Parental training has positive impact on autistic children

The scientists have proved the link between parental training and behaviour of autistic child. Often autistic children are made fun by others due to their different kind of behaviour. This makes life more difficult for kids. But the scientists have proved that autistic child behaviour can be improved if the parents are trained with specific, structured strategies to manage tantrums, aggression, self-injury, and non-compliance, a new research has found. Defined by impaired social communication and repetitive behaviour, autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a chronic condition that begins in early childhood.

"Our study shows that parent training is also helpful for improving behavioural problems such as irritability and non-compliance in young children with ASD," said Denis Sukhodolsky, assistant professor at the Yale University in the US.

The researchers examined 180 children randomly by assigning them between the ages of three and seven with ASD and behavioural problems to either a 24-week parent training program, or a 24-week parent education program. Parent education provided up-to-date and useful information about ASD, but no instruction on how to manage behavioural problems.

"Both groups showed improvement, but parent training was superior on measures of disruptive and non-compliant behaviour," James Dziura, associate professor at Yale, pointed out. The study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

By Lizitha