Trainee: Tess Clifford

PhD Candidate

StartDate: November 2007

EndDate: present

Queen's University

Department: Psychology

Supervisor: Patricia Minnes

Supervisor: Helene Ouellette-Kuntz

Research Project: Support Groups for Parents of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: Predictors and Benefits of Involvement

My proposed project will focus on examining predictors and benefits of involvement in support groups for parents of children with autism spectrum disorders. I will be inviting parents to complete a series of online questionnaires asking about their involvement and beliefs about parent support groups, as well as their personality, parenting style, and perceptions of their child and their child’s disability. This information will be used to examine differences between parents who are involved in support groups and those who are not. For the second component of this study, I will be inviting a subset of the parents to participate in an online support group, half will begin immediately and the other half will start 4 months later and act as a control group. I will be examining changes in the parents’ perceptions and their child’s functioning over the time of the support group, and comparing the scores of those in the support group with those in the control group. The results of this study will be useful for developing support groups for parents of children with autism spectrum disorders. It will also be useful to learn about parents who are not involved in support groups, in order to determine how all parents can be supported.

Publications

Clifford, T., Minnes, P., Lopes, V., & Ouellette-Kuntz, H. (in press). Inclusion of preschoolers with intellectual disabilities in organized social activities. Journal on Developmental Disabilities.

Clifford, T. (2007).Transition to school: Experiences of children with intellectual disabilities and their families. Autism Matters, 4(4), 22-24.

Clifford, T. (2007). Transition into school: Experiences of children with intellectual disabilities and their families. Unpublished master’s thesis, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.

Clifford, T. (2005). The relationship between the Early Learning Measure and outcomes on the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales following Intensive Behavioural Intervention in young children with Autism. Unpublished undergraduate honours thesis, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

Presentations

Clifford, T. (2007, November). Support groups for parents of children with intellectual disabilities: What do researchers know and where do we go from here? Invited speaker at the 4th Annual Conference of South Eastern Ontario Community University-Research Alliance, Kingston, ON.

Clifford, T., Lopes, V., Minnes, P., & Ouellette-Kuntz, H. (2007, June). Transition into school: experiences of children with or at risk for intellectual disabilities and their families. Paper presented at the Transition Into School Information Session: A Meeting for Agency and School Board Personnel, Kingston, ON and distributed to attendants.

Clifford, T., Minnes, P., & Ouellette-Kuntz, H. (2007, May). Supports throughout the transition into school: Changes over time and predicting quality of life. Poster presented at the 131st Annual Meeting of the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, Atlanta, GA.

Clifford, T., Minnes, P., & Ouellette-Kuntz, H. (2007, April). Transition into school: Information from parents of children with or at risk for intellectual disabilities in South Eastern Ontario. Poster presented at the Ontario Association on Developmental Disabilities 18th Annual Conference Research Special Interest Group, Barrie, ON.

Clifford, T., Minnes, P., Ouellette-Kuntz, H., & Morrison, C. (2006, October). Transition into school project: Factors contributing to the successful transition of preschoolers with intellectual disability into school. Poster presented at the 3rd Annual Conference of South Eastern Ontario Community-University Research Alliance, Kingston, ON.

Clifford, T., Summers, J., Reitzel, J., Szatmari, P., & Zwaigenbaum, L. (2006, June). The relationship between the Early Learning Measure and outcomes on the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales following Intensive Behavioural Intervention in young children with Autism.. Poster presented at the 5th Annual International Meeting for Autism Research, Montreal, QC.

Clifford, T., & Summers, J. (2006, April). The relationship between the Early Learning Measure and outcomes on the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales following Intensive Behavioural Intervention in young children with Autism.. Paper presented at the Ontario Association on Developmental Disabilities 17th Annual Conference Research Special Interest Group, Barrie, ON.