Enhancing Wellbeing for Autistic Children: A Strengths-Based Parent Workshop
Ruth Howard
PhD Student, Bucks New University
Research: Autism: Enhancing Wellbeing Using Positive
Psychology Approaches.
Supervisors: Dr Piers Worth, Dr Matthew Smith, Professor
Colin Martin
Flourishing Futures:
Strength’s Based Autism Development
Parent Workshops
B
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•
Poor outcomes reported, high level of mental health
problems & high economic cost of £32billion per year
•
Develop a programme for parents to enhance outcomes
and wellbeing for autistic children
•
Many factors to take into consideration, including
austerity, focus group suggestions, Autistic Development
theory
•
Aim to teach principles of PP for parents to bring their own
ideas. Not prescriptive
•
Cover some difficult issues with parents; parental stress,
limiting beliefs and expectations may affect outcomes
•
Employ a high degree of respect and care for the families
and children.
Autistic Development Theory
Enhanced Perceptual Processing Mottron et al (2006, 2009)
Development:
Social-emotional,
communication &
attention delays and
differences
. Thorup
et al (2016)
Male/Female
differences
(Lavelli et al, 2013)
Sensory Overload
Intolerable
experiences
(Green & Ben-Sasson, 2010)
Difficulty Performing
Tasks when over-
loaded.
Distress & Stress
Fight or Flight / Tend or Befriend
Lead To:
Behaviours that challenge
Stimming & Self-Soothing Behaviours
Wigham et al (2015), Jones et al (2016)
Chronic: Potential for Toxic Stress
(Shonkoff et al, 2012)
Lead To:
Anxiety
(Pugliese et al, 2013)
Intolerance of Uncertainty
Boulter et al., (2014
)
Rumination (overthinking)
Hare et al (2015)
Fear of Failure
Dana et al (2010)
Individual Coping Strategies:
Learning from experience and adult
response (adaptive behaviours)
Insistence on Sameness
Gotham et al., (2013), Wigham et al (2015)
Avoidance
Ozsivadjian et al (2012)
Control
Newson et al (2003)
Functional Skill Delay
(Kerns et al., 2015)
Interests & Savant
Abilities
(Mottron et al,
2009)
Provides Positive
Emotions &
Motivation to
engage in special
interest. Flow
Autistic Presentation
Social & Communication Delays
Restricted, Repetitive Behaviours
Co-morbid
Mental
Health
Difficulties
Parents
Stress
(
Osborne, 2007)
Anxiety
(
Connor, 2013
),
Over-responsive (overly involved)
(
Drahota, 2010
)
Disrupted
Interactions
Potential Positive
and Negative
External Influences:
Expectations
Limitations
Pygmalion Effect
(Rosenthal, 1973)
Misunderstanding
Exclusion
Bullying
Ruth Howard 2019
Workshop Aims for Parents – in no particular
order!
•
Recognition and support of parents feelings about diagnosis
•
Shift thinking from ‘bereavement’ to journey through change
•
Decrease stress and uncertainty about the future
•
Increase hope and expectations
•
Feel more empowered
•
Increase resilience & bounceability
•
Understand ADT
•
Skills and competence to support child’s development
•
Focus parenting on developing child’s strengths
•
Draw concepts together to generate a strengths based development plan
Shift Concept of Bereavement to a Process of
Change
“This has been me
for the last couple
of years!” EG03
Slowly
Breath In
Reaching Potential & Flourishing
Hold for Two
Slowly
Breath Out
Normal
Overfed
Starving
Parents may model for children to mirror
Instant
gratification
rewards
Intrinsic motivation
Process
Praise
Stickers
Reward charts
Goals
AWESOME Model for goal setting
Apply the Pareto Principle!
A
dversity
B
eliefs
C
onsequences
D
ispute
E
nergise
Good Stuff Rubbish Stuff
3 2 1 Rule
Good
Bad
Plutchik Emotion Wheel (2001)
Applied Positive Psychology
PERMA
How to generate in child’s life
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l
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:
3
-
2
-
1
Gratitude:
Thankful dinners
Letters
Three good things
Gratitude jar
Gratitude tree
Engagement
Doesn’t really need visiting!
