Autistic kids benefit from dads' involvement

[Guest guest]

I guess that would work so long as the father wasn't a big jerk like mine was.

In a message dated 6/25/2008 12:42:35 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, no_reply writes:

Autistic kids benefit from dads' involvementGas prices getting you down? Search AOL Autos for fuel-efficient used cars.

[Guest guest]

http://www.sheknows.com/articles/5621.htm

Autistic kids benefit from dads' involvement

Researchers have found that teaching fathers how to talk to and play

with their autistic children in a home setting improved communication,

increased the number of intelligible words the youngsters spoke by

more than 50 percent and helped dads get more involved in their care.

Make room for daddy, say University of Florida autism experts.

Teaching fathers how to communicate and play with their autistic

children pays dividends, for parents and kids alike.

Autism is a developmental disability that typically appears during the

first three years of life and is characterized by problems interacting

and communicating with others. Caring for an autistic child can be a

relentless and labor-intensive task -- one that is overwhelmingly

performed by mothers, says UF nursing researcher Elder.

Now UF researchers have found that teaching fathers how to talk to and

play with their autistic children in a home setting improved

communication, increased the number of intelligible words the

youngsters spoke by more than 50 percent and helped dads get more

involved in their care. The findings were published in a recent issue

of the journal Nursing Research.

" We found that fathers were getting frustrated because they felt they

couldn't connect with their autistic child, " said Elder, the study's

principal investigator and an associate professor and chairwoman of

the department of health care environments and systems at UF's College

of Nursing. " During one of our sessions, a child made eye contact with

his father and said 'Daddy' for the first time in the child's life.

" Traditionally, mothers are the primary caretakers of autistic

children, " Elder added. " Through our training, we caused a shift in

the paradigm of many of these families, with fathers taking on a more

active role with their autistic children, sometimes even taking the

lead in caretaking. "

At least 1.5 million Americans have some form of autism, and it now

affects one in every 166 births, according to the Centers for Disease

Control and Prevention. UF researchers examined 18 father-child

relationships before and after specialized training sessions. The

families were recruited through UF's Center for Autism and Related

Disabilities and a community health practice in Central Florida and

included 14 boys and four girls ranging in age from 3 years to 7 years

old.

Building on a similar study of mothers of autistic children, Elder

videotaped the father-child pairs in their homes during playtime

sessions before training and at three key stages in the training

process. The training emphasized language development and taught

fathers to use everyday activities like playing with building blocks,

puppets, cars and trucks, and bubbles to interact with their children.

UF researchers assessed each child's behavior and evaluated how

fathers interacted with them at the beginning of the study and during

each of the three training stages. They also recorded each child's

autistic-like behaviors during and after play. During the first stage,

fathers learned to initiate play with their children through animated

repetition of their children's vocalizations and actions. Fathers were

told to resist the temptation to direct their child's play and instead

to follow the child's lead. In the second phase, they were told to

wait for their child's response before continuing play. Eventually,

the two techniques were used together.

The fathers were able to view the videotaped sessions to see their

progress and areas needing improvement were discussed.

" We are really interested in promoting social balance, or turn-taking,

in autistic children and their parents, " Elder said. " Normally, the

parent might cue the child with one question, ask another question

without waiting, and the child gets very frustrated and starts not to

even attempt to respond. To combat that, we teach the parents to give

a cue and wait for the response, with the expectation that the child

will respond to establish that social balance. "

Fathers were more likely to initiate play in an animated way and

responded more to their children during playtime. Children also became

more vocal and were more than twice as likely to initiate play with

their fathers. Surveys completed after the study was over also

revealed that fathers viewed the training as valuable.

" One father related how after training, he felt empowered in his

paternal role and became an active school liaison, " Elder said. " This

proved beneficial for the child, who now had both parents consistently

involved in his education. "

Researchers also were surprised to find that many fathers in the study

actually took the lead in training the mothers and even siblings in

the rest of the family, a key distinction from the mothers in her

previous study, Elder said. In that study, researchers found similar

benefits to training mothers, but moms weren't as likely to attempt to

teach fathers the techniques they learned.

Recent research has shown that early intervention with children can

have a major influence on how the child develops and functions later

in life. " With the proper training at an early age, we feel that these

techniques can help autistic children be more socially interactive and

pick up language more easily, " Elder said.

Because of the study's small sample size, Elder and her research team

plan to continue their research with a larger group of fathers and

fine-tune the interventions used based on their experiences in this

study. They also plan to show fathers how to train their spouses in

the techniques, and then evaluate the effectiveness of that approach.

In addition, they are developing a Web site so training " booster "

sessions can be broadcast via the Internet to participating fathers.

Fathers will be able to view these training sessions and hear comments

on how to improve upon their play sessions with their children.

" It is important for both the child's mother and father to be involved

in parent training whenever possible, " said Winter, a research

scientist at the University of Washington Autism Center who previously

conducted autism research at the University of California-San Diego.

" Potential benefits that may follow from father participation include

increased frequency of interaction and quality of interaction between

fathers and their child with autism, increased treatment time for the

child and support for the child's mother. "

[Guest guest]

I would be interested in whether the important factor is the involvement of two parents?: I'm sorry about your father.

I guess that would work so long as the father wasn't a big jerk like mine was.

In a message dated 6/25/2008 12:42:35 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, no_reply writes: