collaborating with our aboriginal partners f...collaborating with our aboriginal partners parent...

PARENT & CHILD EARLY COACHING PROJECT

PAGE 1

FROM CONCEPT TO IMPLEMENTATION, the PACE Coaching research team and trainers have been committed to including

Aboriginal partner agencies, coach trainees, and families in the PACE Coaching project. We are determined to make a concerted effort to enact the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in both our approach to and our interactions with members of this community. We are open to learning from our Aboriginal partners, acknowledging mistakes when we make them, and engaging in reparation when this occurs.

We invited Aboriginal advisers Diana Elliott and Nadine Gagné-L’Hirondelle to the PACE Coaching Advisory Committee to help guide and inform us. We also consult regularly with our Aboriginal partners in Vernon, Terrace, Williams Lake, the Cowichan Valley, and the Ridge Meadows/Fraser Region. These conversations have helped us to embrace three key strategies as we move forward, one of which has led to

Collaborating with Our Aboriginal Partners

PARENT & CHILD EARLY COACHING PROJECT NEWSLETTERVOLUME 1 NO. 2 SPRING 2018Keeping

More on next page

the creation of a flexible coaching model, called Parent-Child Connections, that recognizes the unique nature of Aboriginal families (see page 2 for more about this model).

RELATIONAL ORIENTATION

We acknowledge that the cumulative effect of government-mandated residential schools, poverty, and systemic racism must be bridged by intentionally engaging families in a way that encourages healing and understanding. Because we understand that family well-being is closely linked to children’s current

and future health, we will take the time required to establish relationships that are built on trust so that families feel safe, comfortable, and welcomed. This goal is consistent with recommendations by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to develop culturally appropriate parenting programs (Call to Action #5) and early childhood education programs (Call to Action #12) for Aboriginal families.

EXISTING CIRCLE OF SUPPORT

Many circles of support have already emerged in BC for Aboriginal children and families, including First Nations Headstart, AIDP Home

Visiting, Friendship Centres, Maternal Child Health Programs, and a network

of preschool and daycare centres on reserve. We invited Aboriginal

agencies in all of the project communities to join us in this project, and we are pleased that several have agreed to do so.


PAGE 2

In addition, Child Development Centres in most of our partner communities work closely with First Nations programs both on and off reserve, and we will reach out to Aboriginal families through these connections. Our goal is to establish relationships within these organizational hubs so that parent coaching becomes part of the existing support structure, rather than being situated as a separate, stand-alone program.

NO “PAN-ABORIGINAL” WORLD VIEW

We recognize that Aboriginal families may differ by language group and/or membership, and that each family is unique. Given this understanding, we will collaborate with our partners to offer these families a coaching model called Parent-Child Connections. This model will not involve random assignment and will be more flexible than the larger PACE Coaching research study. We will invite the Parent-Child Connections families and the coaches who support them to tell us the story of their coaching experience so that we can understand what worked and what did not from their perspective, and how future services can be adapted to better meet their needs.

Aboriginal Partners

Cont’d from previous page THANK YOU

We are grateful to many people for their generosity and support of this

project. In this issue, we want to acknowledge the financial contributions and/or “above-and-beyond-the-call-of-duty” support we have received from:

• Jeff Riley, Communication Assistance for Youth and Adults (CAYA), for donating iPads and accessories

• Kerry Randle and Lena Ling, Special Education Technology-BC (SET-BC), for donating iPads and accessories

• Dawn McKenna, Sergio Cocchia, and the staff at the Pacific Autism Family Network hub in Richmond, for providing space and technology for PACE Coaching workshops

• Nadine Gagné-L’Hirondelle and the K’waant Pod for advice ab0ut the Parent-Child Connections logo

• Karen Bopp and the staff at Autism Information Services – BC office, for their assistance during PACE Coaching workshops

• Miriam Elfert, Eva Major, and Hazel Cooksley at the Reach Child and Youth Development Centre in Delta/Ladner, for providing toys for the PACE Coaching workshops in Richmond

• Terry Sunderland, for the PACE Coaching logos and Keeping PACE design

• Robin McDaniel and Derek Thompson at the Ts’ewulthun Health Centre in Duncan, for advice and other types of assistance

• Henrietta Penney at Alpha Behaviour Services, Kelowna, and Kendra Rogers and Scott Palmer, for their generous contributions.


PAGE 3

OVER THE NEXT FEW MONTHS, as our coach trainees acquire the skills they need to become full-fledged PACE

coaches, we will begin to enrol families of 15-30-month-old children at-risk for autism into the research study. Families who consent to participate will be assigned at random to either the Parent Coaching (PC) group or the Assess & Monitor (A&M) group.

Regardless of the group assignment, all families will:

• receive a copy of An Early Start for Your Child with Autism by Drs. Sally Rogers, Geraldine Dawson, and Laurie Vismara

• have access to a series of online modules called Help is in Your Hands that were developed by Dr. Aubyn Stahmer and her colleagues at the MIND Institute in California.

• participate in assessments prior to the intervention and after 24 weeks. We will measure the quality of parent-child interactions during play sessions, children’s social and communication abilities, parent stress, family quality of life, and (at the end) parents’ satisfaction with the intervention they received.

In addition, parents in the PC group will:

• participate in the PACE Coaching intervention over a 24-week period with one of our coaches from a partner agency in their community.

And, parents in the A&M group will:

• receive the services and supports that are ordinarily available from that same agency and elsewhere in their community during this time, for 24 weeks

WHY RANDOM ASSIGNMENT?

