1. The Incredible Years Autistic Spectrum and Language Delay programme
Margiad Elen Williams

2. Background Estimated UK prevalence 1.7% (Russell et al., 2014)
Associated behavioural challenges are common (National Autistic Society, 2015)
They cause more distress than core symptoms (Hastings et al., 2005)

3. Parent programmes
Recommended by National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE, 2013)
Group-based programmes effective for range of outcomes (e.g. Whittingham et al., 2015)
Provide social support (Dababnah & Parish, 2014)

4. Incredible Years (IY) Basic Parent programme
Evidence-based, NICE-recommended intervention (e.g. Hutchings et al., 2007)
Delivered with adaptations for parents of children with ASD (Dababnah & Parish, 2014, 2015)
Decreased parental stress
High acceptability and satisfaction with content

5. IY Autistic Spectrum & Language Delays programme
New addition to IY suite
Uses same core delivery components
Targets parent-child relationship and broad developmental outcomes e.g. communication, social skills, other adaptive skills, and behaviour problems

6. Initial pilot study Nine parents (8 mothers, 1 father)
Children had been, or being assessed, for ASD by local services

7. Measures Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ)
Arnold-O’Leary Parenting Scale (PS)
DPICS observation
Satisfaction

8. Results High rates of attendance High levels of satisfaction
Mean (SD)
Programme overall
5.74 (0.37)
Teaching format
6.14 (0.35)
Parenting techniques
6.27 (0.39)
Group leader
6.71 (0.19)
Parent group
6.84 (0.18)

9. Results Significant change in SDQ
Interpretation This was a significant improvement p=.020 but the cut off for very high level of pro-social difficulties is a score of 4 or less so these children were, as expected, still demonstrating a very high level of prosocial difficulties
Interpretation –This was a significant improvement (p= .035) but a score 4 is high and 5+ is very high so these children were, as expected, still experiencing challenges

10. Parental feedback
“Meeting the other parents was the number one thing. All the tips have been brilliant. Knowing what to focus on especially using positive suggestions rather than commands.”
“Has shown me how to change my behaviour which in turn has an effect on my child’s behaviour.”

11. Dissemination
Results published in Good Autism Practice (Hutchings et al., 2016)
DVD about parents’ experiences of the IY Autism programme

12. Parenting for Autism, Language, And Communication Evaluation Study (Williams et al., 2017)
Pilot randomised controlled trial
Explore feasibility and initial effectiveness
4 centres (NW Wales, Central North Wales, Flintshire & Newtown, Powys)

13. Measures Child behaviour (CBCL) Parental mental health (PSI, BDI)
Parenting (PS)
Child adaptive skills (VABS)
Social communication (SCQ)
Sibling behaviour (SDQ)
Partner relationship (Family APGAR)
Parent-child observation (DPICS)
Cost data

14. Data collection Baseline, 6-month follow-up for all families
Additional 12-month and 18-month follow-up for intervention families
10-minute parent-child observation videotaped

15. Participants - Children
Demographics
Whole sample (N=58)
Child age, months: M (SD)
67.98 (16.14)
Child gender, male: n (%)
41 (70.7)
Child diagnosis, ASD: n (%)
48 (82.8)
Siblings: n (%)
40 (69.0)

16. Participants - Parents
Demographics
Whole sample (N=58)
Parent age, years: M (SD)
36.48 (8.52)
Parent gender, female: n (%)
52 (89.7)
Married/cohabiting: n (%)
48 (82.8)
Large family: n (%)
14 (24.1)
Unemployment: n (%)
12 (20.7)
Teenage parent: n (%)
6 (10.3)

17. Child Behaviour Problems
CBCL scales
Whole sample (N=58)
Internalising: n (%)
48 (82.8)
Externalising: n (%)
42 (72.4)
Both: n (%)
40 (69.0)

18. Next steps Programme delivery due to finish by Easter
Finish scoring, inputting baseline data
Code parent-child observations
6-month follow-up due in June

19. Further follow-up
Jess Bibby funded by KESS and CEIT to undertake a PhD alongside the trial
Explore impact on other family members
Collect longer term follow-up data at 12 and 18 months for intervention families only

20. References
Dababnah, S., & Parish, S. L. (2014). Incredible Years program tailored to parents of preschoolers with autism: Pilot results. Research on Social Work Practice. Advance online publication. doi: /
Dababnah, S., & Parish, S. L. (2015). Feasibility of an empirically based program for parents of preschoolers with autism spectrum disorder. Autism. Advance online publication. doi: /
Hastings, R. P., Kovshoff, H., Ward, N. J., Espinosa, F. D., Brown, T., & Remington, B. (2005). Systems analysis of stress and positive perceptions in mothers and fathers of pre-school children with autism. Journal of Autism and Development Disorders, 35, doi: /s
Hutchings, J., Bywater, T., Daley, D., Gardner, F., Whitaker, C. J., Jones, K., … Edwards, R. T. (2007). Parenting intervention in Sure Start services for children at risk of developing Conduct Disorder: Pragmatic randomised controlled trial. British Medical Journal, 334, doi: /bmj
National Autistic Society (2015). Autism facts and history. Retrieved from
National Institute for Health Care and Excellence [NICE] (2013). The management and support of children and young people on the Autism Spectrum. Retrieved from:
Russell, G., Rodgers, L. R., Ukoumunne, O. C., & Ford, T. (2014). Prevalence of parent-reported ASD and ADHD in the UK: findings from the Millennium Cohort Study. Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 44, doi: /s
Whittingham, K., Sofronoff, K., Sheffield, J., & Sanders, M. R. (2009). Stepping stones triple P: An RCT of a parenting program with parents of a child diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 37, doi: /s x
Williams, M.E., Hastings, R.P., Charles, J.M., Evans, S., & Hutchings, J. (2017). Parenting for Autism, Language, And Communication Evaluation Study (PALACES): protocol for a pilot randomised controlled trial. BMJ Open, e doi: /bmjopen

21. Thank you for listening Diolch am wrando