Preventing behavioural and emotional problems in children who have a developmental disability: a public health approach.
A 2011 call to give every developmental-disability family Triple P has since been backed by RCTs and telehealth trials.
01Research in Context
What this study did
de Graaf et al. (2011) wrote a position paper. They asked: could we give every family of a child with a developmental disability the Stepping Stones Triple P program?
They mapped out a public-health plan. Think fluoride in water, but for parenting skills. No kids were enrolled; this was a blueprint.
What they found
The team did not run a trial, so there are no child data. Instead, they argued the idea is ready for a large-scale test.
How this fits with other research
Kostulski et al. (2021) later ran the test G et al. only sketched. Their RCT showed parent-management training cut behaviour problems and anxiety in kids with intellectual disability.
Tsami et al. (2019) and Cheong et al. (2026) pushed the idea further. Both used telehealth to coach parents across countries and time zones. Kids gained language and daily-living skills without leaving home.
Sanders et al. (1989) did the opposite: they worked with only three families in their homes. That old study proved single-case parent training works; the new papers show it can go global.
Why it matters
You no longer have to wonder if large parent-training rollouts are possible. Telehealth and group formats now exist, and they work. Start small: offer one Triple P webinar this month. Track who shows up and what parents think. Scale from there.
Want CEUs on This Topic?
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ free CEUs — live every Wednesday. Ethics, supervision & clinical topics.
Join Free →Pick one Triple P tip sheet, email it to every parent on your caseload, and invite them to a 30-minute Zoom walk-through next week.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
Children with developmental disabilities are at substantially greater risk of developing emotional and behavioural problems compared to their typically developing peers. While the quality of parenting that children receive has a major effect on their development, empirically supported parenting programs reach relatively few parents. A recent trend in parenting intervention research has been the adoption of a public health approach to improve the quality of parenting at a population level. This has involved delivering parenting interventions on a large scale and in a cost-effective manner. Such trials have been demonstrated to reduce negative parenting practices, prevent child maltreatment, and reduce child behavioural and emotional problems. However, these trials have been restricted to parents of children who are developing typically. This paper explores the rational for the extension of a population health approach to parenting interventions for children with developmental disabilities. It is argued that a population-based implementation and evaluation trial of an empirically supported system of interventions is needed to determine whether this approach is viable and can have a positive impact on parents and their children in a disability context. The Stepping Stones Triple P--Positive Parenting Program is presented as an example of a parenting intervention that satisfies the requirements for such a trial. Tasks and challenges of such a trial are discussed.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2011 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2011.07.022