within the previous 12 months. It is a 20 week programme with 10 group sessions (90 minutes) and 10 individual sessions (60 minutes). The groups have a maximum of 5 families. The authors recommend that this parent education programme be delivered by an experienced clinician with a strong background in child development, experience working with children who have autism and their families, and experience in counselling or group work.

Click here for manual purchasing details. (pdf 561kb)

ACT-NOW provided training in this programme to 52 professionals on a ‘see-one-do-one’ basis in six regions; Northern, Southern, Eastern, Western, Gippsland and Grampians. Intensive two-day training was provided to 19 professionals in three remote areas; Mildura (Loddon-Mallee), Benalla (Hume) and Colac (Barwon South-West)

In stage two of the project, ACT-NOW will provide ongoing support and supervision to those trained clinicians and others’ who wish to receive training in the programme.

ACT NOW Supervision and Mentoring

2007-08. Kerry and Avril will continue to provide supervision and mentoring to those clinicians who are currently providing the parent programme in their local area.  

2008. ACT-NOW will be offering two 2-day intensive training courses for Early Childhood Intervention clinicians who wish to run the parent programme. (Please note that this course is now fully booked.)

Where is the parent programme currently being run?

The Preschoolers with Autism Parent Education and Skills Training Programme is currently running or is planned to run at the locations listed below. Some of the experienced clinicians who have completed the ACT-NOW see-one-do-one training or the intensive 2-day training are now offering further training to other clinicians. Check the mentoring/supervision box for these training opportunities. This is another example of how the ACT-NOW strategy is encouraging regional responses and sustainability of the project beyond December 2008.

Sessions are currently being planned and will be posted below as soon as they are definite

Clinician Information

If you are currently running or plan to run the parent programme in your region, please lodge details with Paul Bower (paul.bower@med.monash.edu.au ) to be added to the training calendar.