Parent Education

The DLC provides a comprehensive Parent Education Program. The program provides parents with a way to become efficient and effective teachers of their children. Since learning opportunities occur throughout the student's day outside of school, as well as in school, it is important for anyone involved with the student's life to become involved with the student's education. The most effective method to accomplish this is through parent education. A comprehensive parent program helps parents to participate in their children's education by developing and expanding their own skills. Please check the MUJC Parent Resources page for more information.

Goals of the Parent Education Program include:

Giving parents a working knowledge of the principles of applied behavior analysis and showing them techniques to effectively use these principles to strengthen or maintain desirable behavior while eliminating undesirable or inappropriate behavior in the home.
Developing continuity and generalization of skills and behavior between the classroom, home, and the community.
Providing an atmosphere where parents can talk about home situations and share common experiences that are supportive of other parents.
Providing the opportunity for the pooling of helpful information such as the availability of community agencies, baby-sitting services, and dental and medical help.
Providing information for parents on autism, current research, and new ideas in the field.

The DLC's Parent Education Program includes the following:

Parent Training in Applied Behavior Analysis
This parent training program consists of a multi-week training series for parents, family members, and caregivers. Topics include an overview of autism, ways to increase desired behaviors, ways to decrease undesired behaviors, sibling issues, stress reduction, I.E.P. development, and accessing available services. Parents learn how to target a skill and develop clear goals and objectives. They also learn how to teach that skill and to generalize and maintain it in different settings. Parents are taught how to perform a functional behavior analysis and how to develop and implement effective behavior management programs. Sibling issues are covered, with strategies for promoting sibling interactions, meetings siblings' needs, and developing family coping skills.

Communication Journals
Communication journals are provided as a means to communicate between the parent, teachers, and the therapists. Teachers and therapists communicate weekly with parents on the student's progress.

School Visits
The DLC welcomes and encourages visits by parents. If a parent wishes to confer with a teacher or visit a classroom, the parent should call the main office in advance to make arrangements. All visitors are required to sign in at the main office and obtain a visitor's pass prior to visiting the classroom. During the visit, please note any questions or comments that can be discussed with the teacher at a later time. To avoid classroom disruption, class visits should be limited to between 30 and 60 minutes.

Brown Bag Meetings
Brown bag meetings are designed to provide open communication with the MUJC administration, the DLC administration, and the parents. The meetings are held monthly on at 12:00 noon at the MUJC administrative offices unless otherwise noted. One evening meeting is also scheduled.