The development of an individualized digit-based family support program for parents having young children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

• Main Authors: Yu-ling Kuo, 郭育玲
• Other Authors: Mei-hwei Ho
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2006
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/37749470604566608577

碩士 === 國立臺南大學 === 特殊教育學系碩士班 === 95 === The study aimed to develop an individualized digit-based family support program and to evaluate its feasibility. A case study method was adopted. Eight parents having young ASD children were involved. Questionnaires, archival records, and telephone interviews were utilized for data collection. As a result, a family support program, which was digit-based and individualized, was developed. The program consisted of eight systems with four elements interwined. The eight systems were the contents-building system, the management system, the self-paced-learning system, the data-linking system, the searching system, the guiding system, the program-evaluation system, and the self-amending system. The four elements were the administrator, the webmaster, learners, and the hardware of the website. Five groups of contents provided by the program, including the information regrading ASD and ASD children, instruction strategies and related issues, behavioral management, supporting service resources, and referral, respectively. The contents were selected based on the eight participants’ needs. The referal information and supporting service resources information were most desirable, the behavioral management information the least. For evaluating the individualization of the program, the following four indices were chosen: being user-determined, suiting user’s convenience, providing multiple choices, and being adjustable. Regarding the feasibility of this program, a rather acceptable outcome was preliminarily found. The program was evaluated by its form, contents, conformance to the individualization, and effects on the participants and their ASD children. Both the form and the contents of the program were appreciated by all the participants. The individualization were conformed well at two of the indices-suiting user’s convenience, being adjustable, but only partially at the other two indices—providing multiple choices, being user-determined. However, the effects of the program on the participants and their children were found limited, probably, due to the short-period implement of the program. Nevertheless, some of the participants indicated that they gained improvement on knowledge or skills because of the program and that they had applied the strategies, learned from the program, in managing their children’s behavioral problems and received good results.