Transitioning Together
Principal Investigator
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| Leann Smith, PhD Waisman Center University of Wisconsin - Madison |
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Co-Investigators
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| Marsha R. Mailick, Ph.D. Waisman Center University of Wisconsin - Madison |
Jan S. Greenberg, Ph.D. Waisman Center University of Wisconsin - Madison |
Christopher Coe, PhD Waisman Center University of Wisconsin - Madison |
Purpose of the Study
Adolescence is a time of notably high stress for families of children with ASD. Despite a pressing need for research and interventions during this transition period, currently few programs exist for adolescents with ASD and their families. The purpose of our study is to address this gap by evaluating a recently developed intervention program for families of adolescents with ASD entitled "Transitioning Together."
The Transitioning Together program involves 8 weekly education and support group sessions for parents as well as 8 weekly social skill group sessions for teens. Parent group sessions cover topics such as transition planning, problem solving, and legal issues. Adolescent group sessions involve a variety of games and activities to target skills such as engaging in conversation, recognizing social cues, and using problem solving strategies.
For this study, we are exploring the program's impact on parental stress and well-being, family empowerment and expressed emotion, and adolescent behavior and community involvement. We will use psychosocial, behavioral, and biological strategies to measure change in child behavior, parent stress, and family functioning from pre- to post-intervention. Both teens and parents will also provide feedback about the program to inform how to best serve families in future interventions.
Acknowledgements
We gratefully acknowledge support from Autism Speaks, the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) program of NCRR/NIH for community intervention research (supported in part by grant U21 RR025011), the Waisman Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (P30 HD03352), the National Institute on Aging (R01 AG08768), and the Autism Society of Southeastern Wisconsin. We also express our extreme gratitude to the families who have graciously given of their time to contribute to this research.
