The CATCH Parent Training program is a three-stage preparatory curriculum designed to teach and prepare moms, dads and other caregivers to become the primary agents of change in their child’s life. The three phases include Parent Readiness, Parent Education and Parent Coaching.
Readiness:
Living with a diagnosis of autism can leave parents in what we call a ‘crisis mindset‘, a highly emotional state where they are feeling discouraged, overwhelmed, and desperate to try anything. During the Parent Readiness phase CATCH consultants help you and your family make the emotional, logistical and physical preparations needed for the journey you are about to undertake. We help you evaluate your home environment, your child’s educational setting, and your parental support system to identify and remedy those obstacles that prevent you from being the parent you always wanted to be.
Education:
Most current autism interventions are built around a school of behavioral research that was introduced in the 1970’s. The CATCH program prides itself on utilizing the most current research in the fields of autism, psychology, neurology, child development and more, and thus phase two of the parent training program focuses on individualized Parent Education sessions to share that knowledge with families. CATCH consultants instruct families on the actual core differences of autism and how to address them, the power of developing a Guiding Relationship with your child, how anxiety affects the autistic mind and what parents can do to alleviate it, the power of adopting Dynamic Communication and more. Parents are taught how to overlap RDI activities on top of their existing schedule, methods of engaging with your child and how to set truly effective limits with their children.
Coaching/Supervision:
Once families are well versed in the theories of the relationship-based approach, we move to the Parent Coaching stage of the program. Here, CATCH Consultants will provide direct, hands-on training to parents in the techniques and practical application skills of the RDI® program. Sessions are conducted in–home with the child present so consultants can model, demonstrate and practice alongside the parent guides to help them become comfortable with this new approach. Parents will be shown how to regulate their child’s anxiety, to connect with their child through multi-channel communication, to set realistic boundaries and to develop their growth mindset. As parents become increasingly more adept at the RDI technique the consultants gradually fade out their face-to-face interactions and the program shifts to an online relationship in which consultant and parent connect through video conferencing, shared folders and video files.