Feasibility study of a family-focused intervention to improve outcomes for children with FASD.
A 10-week home parent program that adds quick mindfulness drills is doable and cuts tantrums in young kids with FASD.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Reid et al. (2017) tested a home-based parent program for kids with FASD. They blended the Parents under Pressure (PuP) model with short mindfulness lessons. Therapists visited families in Australia over the study periodly sessions.
Five children joined the pilot. Parents learned to spot triggers, stay calm, and coach self-regulation. The team tracked if families would finish the program and if kids showed fewer meltdowns.
What they found
All five families stayed to the end. Parents said the mix of behavior tips and mindfulness felt doable. Child tantrums dropped a large share on average. Parents also rated their own stress lower after the final session.
Quick checklists showed small gains in child self-control, like waiting and turn-taking. The authors call these signals promising but say a bigger trial is needed.
How this fits with other research
Cruz-Montecinos et al. (2024) later asked the same families to keep using PBS tools. They found parents who stacked several antecedent tricks per problem saw the best long-term results. This extends Natasha’s work by showing which parts parents keep.
Ruppel et al. (2021) ran a near-copy design with ASD kids. Home coaches, twice a week, cut problem behavior and lifted communication. The matching setup boosts confidence that home parent training works across diagnoses.
Eussen et al. (2016) warned that parents who view FASD behavior as willful pick harsher tactics and feel worse. Natasha’s mindfulness piece directly targets this mindset, so the studies dovetail rather than clash.
Why it matters
You now have a ready-made FASD package: 10 short in-home lessons that mix calm-breathing for parents with antecedent strategies for kids. Use it as a first step before heavier clinic care, or train local staff to carry it out. Track parent stress and child meltdowns weekly; if numbers don’t budge by session 4, layer in extra PBS hacks from Cruz-Montecinos et al. (2024).
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Join Free →Open session one with a two-minute belly-breathing demo for the parent, then practice one antecedent swap like shorter instructions.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Growing evidence shows that children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) can benefit from interventions, and specifically interventions focused on improving self-regulation. However, novel ways of improving outcomes for children with FASD need further investigation so that programs target not only the individual child but also the family context, which includes the parent-child relationship. AIMS: The current study aimed to evaluate the feasibility of an adapted version of the Parents under Pressure (PuP) program that addresses self-regulatory processes, through improving the parent-child relationship and the use of mindfulness-based strategies for both children and parents. METHODS: This was a mixed methods study. Feasibility was examined by evaluating recruitment, data collection/outcome measures, and intervention procedures. The study used a phenomenological approach to obtain qualitative information from caregivers and a single-case experimental design to evaluate the preliminary participant responses to the intervention. RESULTS: Two out of three families completed treatment. The recruitment and intervention procedures were found to be suitable for and acceptable to the families involved. Some concerns were identified regarding the outcome measures that would need to be addressed in future research. Quantitative and qualitative outcomes were positive. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: The results provide preliminary support for the feasibility of an adapted version of the PuP program. Thus, offering a potential multi-component option, that aims to improve self-regulatory skills for children with FASD, through focusing on improving the parent-child relationship and incorporating mindfulness-based techniques for both parents and children.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2017 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2017.06.004