Positive Relationships
Social stories
Ideas for promoting positive relationships
Acts of kindness
Meaning
Group ideas
Accomplishment
Using special interests
Evaluation
•
Evaluation group & waiting list controls
•
Recruitment challenging
•
Drop outs before commencement
•
No drop outs after workshops began
•
Next phase underway
•
Reduced from 3 days to 2 days
Measures
Parents:
Stress measures
Scale of positive and negative experience
Trait hope scale
Flourishing scale
Child:
Spence children’s anxiety scale
Autism treatment evaluation checklist
Currently gathering data
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Feedback after 6 weeks
EG03 Child Age 8yrs
“It opened my eyes to another way of helping, he will
get there, just maybe later. I look more positively at
the diagnosis and us as a family. Before I was
obsessed with the world around me, of other
people’s views, I have closed the negativity I
projected. Now we are surrounded with people we
love, positive. I am not people pleasing anymore.”
[impact?]“Only at home and not at school so not as
much impact on him as I had hoped. The impact on
us, we are calmer, more positive and that is having a
better effect on R. He still has his moments but
helping him to move on is helping his self-esteem.”
“It was the 80/20%. He can do this 80%, now a
bubble of support of things he is good at and capable
of. It was put into my head by professionals he can’t
do that, but they are wrong.”
Feedback EG03
“The old theories made me think there would
be no quality of life. ADT says you have ASD,
but you can do it and the family can do it.”
“When I came from university [autism
course] they teach you it’s gospel truth. They
are more able. No theory of mind, that he
doesn’t understand, we show him now,
empower him to understand and it works. It
may be true of adults [ToM] who have not
had the scaffolding.”
“I’ve got fight in my belly now. I am very
empowered!”
Feedback EG12 Child Age 7yrs
“I can see it works, slow progress with N as he doesn’t like
change. After school he would focus on bad things that was his
focus, had to dig really deep to find the good, he would say 5or6
bad things, now it’s just one or two. Yesterday the worst thing
was that his sausage was late at lunch time, so he is getting
better as there are not as many bad things.”
“Workshops are brilliant! Everyone should do it. It makes you
think, it doesn’t contradict others, but it makes sense of the
little things that we pick up on, from when he was younger that
people were saying were nothing to worry about.”
“It has massively helped me to understand him, he’s not having
us on, he is struggling with things. I understand him more.”
“It has helped me know how to deal with things, also helped me
speak to school about his needs. Now school are listening to
suggestions and putting in place, they are doing more.”
Feedback EG12
“It gave me more confidence, I knew more after
doing it. I feel more confident telling people what my
child needs. I always thought that I knew and
researched but it’s my confidence, I am even looking
forward to his EHCP meeting. More confidence to put
him 1
st
and that I can do it.”
“3
2
1 [activity] is good. It helps him to work out the
day. In bed he’s calmer and not stressed without
being able to express what was wrong cos we have
talked about the good and bad throughout the day.”
“We have started using different words, bigger
words, and for emotions, school has noticed and they
have said it has helped with his reading, I don’t know
why. I mentioned bigger words to the deputy head
and she said that I would be amazed. School have
said, this has proved it. N is flying now.”
Feedback EG12
“Me and my husband are surprised how
much progress he has made, his reading has
surprised us. We have always known he
needs to learn to read. Just seems the last 2-3
weeks reading is phenomenal. Don’t know
where it’s coming from, is it because we are
using bigger words with him?”
“There are not as many outbursts ‘cos we are
talking about things. It has had an impact on
the whole family, his brother doesn’t lose his
temper with him so much. I am calmer and
definitely, the belonging thing. We have
started going to church, and he has spoken
there. He loves it.
Feedback EG12
one final comment…
“I hope he will go on to do
whatever he wants to do.”
Conclusions & Next Steps
•
Parents empowered/confident
•
Variety of strategies parents placing high value
on different strategies (person activity fit)
•
Decreased parental stress – reporting calm is
impacting on children
•
Parents report children are developing
•
Early findings are promising of providing a cost
effective intervention to enhance development
& family wellbeing
Thank you
Explore a groundbreaking workshop designed by Ruth Howard, a PhD student at Bucks New University, focusing on enhancing outcomes and wellbeing for autistic children through positive psychology approaches. The program aims to empower parents, decrease stress, and foster resilience by emphasizing the strengths of children on the autism spectrum. Through a deep dive into Autistic Development Theory and practical strategies, parents are equipped to support their child's growth effectively.
