Abstract

Al Jalila Foundation (AJF) is a philanthropic organization based in Dubai. The organization sponsored a training programme in 2013 to support parents of children with various disabilities to cope with the behavioural and emotional challenges that are related to the child’s disability. The course lasts for 6 weeks and is delivered across the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This paper aims to measure the impact of one of the parental behavior support programmes on the attitudes and responsiveness of participants to the needs of their Autistic children. A mixed method approach was chosen to determine this impact. Participants were interviewed on an interval basis and also requested to complete pre, mid and post course questionnaires. The script of the group interview was analyzed and the main themes mentioned by parents were examined for consistency in the light of the findings extracted from the questionnaires. When comparing the findings of both the interview and questionnaire, it was found that the programme had a great impact on participants and this impact was clearly noticed in the positive change of the parents’ attitude towards their children. Participants’ recommendations, collected from their returned questionnaires and from the sponsor’s evaluation, show that there is a desperate need for more parental support programmes. The paper ends with recommendations for future practice.

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