Coming Soon ….
More Than Words®
The Hanen Program® for Parents of Autistic Children
Hanen More Than Words is a well-researched program for parents of young autistic children or parents of children with social communication challenges. This program is particularly designed for those children that are hard to connect with when teaching them early communication skills.
The More Than Words Parent Training program works on teaching you the skills to use with your children, in everyday moments at home as you learn to bring communication teaching strategies into the everyday moments and experiences you have with your child. The program runs for a term and includes:
- Orientation Session with other parents (2.5 hours)
- Pre-Program Consultation with you and your child (90 minutes)
- 8 Group Sessions with other parents (2.5 hours)
- 3 Video-Feedback Sessions @ Home with you and your child (60-90 minutes for 1-2 parents)
- Hanen More Than Words Guidebook
You will attend 9 x 2.5-hour sessions with the speech pathologist, together with 3-6 other parents. The aim of the sessions is to learn the theory, strategies and practicalities in how to successfully implement all the Hanen More Than Words intervention. The speech pathologist will also have a pre-program consultation with you and your child either at home or in clinic to get to know you both and to personalise the experience and strategies from the Hanen More Than Words program to suit you and your child.
Throughout the program, the speech pathologist will meet with you and your child on three other occasions, again either at home or in the clinic. During these visits you and your child will be videotaped interacting together, practicing what you have learnt in your group training sessions with other parents. Most parents find this the most valuable part of doing Hanen More Than Words as well as the opportunity to connect with other parents.
One parent can attend however we encourage both parents to attend or even members of your extended family. We have also had a child’s early childhood educators attend the program as well so that everyone is using the same strategies.
The overall cost of the program is between $3,000 and $3,500 depending upon how many family members attend and whether you need a travel allocation to do video feedback sessions and pre-program consultations at your home. The cost includes group training sessions, individual sessions and the Hanen More Than Words Guidebook.
Therapy Matters has run this program every 1-2 years for over a decade and highly recommend it as a starting point for families with early communicators or children not yet communicating who have social communication challenges. Many parents who complete this program will often share that it has been the most invaluable tool in their toolkit and that they really enjoy learning how to better connect, understand and communicate with their child.
Contact us to register your interest in any upcoming or future groups.
If places are available, contact us to register your child’s details. We take a deposit for the orientation session. Priority for group placement given to current Therapy Matters clients.