The Incredible Years: Autism and Language Delay programme is for parents and carers of children aged 2-7 years. It is designed to help you understand your child's development and to feel confident in supporting their communication, learning and emotional wellbeing. There is no diagnosis necessary.
This 14-week programme focuses on building children's language, social skills, emotional understanding and self-regulation. These areas are especially important for children with autism or language delays, and the programme uses practical, evidence-based strategies tailored to their needs.
The Autism and Language Delay programme is one of the specialised versions within the wider Incredible Years series, created to support families of children with developmental differences, including autism spectrum conditions and communication delays.
What the programme helps with
During the sessions, parents learn:
- ways to encourage language development through play, routines, modelling and simple communication strategies
- how to build social connection, interaction and shared attention
- tools to support emotional and self-regulation, helping children manage big feelings
- approaches for supporting positive behaviour and responding calmly and consistently to challenging behaviour
The programme is strengths based and practical, helping parents adapt strategies to suit their child's unique needs.
A supportive group for families
Parents often say that one of the biggest benefits is meeting other families who understand the joys and challenges of raising a child with autism or language delay. Many find comfort in knowing they are not alone and enjoy the chance to share ideas and celebrate progress together.
Research and background
The Autism and Language Delay programme is part of the Incredible Years' programmes. These programmes are grounded in social learning theory and have been shown to improve communication, emotional skills and parent child relationships through consistent modelling, practice and positive interactions.