FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Training
Changes to Registration Policy:
Registered participants who are unable to attend and notify us of this in writing at least 2 days before the training start date are allowed one transfer to another eligible participant or one transfer to an equivalent training in the same calendar year.
Cancellation Policy: Participants who cancel their registration up to 14 days before the training will receive a full refund. After this point, participants will receive a refund minus an AUD$50.00 fee to cover administration costs. In exceptional circumstances, please contact tik-info@unimelb.edu.au. Please note: In-Person trainings incur an additional fee of $80 AUD for late cancellations (48 hours or less) to cover catering costs.
There are no specific requirements in terms of qualifications: in order to attend a training, participants must be working as allied health professionals/in a related field and have sufficient experience working with parents, carers and/or children.
Yes! So long as you have a background in group work and have worked with kids and/or parents and carers, this is fine. Please note: we recommend that you do not lead or deliver any of the key content to the group. You can, however, assist in observing the group dynamic, demonstrating roleplay activities and generally act as another personal resource in the group setting when it comes to sharing experiences around meta emotion and family of origin.
No. Our program manuals are available to trained facilitators only.
Our training team can be reached at tik-info@unimelb.edu.au, 9am-5pm (Melbourne-time) Monday-Friday.
Over the years, we have received many enquiries from facilitators interested in making adjustments to, or providing additional resources for, the delivery of the Tuning in to Kids® suite of programs for use with autistic families. We want to acknowledge and thank you for this interest. It reflects the care many of you bring to ensuring that the programs are responsive to the diverse strengths, needs and experiences of the children and families you support. The Tuning in to Kids® suite of programs has been developed and evaluated with families from a range of community and clinical backgrounds, and across varied service contexts. While research specifically evaluating the programs with families of autistic children and adolescents is clearly needed, this has not yet been completed. We hope further studies in this area will be underway in the near future. This is an important and growing focus for us, to better understand and build the evidence in how emotion coaching might support autistic children and their caregivers.
For practitioners interested in this area, appropriate training and expertise in autism is essential in order to understand how, what and why adjustments might need to be made. Autistic children may experience, express and regulate emotions in many ways that differ from non-autistic peers, and facilitators’ understanding of sensory differences, communication preferences, individual strengths and neuro-affirming principles is essential. Where adjustments or additional resources are considered, these should be guided by relevant expertise and clinical judgement. Our aim is to preserve the integrity of the evidence-based components of the program while supporting thoughtful, responsive practice tailored to the families with whom the program is delivered.
We appreciate the commitment within our facilitator community to inclusive, strengths-based support for families. Your care, professionalism and reflective practice are what allow the Tuning in to Kids®programs to continue growing in meaningful and responsive ways. For those interested, Mindful offers an extensive Autism training calendar and we suggest looking at Core Autism Training options. https://mindful.org.au/autism-training.aspx
Trained Facilitators
We don’t offer formal refresher courses, however, we do offer free supervision sessions, run by our training team. You will have an opportunity to ask any questions you have, as well as learn from the experience and insight of other Tuning in to Kids providers. You can attend as many of these sessions as you wish.
You can request access to our facilitator portal here by creating a profile on our website. Requests are manually approved, and may take up to 48 hours to be processed.
No. We have a wonderful team of trainers here at the University of Melbourne, who are the only team authorised and qualified to train other professionals in our suite of parenting programs.
No. Our programs are separate, and you must complete each of training in its entirety to receive qualification and deliver that program to parents. Feedback from our facilitators has indicated that completing both Tuning in to Kids® and Tuning in to Teens® programs is extremely helpful in reinforcing and enriching knowledge of the programs – they do overlap somewhat, but not a great deal. The same applies to Dads Tuning in to Kids™ (for which Tuning in to Kids® is a prerequisite).
Unfortunately not. You must complete Tuning in to Kids® facilitator training in order to attend the Dads Tuning in to Kids™ facilitator training. Dads Tuning in to Kids™ is an add-on of Tuning in to Kids®, which expands on the content of the original Tuning in to Kids® program rather than repeating it. It is not suitable as a standalone program for facilitators, nor will you be able to take it if you have completed Tuning in to Teens® facilitator training only.
Parents
Almost! Please see our parenting site here for resources, information regarding Tuning in to Kids® providers and access to the Tuning in to Kids® Online video subscription program (TIKOL).