Tough love appears to be the key to improving relationships between parents and their children with autism.
A new instructional DVD, produced in Brisbane, recommends parents imitate their children, speak simply, offer different meal choices such as two types of cereal, or putting favourite toys in out-of-reach spots or favourite snacks in hard-to-open jars.
Some of these techniques may sound harsh but they are designed to foster communication and social interaction, skills that children with autism often struggle with.
The 45-minute-interactive DVD, called Being Responsive: You and Your Child with Autism, was produced by University of Queensland education and health researchers Dr Deb Keen, Dr Michelle Braithwaite and Dr Sylvia Rodger.
It was launched at a function held at the University on Wednesday night.
Project director Dr Braithwaite said it taught parents to be responsive to their child’s interests with footage of real parents in action using the techniques.
“The program emphasises that parents know their child best and really are the experts when it comes to helping them learn new skills,” Dr Braithwaite said.
“The DVD gives parents real-life examples of how they can add the techniques to favourite activities to create lots of opportunities for communication and social interaction.”
She said the DVD was the end product of UQ’s Stronger Families and Autism Spectrum Disorder Project, an intervention program that gives parents practical, long-term skills to use with their children under four years old.
The DVD was produced by South Brisbane producers Toadshow on a budget of $20,000 from a Federal Government’s Stronger Families grant.
The UQ team has also won another Stronger Families grant of $192,826 over two years to evaluate the effectiveness of the DVD, parent workshops, and home visits. This new grant will help a further 60 families.
One thousand DVDs have been pressed and copies will be sent to community and support groups such as the Autism Behavioural Intervention Queensland and Asperger’s Syndrome Support Network as well as public libraries across the state.
Copies of the DVD are available from www.uq.edu.au/sbs/responsivity or by contacting UQ’s main commercialisation arm, UniQuest, on 3365 4037.
For more information contact Dr Keen (phone: 07 3365 6868, email: deb.keen@uq.edu.au) or Miguel Holland at UQ Communications (phone: 07 3365 2619, email: m.holland@uq.edu.au)
