Supporting families of preschool children with autism: what parents want and what helps

Abstract

This paper describes a local education authority project to provide support to the families of preschool children with autistic spectrum disorders. As part of an evaluation study, all parents were interviewed when their children entered full-time education and left the service's caseload. The report outlines key findings regarding levels of satisfaction with the service provided and describes parental responses to the different components of the support offered. All parents rated the input of the support worker as 'very useful'. Parents particularly valued the following: support to 'make sense' of their child's development and needs; practical strategies for facilitating language and engaging in interactive play; and support to the nurseries and playgroups attended by their children. The interviews also looked at parents' experience of diagnosis and their needs in the immediate aftermath. Key implications of these findings, and of this model of service delivery, are also discussed.