We are often asked why we are assigning families at random rather than providing PACE Coaching to all families who want to participate. The answer has to do with the difference between a service delivery program and a research study. Service providers associated with Child Development Centres, First Nations Friendship Centres, or Health Centres make decisions about the services they offer based on the needs of the community, the availability of qualified staff, the funding that is available to them, and many other local factors. They may or may not evaluate the effectiveness of those services because that is not their mandate.

A research study, on the other hand, is designed to answer a specific question about effectiveness or – as is the case with this project – RELATIVE effectiveness. The question we were asked (and funded!) to answer is “How effective is PACE Coaching, compared to the usual services available to very young children at-risk for autism?”

Answering this question requires both an intervention group (the PC group) and a comparison group (the A&M group). We assign families at random to the two groups to avoid a situation where something other than the intervention accounts for any differences that we might find. This means that every family has a 50-50 chance of being in the PC or A&M group, regardless of things like household income, educational background, number of other children the home, or other family characteristics. Just as with a coin toss – it’s the “luck of the draw” that determines the intervention a family receives in this type of research study – nothing else. This is the best way to answer the question that we were asked to address, and we are eager to know what happens!

Family Enrolments to get underway soon


PAGE 4

MEET our Advisory Committee!

WE ARE VERY FORTUNATE TO BE SUPPORTED by an Advisory Committee of individuals who bring a wide array of expertise to this project, from BC and beyond. The Advisory Committee meets every 6 months to give us advice

about how to address the many challenges that are involved in the complex, multi-site PACE Coaching project. We also call upon individual members of the Committee in between these meetings, to help us solve problems that arise and to keep us on track in general. The Advisory Committee consists of (in alphabetical order):

• Dr. Karen Bopp, Director, Autism Information Services – British Columbia

• Dr. Jessica Brian, Clinical Scientist, Bloorview Research Institute and University of Toronto

• Diana Elliott, Provincial Advisor, Aboriginal Infant Development Program

• Nadine Gagné-L’Hirondelle, Provincial Advisor, Aboriginal Supported Child Development Program

• Jason Gordon, Provincial Advocate, BC Association for Child Development and Intervention

• Dr. Nancy Lanphear, Division Head, Department of Pediatrics, Sunny Hill Health Centre for Children and BC Autism Assessment Network

• Dr. Suzanne Lewis, Chief Medical Officer & Vice President of Research, Pacific Autism Family Network and Faculty, UBC Dept. of Medical Genetics

• Deborah Pugh, Executive Director, ACT-Autism Community Training

• Dr. Isabel Smith, Joan and Jack Craig Chair in Autism Research, Dalhousie University and IWK Health Centre

These individuals all give generously of their time and expertise, and we are grateful for their contributions.


PAGE 5

ONE POD, TWO PODS… In the PACE Coaching Project, a Pod is a small group of 3-5 coach trainees and

their trainer who meet regularly online for approximately 12 weeks following each of two 3-day training workshops. The Pods use an online platform called Teleroo that is provided to the project through an Alberta-based company (Communities Uncomplicated). Teleroo allows the Pod members to meet in a secure, password-protected virtual space in order

to interact, share videos of coaching sessions with children and parents, and provide one another with feedback. The Pods meet online every 2-3 weeks after each training workshop, and the feedback from trainees about these sessions has been very positive.

Pictured are the happy “Podsters” who, at their first meeting, chose a distinctive name that reflects the location, the personality of the group, or both.

Introducing the PACE Pods!

5 Peas in a Pod: Delta/Surrey/Langley and Salmon Arm K’waant (Dolphin) Pod: Cowichan Valley

FUN + 1 Pod: Fort St. John


PAGE 6

Mindful Play Pod: Ridge Meadows and Fraser Valley

Northern Lights Pod: Prince George and Williams Lake

Terrimat Pod: Terrace and Kitimat


PAGE 7

Island Time Pod: Comox Valley and Duncan

Okanagan Pod: Penticton and Vernon

Queen Pod: Victoria


PAGE 8

Spotlight

ON

JACKIE BROWN

Jackie is our part-time Project Assistant – in other words, she does

whatever we need her to do, whenever we need her to do it! She has been a freelance writer since 1984 as the sole proprietor of Arbutus Communications, and in that capacity has been involved in various government and private sector projects over the years. She is also the Editorial Assistant for the journal Augmentative and Alternative Communication. Jackie especially likes to play tennis and golf, drive her sports car (fast!), and take long bike trips.

THERESA KONG

Theresa is a part-time Financial Processing Specialist who works with our Project Manager, Karen Kalynchuk, to insure that invoices and reimbursements are paid out as promptly as possible. Theresa has a B.A. degree in Psychology from UBC and also works as an Administrative and Office Assistant with other agencies. Her hobbies include collecting stuffed animals and coins from around the world and folding origami figures.

KRISTINA CHANG

Kristina is a graduate student in UBC’s School of Audiology and Speech Sciences. She works with

research team member Paola Colozzo as a Research Assistant. Kristina has

been helping to transcribe recordings form the Implementation Action Planning meetings. Kristina graduated from UBC in 2012 with a B.A. in English Literature and Asian Studies, and in her free time she enjoys reading and yoga.

JODI SAMARTGIS

Jodi works with research team member Veronica Smith as our part-time Teleroo support wizard. She is a clinical neuropsychologist from Melbourne, Australia who moved to Vancouver in October 2016. Although she is still homesick,

she is nevertheless thoroughly enjoying her work on both the Pathways in ASD and PACE Coaching Projects. Her favourite things include cheese, wine, Harry Potter, and a nice Excel spreadsheet.

collaborating with our aboriginal partners f...collaborating with our aboriginal partners parent...

Documents