A parent education and skills training intervention for young adolescents with autism [ 2004 - 2006 ]

Research Grant

Researchers: E/Pr Bruce Tonge (Principal investigator) ,  A/Pr Neville King ,  Dr Avril Brereton ,  Prof Andrew Mackinnon

Brief description Autism is a most severe and prevalent lifelong developmental disorder affecting approximately one in every thousand children and their families. Autism is associated with personal suffering and is a significant burden and stress for parents, families and carers and cost to the community. In earlier work we have demonstrated that providing a structured program of parent education and guidance to families with preschool children with autism leads to improved parental adjustment and mental health. The program also led to behavioural and developmental benefits for the child. The early secondary school years bring further stress and difficulty to adolescents with autism and their families. This project aims to assess the effectiveness of a parent education and training program for parents with autistic adolescents aged 12-14 years. If shown to be effective, this manual based intervention can be readily used by professionals to promote parent mental health, family adjustment and improve the wellbeing and outcome for adolescents with autism. As a result, family stress and the necessity of out of home care may be reduced and school participation improved.

Funding Amount $AUD 436,500.00

Funding Scheme NHMRC Project Grants

Notes Standard Project Grant