Cover -- Pre-Schoolers with Autism: An Education and Skills Training Programme for Parents: Manual for Parents -- Contents -- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS -- INTRODUCTION -- Why do this course? -- Group Session 1: Outline and goals of the programme -- Programme outline -- Goals -- Group rules -- Discussion topic: Autism -- Individual Session 1: An educational session with a focus on your child's development and behavioural symptoms -- Group Session 2: Issues for parents after the diagnosis -- Reactions to diagnosis -- Stress and coping -- Individual Session 2: Issues for parents after the diagnosis -- Group Session 3: Understanding and managing difficult behaviour -- What is behaviour management? -- How to start -- Individual Session 3: Understanding and managing difficult behaviour -- Group Session 4: How to change inappropriate behaviour by manipulating consequences -- Reinforcing behaviour -- Extinction -- Punishment -- Individual Session 4: How to change inappropriate behaviour by manipulating consequences -- Group Session 5: How to encourage new behaviour -- Prompting -- Shaping -- Chaining -- Individual Session 5: How to encourage new behaviour -- Group Session 6: Communication problems in autism in verbal children -- Verbal children -- How do these language problems affect the behaviour of verbal children? -- Individual Session 6: Communication problems in autism in verbal children -- Group Session 7: Communication problems in autism in non-verbal children -- Non-verbal children -- How do these language problems affect the behaviour of non-verbal children? -- Improving non-verbal communication using augmentative systems -- How to encourage communication -- Let's start communicating:Some ideas to get a communication interaction going in young children -- Individual Session 7: Communication problems in autism in non-verbal children.

Group Session 8: Social impairment in autism -- Treatment -- Treatment approaches for young children -- Treatment approaches for older children and adolescents -- Individual Session 8: Social impairment in autism -- Group Session 9: How to work and play together -- The importance of play -- How to gain your child's attention -- To increase eye contact, attending and staying on task, remember… -- Individual Session 9: How to work and play together -- Group Session 10: Review and critique of programme - where next? -- Individual Session 10: Review and critique of programme - where next? -- APPENDIX 1: USEFUL WEBSITES AND FURTHER READING -- APPENDIX 2: AUTISM AND ASPERGER'S DISORDER -- REFERENCES.