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Flourishing Futures: Strength s Based Autism Development Parent Workshops Ruth Howard PhD Student, Bucks New University Research: Autism: Enhancing Wellbeing Using Positive Psychology Approaches. Supervisors: Dr Piers Worth, Dr Matthew Smith, Professor Colin Martin
Background & Influencers Background & Influencers Poor outcomes reported, high level of mental health problems & high economic cost of 32billion per year Develop a programme for parents to enhance outcomes and wellbeing for autistic children Many factors to take into consideration, including austerity, focus group suggestions, Autistic Development theory Aim to teach principles of PP for parents to bring their own ideas. Not prescriptive Cover some difficult issues with parents; parental stress, limiting beliefs and expectations may affect outcomes Employ a high degree of respect and care for the families and children.
Autistic Development Theory Autistic Presentation Interests & Savant Abilities (Mottron et al, 2009) Enhanced Perceptual Processing Mottron et al (2006, 2009) Distress & Stress Fight or Flight / Tend or Befriend Lead To: Behaviours that challenge Stimming & Self-Soothing Behaviours Wigham et al (2015), Jones et al (2016) Chronic: Potential for Toxic Stress (Shonkoff et al, 2012) Lead To: Anxiety (Pugliese et al, 2013) Intolerance of Uncertainty Boulter et al., (2014) Rumination (overthinking) Hare et al (2015) Fear of Failure Dana et al (2010) Individual Coping Strategies: Learning from experience and adult response (adaptive behaviours) Insistence on Sameness Gotham et al., (2013), Wigham et al (2015) Avoidance Ozsivadjian et al (2012) Control Newson et al (2003) Functional Skill Delay (Kerns et al., 2015) Social & Communication Delays Provides Positive Emotions & Motivation to engage in special interest. Flow Restricted, Repetitive Behaviours Potential Positive and Negative External Influences: Expectations Limitations Pygmalion Effect (Rosenthal, 1973) Misunderstanding Exclusion Bullying Sensory Overload Intolerable experiences (Green & Ben-Sasson, 2010) Difficulty Performing Tasks when over- loaded. Co-morbid Mental Health Difficulties Development: Parents Stress (Osborne, 2007) Anxiety (Connor, 2013), Social-emotional, communication & attention delays and differences. Thorup et al (2016) Male/Female differences (Lavelli et al, 2013) Disrupted Interactions Over-responsive (overly involved) (Drahota, 2010) Ruth Howard 2019
Workshop Aims for Parents in no particular order! Recognition and support of parents feelings about diagnosis Shift thinking from bereavement to journey through change Decrease stress and uncertainty about the future Increase hope and expectations Feel more empowered Increase resilience & bounceability Understand ADT Skills and competence to support child s development Focus parenting on developing child s strengths Draw concepts together to generate a strengths based development plan
Reaching Potential & Flourishing Slowly Breath Out Slowly Breath In Assess Hold for Two Goal Setting Identifying, planning and doing. Parents may model for children to mirror Managing Today Teaching, strategies to manage stress, anxiety, sensory overload. Positive psychology to buffer against anxiety and other mental health problems and build resilience. Experience What? Motivation Enabled? Small steps create a sense of achievement and should deepen motivation. Options & Opportunities Strengths Normal Overfed Starving ABC Model to develop optimistic thinking and decrease rumination which can lead to anxiety and other problems. AWESOME Model for goal setting Adversity Beliefs Consequences Dispute Energise Strength based parenting to use interests and strengths to create a flourishing life Help child understand how life skills link to reaching aspirations. High expectations for child s ability to develop. Apply the Pareto Principle! 80/20 Rule Good Bad Good Stuff Rubbish Stuff 3 2 1 Rule Reward charts Stickers Goals Premise: we may expect the child to have developed strategies to limit uncertainty, intolerable experiences, and other fears. Expect the child to be able to learn new skills through concrete experiences and explicit teaching Process Praise Intrinsic motivation Instant gratification rewards Plutchik Emotion Wheel (2001)
Positive Emotions Accomplishment Meaning Engagement Relationships Applied Positive Psychology PERMA How to generate in child s life
Identifying & Expanding Strengths Process praise: learning that failure is is an option! Broaden & Build: 3-2-1
Gratitude: Thankful dinners Letters Three good things Gratitude jar Gratitude tree Engagement Doesn t really need visiting! Positive Relationships Social stories Ideas for promoting positive relationships Acts of kindness Meaning Group ideas Accomplishment Using special interests
Evaluation Evaluation group & waiting list controls Recruitment challenging Drop outs before commencement No drop outs after workshops began Next phase underway Reduced from 3 days to 2 days
Measures Parents: Stress measures Scale of positive and negative experience Trait hope scale Flourishing scale Child: Spence children s anxiety scale Autism treatment evaluation checklist Currently gathering data
Researcher Experiences Researcher Experiences Need to be flexible and pragmatic Very difficult recruiting participants Care and consideration around difficult issues Participants appeared to need a week to sit with ADT Participants with younger children appear more readily accepting of strategies that those of older.
