Parent Training
Parents are expected to be active participants in their child’s program.
They are taught the basic principles and skills necessary to meet their child’s developmental needs. Parents are coached to identify their child’s core areas of difficulty. They are also trained to implement intervention strategies to promote their child’s cooperation, regulation, and emotional communication.
Parents are also provided direct, didactic teaching and experiential training with support via supervision to address their parenting skills and needs. With an understanding of their child’s developmental needs, they can develop competence in supporting, connecting with and challenging their child. A ‘Parent Skills Inventory’ is used to evaluate their current skill level in order to create parenting training goals.
Parents are provided with:
- consistent training and consultation to identify their parenting issues and goals
- support and strategies to develop coping skills needed to manage and navigate everyday frustrations
- guidance to identify their family of origin issues that can impact their ability to work with their child
Collaborating with Parents
As parents have a better understanding of how their child’s developmental and behavioral challenges trigger them, they can learn to better manage their own emotional issues. Parents can then become more competent in setting up experiences that help remediate their child’s deficits. With support and guidance, parents can develop greater self-awareness and competence in effectively addressing their child’s obstacles.
VHAP staff collaborate with parents to build upon their existing knowledge base to expand their repertoire of effective interventions. Parents can come to feel more empowered as they guide their child’s emotional communication and vocational skills in order to improve their quality of life.