Families and Communication Training and Support (FACTS) – Evaluation of Parent Group Training for pre-School Children with  Suspected ASD

Start and End Dates: 1 October 1999 – 30 September 2003

Principal Investigators: Professor Ann Le Couteur, Professor Helen McConachie

Collaborators:  Children North East

Project Staff:  Dr Val Randle; Kay Ashley; Marie Sowter; Barry Ingham; Tim Diggle

Funding:  National Lottery Charities Board, 1999-2003; NHS Executive Research and Development, Northern and Yorkshire Region, 2000; Nuffield Foundation, 2001-2002.

Abstract:

This study was an evaluation of the ‘More Than Words’ http://www.hanen.org training programme for parents of young children with autism spectrum disorders.  Fifty–six children aged twenty-four to forty-eight months were followed for up to two years.

Their parents attended a three-month, weekly, group course led by speech and language therapists, to learn how to facilitate development of their child’s social communication.  Half received ‘immediate intervention’ and half were a ‘delayed control’ for the first seven months of the study, depending on the starting date of the local courses.

We found that parents changed in the strategies they used in interaction with their child after attending a course, particularly the parents of children with the most severe autism.  The children significantly increased their vocabulary and skills related to joint attention after their parents attended a course.   Qualitative interviewing indicated a high level of parent satisfaction with the course.

Publications associated with this project

Diggle T, McConachie H and Randle V.  Parent implemented early intervention for young children with autism spectrum disorder.  In  The Cochrane Library, Issue 1. 2003; Oxford: Update Software.

Dixon L and Le Couteur AS. Early assessment and intervention with the ‘More than Words’ Hanen programme for parents of children with autism spectrum disorders.  Good Autism Practice. 2003; 4(1):29 – 34.

Honey E, Hastings R, McConachie HR.  Research Note: Use of the Questionnaire on Resources and Stress (QRS-F) with parents of young children with autism. Autism. 2005; 9: 243-252.