Feedback after 6 weeks EG03 Child Age 8yrs It opened my eyes to another way of helping, he will get there, just maybe later. I look more positively at the diagnosis and us as a family. Before I was obsessed with the world around me, of other people s views, I have closed the negativity I projected. Now we are surrounded with people we love, positive. I am not people pleasing anymore. [impact?] Only at home and not at school so not as much impact on him as I had hoped. The impact on us, we are calmer, more positive and that is having a better effect on R. He still has his moments but helping him to move on is helping his self-esteem. It was the 80/20%. He can do this 80%, now a bubble of support of things he is good at and capable of. It was put into my head by professionals he can t do that, but they are wrong.
Feedback EG03 The old theories made me think there would be no quality of life. ADT says you have ASD, but you can do it and the family can do it. When I came from university [autism course] they teach you it s gospel truth. They are more able. No theory of mind, that he doesn t understand, we show him now, empower him to understand and it works. It may be true of adults [ToM] who have not had the scaffolding. I ve got fight in my belly now. I am very empowered!
Feedback EG12 Child Age 7yrs I can see it works, slow progress with N as he doesn t like change. After school he would focus on bad things that was his focus, had to dig really deep to find the good, he would say 5or6 bad things, now it s just one or two. Yesterday the worst thing was that his sausage was late at lunch time, so he is getting better as there are not as many bad things. Workshops are brilliant! Everyone should do it. It makes you think, it doesn t contradict others, but it makes sense of the little things that we pick up on, from when he was younger that people were saying were nothing to worry about. It has massively helped me to understand him, he s not having us on, he is struggling with things. I understand him more. It has helped me know how to deal with things, also helped me speak to school about his needs. Now school are listening to suggestions and putting in place, they are doing more.
Feedback EG12 It gave me more confidence, I knew more after doing it. I feel more confident telling people what my child needs. I always thought that I knew and researched but it s my confidence, I am even looking forward to his EHCP meeting. More confidence to put him 1stand that I can do it. 321 [activity] is good. It helps him to work out the day. In bed he s calmer and not stressed without being able to express what was wrong cos we have talked about the good and bad throughout the day. We have started using different words, bigger words, and for emotions, school has noticed and they have said it has helped with his reading, I don t know why. I mentioned bigger words to the deputy head and she said that I would be amazed. School have said, this has proved it. N is flying now.
Feedback EG12 Me and my husband are surprised how much progress he has made, his reading has surprised us. We have always known he needs to learn to read. Just seems the last 2-3 weeks reading is phenomenal. Don t know where it s coming from, is it because we are using bigger words with him? There are not as many outbursts cos we are talking about things. It has had an impact on the whole family, his brother doesn t lose his temper with him so much. I am calmer and definitely, the belonging thing. We have started going to church, and he has spoken there. He loves it.
Feedback EG12 one final comment I hope he will go on to do whatever he wants to do.
Conclusions & Next Steps Parents empowered/confident Variety of strategies parents placing high value on different strategies (person activity fit) Decreased parental stress reporting calm is impacting on children Parents report children are developing Early findings are promising of providing a cost effective intervention to enhance development & family wellbeing
