This notice is for anyone that registered or tried to pay for a seminar online between March 10-April 24, 2012. WordPress had a glitch in the program and the registration never made it to our inbox after you clicked the “submit” button.

If you registered or paid for a seminar between March 10 – April 24, 2012, please re-register. Don’t worry about double registering, we’ll take care of that on our end.

Thank you and sorry for any inconvenience.

If you have any questions, call Joy Ann at 845-255-4031.

Children with autism often display challenging behaviors, but new research suggests that parents can learn to better handle tantrums and aggression, which may improve their child’s overall functioning.

“Parent training is one of the best, evidence-supported treatment interventions in child psychiatry for other conditions, such as for children with ADHD or children with oppositional defiant disorder,” said senior study author Lawrence Scahill, a professor at Yale University School of Nursing and Child Study Center in New Haven, Conn.

The study involved 124 children aged 4 to 13 with an autism spectrum disorder and serious behavioral issues, including daily, prolonged tantrums, aggression or self-injurious behavior. The children were prescribed risperidone (Risperdal), an antipsychotic drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for treating severe behavioral problems in children with autism.

Half the children and their parents were also assigned to a six-month, structured “parent training” program. Parents were asked to identify the most difficult, disruptive behaviors and to think about what preceded the incidents and why the child might do it. They then worked with counselors to devise strategies to avoid the triggers and help the child respond better to the everyday stressors.

Parents who underwent training reported a greater decrease in problem behaviors than the parents of children on medication alone, researchers found.

The study is published in the February issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.

Dr. Joseph Horrigan, assistant vice president and head of medical research for Autism Speaks, said studies like this provide more evidence that parent training can help kids and their families cope with autism-related behavioral problems.

Handle With Care has been training parents in behavior management techniques for over 30 years.  See our Parent Training page for the different types of training offered including HWC’s  Early Childhood: Pre-School and Early Elementary School Program.

Handle With Care has developed an Early Childhood Manual for Pre-school and Early Elementary School Children.  If you are a HWC agency caring for this age-group, we are emailing all of our current school contacts a copy of this Manual for distribution.

If you have any comments or technical questions, contact us at 845-255-4031 or info@handlewithcare.com.

Coming early in 2012 HWC will be rolling out some additional training programs:

1. First is a supplemental verbal program that uses the Tension/Tension Reduction Cycle and Solid Object Relationship Model and applies it to special needs children with an autism emphasis, as well as other diagnoses. Our projected time for rolling out this program is March 2012.

2. Second is a team building seminar that focuses on establishing trust, open and honest communications and conflict resolutions.  Our projected time for rolling out this program is February 2012.

3. Third is a leadership that again focuses on trust and relationship building to promote progress and productivity throughout the organization’s structure.   Our projected time for rolling out this program is February 2012.