Build Your Parenting Toolkit: Guiding Children to Become Flexible Thinkers

Build Your Parenting Toolkit: Guiding Children to Become Flexible Thinkers. SCRC/LIFE Program Pilot Project

This pilot project is a cooperative effort between the Leisure in Fun Environments (LIFE) Program and the Specialized Communication Resources for Children (SCRC) Program at the Rehabilitation Centre for Children (RCC). The investigators will blend and enhance two pre-existing programs in order to provide a new, specialized program for parents of children with ASD or developmental delay. The two programs that will be blended together are "Promoting Flexible Thinking and Interaction with Your Child at Home" and "Saturday Cooking Club." This new program will be a series of ten workshops that alternates between "parents only" learning sessions and practical "cooking club" sessions that allow parents to focus on practicing what they are learning with their child. These programs are based on the principles of Relationship Development Intervention (RDI®), which focuses on providing opportunities to establish a guided participation relationship, which will lead to development of dynamic intelligence and important social thinking abilities. The program is individualized to each child and builds on the principles of typical development to assist the child in achieving social competence. Using this program, children are expected to develop sociability in a naturally progressing order of complexity.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD); Developmental Disorder
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Build Your Parenting Toolkit Program

Detailed Description

Parenting children with developmental disabilities or Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) can be challenging. Often, these children process information in an atypical manner and they may struggle to learn through social engagement. At times, regular parenting techniques do not work with these children, which may leave parents feeling distressed and confused. In their ground breaking interpretation of the International Classification of Functioning, Health and Disability (ICF), The 'F-words' in childhood disability, (2011) Dr. P. Rosenbaum and Dr. J. Gorter state that, "Family represents the essential environment of all children." They point to research that confirms that parental physical and mental health is challenged in families who have a child with a disability. Specifically, behavioural issues of these children significantly contribute to parental stress scores, impact attachment, the relationship with a spouse, parental depression and in particular, a sense of competence. By providing parents the opportunity to understand their child's unique learning style, and the opportunity to learn how to mindfully engage their child, it is the investigators' goal to restore parental competence and the natural parent/child relationship.

The objectives of this new learning series program are to help parents understand their child's unique learning style and to give parents the practical tools to become their child's best teacher and guide. Becoming a mindful parent requires a solid understanding of the child's underlying social learning challenges, and it requires parents to be both self-reflective and analytical. Behaviour change takes time and repeated experience. Parents also need the opportunity to practice in a safe and supportive environment. This learning series will consist of ten in-person sessions, over a period of 12-14 weeks.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 7
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Canada
  • Manitoba
    • Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, R3E 3G1
      • Rehabilitation Centre for Children

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion criteria:

- parents of children who have high functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder or high functioning developmental delay, and are aged 7-12

Exclusion criteria:

- unable to complete the study sessions

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Build Your Parenting Toolkit Program; Ten session program, with a mix of parents-only lectures and parent and child Cooking Clubs.	Behavioral: Build Your Parenting Toolkit Program; Ten session program, with a mix of parents-only lectures and parent and child Cooking Clubs.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Relationship Development Assessment	Video recordings of the parent and child cooking, used to evaluate the parents' responsiveness, communication and ability to stage engagements with their own child	14 weeks
Being a Parent Scale	This short questionnaire evaluates parent's current perceptions of a variety of common parenting situations and their emotional reactions	14 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Cooking Club Feedback Questionnaires	These questionnaires will be used to evaluate whether the lecture sessions adequately prepared them for the related Cooking Club. These questionnaires will also help parents develop goals to work on at home.	14 weeks
Exit Questionnaire	Satisfaction questionnaire, to help improve the program in the future.	14 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Rehabilitation Centre for Children, Canada
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Lianne Belton, OT, Rehabilitation Centre for Children; Principal Investigator: Carol Kehler, PT, Rehabilitation Centre for Children

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: September 1, 2016
• Primary Completion (Actual): December 1, 2016
• Study Completion (Actual): April 1, 2017

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: June 14, 2016
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 16, 2016
• First Posted (Estimate): June 17, 2016

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): April 12, 2017
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 11, 2017
• Last Verified: April 1, 2017

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Parents' ability to guide their child; Parent perception of competence; Parent understanding of their child's unique learning style
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders; Pathologic Processes; Neurodevelopmental Disorders; Child Development Disorders, Pervasive; Disease; Autism Spectrum Disorder; Developmental Disabilities
• Other Study ID Numbers: BYPT2016

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: No