Professional development

Australian program for supporting adults and young children

Freya Lucas

Jul 05, 2019

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Despite its name, the Australian developed Parenting Young Children program is not just a resource for parents.

Many allied health and early childhood education and care (ECEC) professionals have completed the program, which is designed to help parents with intellectual disabilities learn basic childcare skills and develop confidence in learning how to interact with their child in a positive way.

The course, created by the Parenting Research Centre (PRC), is provided to professionals in disability, health, child protection, welfare and family support who can work with parents in their homes, and is also of benefit to those supporting such parents in ECEC settings.

More than 500 Swedish professionals will join 30 Norwegian colleagues who have now completed the training, and are ready to deliver the program in their local communities.

The implementation of the Nordic training program follows a 2018 visit by PRC Principal Research Specialist, Dr Catherine Wade to Japan, where she trained government department workers, service providers and early childhood educators on the program’s principles. As a result, the program modules have been translated into Japanese.

The Parenting Young Children program has been available Australia-wide for some time, with Dr Wade noting that the growing international interest is a result of “greater recognition that parents with learning difficulties may need extra support to provide the best possible care for their children.”

“Governments are now starting to invest in early intervention for these parents, to better equip them for parenting.There’s a cost benefit, and there are better outcomes for children if they can remain with their family.”

Dr Wade has been invited to present on supporting parents with learning difficulties at two international conferences in 2019.

In August, she will present at a workshop at the Future4All conference hosted by the World Congress of the International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual and Development Disabilities in Glasgow, Scotland.

In October she will present at The Association of Successful Parenting 2019 International Conference in Seattle, US.

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