Psychoeducational program for parents of children with autism spectrum disorders

   Relevance. Informing parents of children with developmental disabilities is one of the important principles of a family-oriented approach when organizing comprehensive support for the children. One of the tasks of pediatric pathopsychology is to work with the child’s family, including psychoeducation and psychological support for parents raising children with developmental disorders.

   Intention – the goal is to describe the content of the psychoeducation program for parents raising children with ASD.

   The psychoeducation program for parents raising children with ASD is aimed at replenishing parents’ lack of knowledge about the characteristics of the disease and forms of medication and psychological and pedagogical assistance for children with ASD. The program consists of seven weekly meetings lasting 1.5-2 hours covering the following topics: getting to know each other; the concept of autism and autism spectrum disorders; modern approaches to the treatment and rehabilitation of children with ASD, the role of the family in the therapeutic and rehabilitative process; features of the formation and development of mental functions in children with ASD; peculiarities of emotional and communicative development in children with ASD; organization of educational and corrective-developmental activities for children with ASD; summing up, completing the work of the group.

   Conclusion. The development and implementation of a psychological educational program for parents should be considered as a necessary link in the initial stage of providing a complex of treatment and rehabilitation measures to a child with a developmental disorder. Such programs do not require significant costs and time for training specialists. Among the positive effects of psychoeducation is a change in parents’ attitude towards the child’s illness towards recognition of the fact that the child has a diagnosis and an increase in parental commitment to recommendations by a multidisciplinary team of specialists.

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