Parent-to-parent teaching

Area of Science:

• Developmental Psychology
• Special Education
• Behavioral Intervention

Background:

• Children with Down syndrome benefit from early and effective interventions.
• Parental involvement is crucial for successful intervention outcomes.
• Training parents as interventionists can extend the reach of specialized support.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the effectiveness of parents as interventionists for their children and other parents.
• To assess the impact of a parent-training model on teaching skills.
• To evaluate the functional effect of intervention techniques on parent and child behavior.

Main Methods:

• A multiple baseline design was used to evaluate the intervention.
• Three parents of toddlers with Down syndrome participated.
• A sequential training approach: professional trained parent 1, parent 1 trained parent 2, parent 2 trained parent 3.

Main Results:

• Parents demonstrated appropriate implementation of training procedures when training others.
• The training program had a functional effect on parents' use of intervention techniques.
• Children showed a functional increase in correct responding during teaching sessions.

Conclusions:

• Parents can be effectively trained as interventionists for children with Down syndrome.
• Parent-to-parent training is a viable model for disseminating intervention skills.
• This approach positively impacts both parental teaching behaviors and child learning outcomes.