About the Parent Professional Partnership Special Interest Group

The Parent-Professional Partnership Special Interest Group (PPP SIG) was created in 2001 to help address the needs of parents within the ABA community.  The PPP SIG provides information, networking and resources for parents attending the Annual ABAI Convention.  Although the bulk of our efforts center around autism spectrum disorders, parents of children with other disorders and disabilities may be interested in our SIG's activities or our website.  Our current objectives include:

1)    Helping parents of newly diagnosed children, as well as parents whose children are already involved in applied behavior analytic (ABA) services, become more familiar with ABA through the information, resources, and links of our website, www.pppsig.org.  More specifically, we are...

• Expanding upon the scope of our SIG's website;

• Developing an extensive frequently asked questions (FAQ) section on the website;

• Helping parents access accurate information from other existing resources via links or summaries;

• Creating new resources to help parents become more familiar with ABA intervention and services, how to better advocate for such services, and how to promote accountability;

• Increasing awareness within the professional and parent communities about the website; and

• Collaborating with ABAI in developing more consumer friendly content on its website, www.abainternational.org.
   

2)    Helping parents benefit more significantly from the annual ABAI Convention as well as other Autism-focused conferences. More specifically, we are...

• Providing information to parent attendees prior to the Convention;

• Supporting conference events relevant to parents directly and indirectly by publicizing the efforts of others or sponsoring formal conference events that target issues of significance to parents (e.g., how to make important treatment decisions, how to enhance parent-professional collaboration);

• Creating opportunities for networking; and

• Providing a forum for discussion of objectives at our annual business meeting.

We are exploring ways in which we can support professionals who work extensively with families, as well as parents interested in ABA who have children with other disorders and disabilities. Although we have no concrete objectives in this area at this time, a committee will be formed to work toward this goal.

All interested parents and professionals are encouraged to join the Parent-Professional Partnership SIG. To join, send your name, mailing address, and e-mail address to Marianne Clancy at marianne@autism-aims.com.

Current Officers (2009-2010):