Sharing Developmental Concerns with Parents.txt

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MYRA BETH BUNDY, PH.D. 
DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY 
EASTERN KENTUCKY UNIVERSITY 
Sharing Developmental 
Concerns with Parents 

What professionals are in our audience today? 



.. 
Physicians? 
.. 
Social Workers? 
.. 
Psychologists? 
.. 
Teachers? 
.. 
Speech-Language Pathologists? 
.. 
Occupational Therapists? 
.. 
School Counselors? 
.. 
Others? 



Helping Families Listen to and Work With 
Feedback about their Children 


Why can this be a challenge for families? 

We have to respect the parenting experience they 
may be facing� 

We have to listen too� 


Families may be hoping� 




Research on the Parenting Experience 



Review of Current Research on Parents of Children 
with Autism (Pisula et al., 2003) 

� Profound stress experience 
� Stress Profile 
� Atypical Child Behaviors 
� Lack of Knowledge about Child�s Problems 
and Developmental Challenges 

Research on the Parenting Experience 



.. 
There are a few studies looking at the positives of 
autism parenting�(Kayfitz, Gragg & Orr, 2010) 

.. 
Parents with less parenting stress reported more 
positive experiences 

�. 
Sample experiences 

�. 
Learning through challenges 

�. 
Source of happiness and fulfillment 

�. 
Source of strength and family closeness 


Helping Families Listen 



What approach is a good match for a particular family? 


� Have a set of possible approaches 
� Know your family 
� Watch and Listen for cues. 

What is this family�s style? 




Helping Families Listen 



.. 
Begin and end your discussion on a positive note 
.. 
What are child�s strengths, things he does well? 



What Content? 



.. 
What has taken place in the assessment process 
(even if informal) 

.. 
What conclusions you have reached 

.. 
Why? 

.. 
Important for family and child to ask questions 


.. 
Important for family and child to provide 
information 

�. 
either to confirm or disagree 


Summarizing Where to Go from Here 



.. 
Ways Forward 

�. 
The most important part of the contact 

.. 
Leave on a Positive Note 
.. 
Brief and Clear Plan for Next Steps 


Wonderful CDC �Tips� Sheet 



.. 
http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/actearly/pdf/ 
parents_pdfs/TipsTalkingParents.pdf 



CDC �Tips� Suggests 2 Alternatives 



.. 
1. 
You suspect a child has developmental 
differences, but parent seems unaware 

.. 
2. 
Parent approaches you with concerns 



Parent seems unaware 



.. 
Good afternoon, Ms. Jones. We love having Taylor 
in class. He really enjoys story time and follows 
directions well. He is working hard on coloring but is 
having a difficult time and gets frustrated. I have also 
noticed a few things about Taylor�s social skills that I 
would like to discuss with you. Do you have a few 
minutes? [Cite specific behaviors and when they 
occurred.] 

.. 
Have you noticed any of these at home? 


Parent seems unaware 



.. 
Ms. Jones, I know this is hard to talk about, and I maybe over-reacting, but I think it would also be a goodidea to talk to Taylor�s doctor about this in the next fewweeks. You can take this information with you whenyou go. The doctor can give Taylor a �developmentalscreening� which can answer some questions about hisprogress and whether you need to do anything else.
Maybe there is no problem, but getting help early canmake a big difference if there is, so it�s really importantto find out for sure. Let me know if you need anythingfrom me for that doctor�s appointment! 

.. 
Thank you for agreeing to talk with me today. We�ll alldo our best to help Taylor. He is a great kid! 


Parent Approaches You 



.. 
Mrs. Smith, you wanted to speak with me privately 
about Taylor? 

.. 
[Listen to her concerns. See if she has noticed the same 
behaviors you have, and share examples that are the 
same as or different from hers.] 

.. 
I am glad to know we are both on the same page. I have 
some information that might help you when you�re 
watching Taylor at home this week. This fact sheet 
shows the developmental milestones for his age. Each 
child develops at his or her own pace, so Taylor might 
not have met all these milestones; it�s worth taking a 
closer look. Let�s meet again next [set a date] after 
you�ve had time to read this and think about it. 


Parent Approaches You 



.. 
I also think it would be a good idea to talk to 
Taylor�s doctor about this in the next few weeks. 
You can take this information with when you go. 
The doctor can give Taylor a �developmental 
screening� which can answer some questions about 
his progress and whether you need to do anything 
else. Let me know if you need anything from me for 
that doctor�s appointment. Thank you for talking 
with me today. We�ll all do our best to help Taylor. 
He is a great kid! 


Let�s evaluate the CDC�s scripts� 
What do you think? 



Additional CDC Little Tips 



.. 
Use fact sheets 
.. 
Discuss specific behaviors 
.. 
Make it a discussion, not a lecture 
.. 
Expect that for an oldest or only child, parent 

may not have experience with milestones 

.. 
Remind parent that you care for children and 
want their child to do their best 


Another Source� 


National Association of 
School Psychologists Listserv 



From NASP listserve� 
Delivering News to Parents 


.. 
Private discussion, with time for questions 
.. 
Use parents� observations of their child to point out 

what they already know 

.. 
Write down terms used by professionals 

.. 
Talk about what child can do and learn (what will 

they need to help them; what their progress may be) 


From NASP listserve� 
Delivering News to Parents 


.. 
Acknowledge the child and family as individuals, 
not category or disability 

.. 
Encourage family to educate themselves 

.. 
Point out the unique roles that parents play 

.. 
Point out importance of caring for selves and 
relationship of their well being of their child�s 


What are some of your anxieties or 
fears about approaching families? 



.. 
My examples 
.. 
Your ideas 
.. 
And�what may be some of their anxieties about 

working with professionals? 


Rebecca Grau�s Favorite Websites for 
Sharing Concerns with Parents 


.. 
http://www.cdc.gov/Features/AutismChampion/ 

.. 
http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/actearly/ 
concerned.html 

.. 
http://nichcy.org/babies/overview/ 

.. 
https://www.firstsigns.org/concerns/ 

parent_doc.htm 

.. 
https://www.firstsigns.org/concerns/ 
parent_parent.htm