Vinita Bansal

The Children's Hospital at Westmead, Australia

Title: Adopting and adapting Circle of Security Parenting Program for parents and carers of children with autism and or intellectual disabilities : A new initiative

---

Biography

Dr. Vinita Bansal is a Child and adolescent psychiatrist with a special interest in supporting children and families with autism and intellectual disabilities. She works at the Neurodevelopmental and Mental Health and intellectual disability Hub (MHID Hub) at the Children's Hospital at Westmead. She is a dedicated facilitator for a range of parenting and therapy programs, including Circle of Security, Tuning into Teens, Triple P Stepping Stones, Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), and Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT). She has been on advisory boards to develop educational programs for local mental health teams and also on the National Centre of Excellence in ID Health, ensuring that best practices are shared and implemented across the community.

 

Abstract

Background: Behavioural disturbance and emotional dysregulation are very common issues among referrals to the Neurodevelopmental team Sydney. There is strong evidence for programs that draw on behavioural principles, such as Triple P Stepping Stones, compared to the COS-P. Circle of Security is an attachment-based parenting intervention that aims to promote secure parent–child attachment relationships.

Objectives: Along with recommendations for medications and therapies, our team offered the COS-P program to the patients and caregivers of children with autism and or intellectual disability and tailored it to the targeted population.

Methods: Four COS P groups were delivered to parents and caregivers of children of all ages with autism and/or intellectual disability via telehealth (July 2022 - May 2024). Although the original course and videos were designed for neurotypical children, clinicians were able to tailor them to the special population, including sensory and communication needs, validating caregiver stress and fatigue, and incorporating the developmental age while discussing.

Findings: The qualitative feedback provided by parents and caregivers after the program was very encouraging. Some of the COS concepts resonated very well with the parents and caregivers, despite the videos and program not being targeted to the neurotypical population.

Conclusions: The COS-P has broader applicability not bound by age, developmental status and diagnosis. The current program should be tailored to the specific population, and clinical practice should be guided by well-designed, high-quality, double-blind, randomised controlled trials of COS-P in children and adolescents with autism and or intellectual Disability.