Author: Andre Velho | August 22nd, 2021
Last month, Anisha, a young girl with autism and her mum Prerna (names changed) were referred to me for autism intervention. The family moved to Goa from another state, where they were receiving both Speech and Occupational Therapy. However, Prerna had not seen any significant improvement in her child, despite attending regular therapy sessions and paying premium rates.
Through our conversations, Prerna showed me a home program that she had received from the therapists, but mentioned that she had no idea how to implement the strategies at home, many of which were not applicable
to her. She mentioned that she was told to sit outside the therapy room while Anisha and her therapists worked in private. She was feeling low and depressed that a year had gone by, a lot of money spent as well as time invested but without any significant outcomes.
The past 2 decades have seen a tremendous rise in the number of children diagnosed with autism globally.
There are an estimated 30 lakh people with autism in India alone. Children as young as 2 years old can be reliably diagnosed with autism. Autistic children have significant behavioural and educational needs, require at least 25 hours
of intensive and specialised intervention per week throughout the year. As a result, many families seek services (government or NGOs) and experience either a substantial financial burden or are disappointed to learn that services are not locally available to them. Therefore, most families do not receive the minimum of 25 hours per week of intervention required.
Taking this into consideration, a parent-mediated intervention is a great way to increase in the hours of intervention that a child and family receives. It also improves outcomes for them in the long run.
But what is a Parent-Mediated Intervention?
It basically means systematically coaching parents and family members in implementing intervention strategies, so that they can be empowered to improve their relationship with their children, engage in
their children’s development and manage their children’s behaviour. If you are a professional working with a child with autism, providing parents with high-quality coaching can help you work together to improve a child’s development and reduce challenges.
What are some of the benefits of parent-mediated intervention?
Research has shown that:
1) Parents can learn to support their children at home and increase their child’s skills.
2) It is cost-effective and saves time.
3) Children can generalise and maintain the skills they acquire more easily.
4) Parents feel more optimistic about their child’s future and have lower stress levels.
Parent-mediated intervention is not easy, and requires a shift in focus, from doing what YOU think is best for the child to recognising that families are the experts of their children and you need to work towards accomplishing family goals. The flipside, however, is that you will have empowered parents
and significant improvements in children’s functioning.
At Sethu, we have changed our intervention model to be almost completely parent-mediated and we would love to share what we know with you. So please don’t hesitate to contact us if you work with a child with autism and would like to modernise your intervention approach!
ANDRE VELHO Head of Autism Intervention