Materials and equipment required include a video camera (e.g. camcorder or pad), memory card, screen for video play back (e.g. laptop), secure video storage (e.g. encrypted external hard drive) and a range of toys. The list of suggested toys is contained in the PACT manual.
PACT may be delivered in the home, at a centre/clinic, other caregiver setting or online. PACT practitioners are advised to consider home factors that assist the PACT sessions e.g. an appropriate space/ room, considering creating a quiet, calm setting, managing distractions (e.g. TV, video, radio off).
In low resource settings play may include available everyday or household items, e.g. cooking utensils, large boxes, food, fabric, a ball, bubbles. The child's motivation is considered when selecting suitable play material.
PACT can be delivered through live online methods. Please see our PACT teleconference guidance:
For children who are not motivated by toys, interaction and play with no toys is included in PACT e.g. songs, music, rhymes, actions, interaction games.
We recommend 2 cases in case one family are not available but 1 case would be sufficient if they are happy to continue until the delegate has reached certification.
They can be either, we only ask delegates to identify practise cases and they can be cases from their existing caseload.
This is the decision of the individual professional depending on their circumstances, our professionals inform parents they are practising a new method to reach certification but it’s their decision on the discount they offer during this phase.
The trainers are rating the delegates implementation of the PACT protocol, not the child or family, so they may select a clinical or non-clinical child and it’s not a problem if they already know the family. We also recommend the practise case could be a non-neurodivergent child and family they know.
We recommend 3- 6 sessions.
PACT requires practice to develop your clinical competencies and PACT techniques e.g. using cascading probes in therapist feedback, developing a therapeutic alliance with parents/ carers, observation skills and video analysis, selecting video clips, setting social communication goals and measuring progress through the stages. Training in these clinical competencies is progressive from the 2-day live training course through supervised post-course clinical practice to gain PACT accreditation.
Trainees have 6 months to complete the post-course work following the Level 2 training course. Trainees should identify two practice cases prior to attending the course. The first video for supervision should be submitted within 3 months, and the second video within 6 months. Extensions may be offered in exceptional circumstances, at the discretion of the IMPACT team. You may submit your two practice videos of the same family or two different families.
You will need to submit:
Please email info@pacttraining.co.uk to request a secure link to upload your video/s.
Trainees may choose to practice with more than 2 families. The IMPACT senior trainer will view one or two case videos (including the parent-child play, therapist's feedback session with the parent, setting home goals and a copy of the written home programme). The senior trainer provides supervision and feedback once one video has been viewed, the trainee continues to practice and may be asked to submit further short video clips. Once trainees pass fidelity, they receive a PACT certificate. The trainee may be asked to submit a further case video if they do not pass fidelity initially, please note that there is an additional fee for this.
This depends on how quickly the trainee can find the practice cases. If parents have agreed to practice sessions prior to attending the 2-day PACT course, the practice usually takes 3 months. Where trainees need time to identify practice cases post-course work may extend to 6 months. It is recommended post course work commences within 1 month of completing the 2-day live PACT training. You may submit your practice video/s of the same family or two different families.
Trainees are invited to a group meeting 8 weeks after the 2-day live training to ask questions, discuss and support each other through their practice cases. Post-course supervision is delivered individually where the senior PACT supervisor views and rates your individual practice videos.
Trainees send the case video using a secure web link or on an encrypted memory stick for senior trainer review. Feedback and supervision is provided online and a written summary provided by email. For centres becoming PACT centres of excellence, a local PACT lead may review trainee post course videos in face-to-face supervision sessions.
You will need to obtain consent from families to share videos, in line with your local policies. We use a secure platform to share videos; these are only accessible to yourself and IMPACT. All IMPACT associates meet GDPR requirements.
Option 1:
IMPACT shares a secure Microsoft 365 SharePoint link with delegates to upload their PACT videos for supervision and certification, which the supervisor then reviews. The videos are deleted from SharePoint once the delegate reaches certification.
Option 2:
Delegates save their videos only on their organisation’s recording device and share their PACT video during the live supervision session, eliminating the need for video transfer.
In usual circumstances, we ask you to identify two practice cases before attendance at the face-to-face training and deliver a 2-3 sessions for both cases. However, we understand that identifying practice families may be more difficult at the moment.If you are unable to identify two suitable cases due to COVID-19 restrictions, we recommend that you identify a friend or extended family member with a child to work with instead. The child does not need to present with any communication difficulties. The post-course work and accreditation process focuses on your therapeutic skills and ability to implement the PACT protocol, rather than the skills of the child. Following feedback from your supervisor, you may then continue to work with the same family or identify another family to work with for 2-3 sessions to complete your post-course work.
During times of restricted face-to-face contact, you may record the parent-child play and your PACT practice feedback session with the parent using the record button on the online platform and submit your video recording of your practice PACT session. When you click 'record' on the online platform, the recording is automatically saved on your computer (usually in documents). Parents have the choice of sending 2-3 2 minute pre-recorded home-made clips of parent-child play or you may record the parent-child play using the online platform. You can save the recording on your computer, then click 'share screen' to watch the full video and review the two best 1 minute video clips whilst delivering PACT feedback with the parent. PACT supervisors are only observing your practice and demonstration of PACT techniques.
Only PACT associates and local PACT leads can provide post-course supervision. Please see ‘Developing a PACT service’ for further details. Please email info@pacttraining.co.uk if you wish to become an associate or local lead.
The videos should show a full PACT session which usually lasts 1-1.5 hours. Often, trainees break the videos down into three separate videos (review, adult-child play video, feedback & goal setting) to make the uploads quicker.
The video can show any PACT stage, but we’d recommended completing a couple of sessions before recording a session to submit. We need to see all elements of a PACT session including the review of previous goals.
You can choose which would be most beneficial for you. We ask you to submit only one session initially and then practice some more, focusing on areas identified in supervision, before recording and submitting the second session.
Most trainees choose cases that reflect their usual caseload, so consider what will be most helpful to your usual work. Some trainees also choose to select two different presentations (e.g. a non-verbal child and a verbal child) to gain more varied experience.Our main focus in supervision is on your skills as a therapist and ability to follow PACT protocol, rather than the child/family presentation, therefore we don’t give specific recommendations about this.
The Sharepoint platform we use does allow large video files to be uploaded, however you may wish to break the session down into 3 videos – the review, the adult-child play session and then the feedback/goal setting, by stopping and restarting the video between these. This reduces the time it takes to upload files.
Please upload your video/s onto the SharePoint link which you will have received by email so our PACT supervisors can access all videos easily and securely. If you are having difficulties using SharePoint, please contact us on: info@pacttraining.co.uk.
A professional wishing to become a PACT trainer gains experience of 5 clinical cases after achieving accreditation. Following this, they may become a PACT trainer by co-training on a Level 2 training course and co-rating two post-course supervision videos with a senior IMPACT trainer.In the UK, PACT trainers are associates for IMPACT. All training courses are arranged and advertised through IMPACT. If you would like further details, please email info@pacttraining.co.uk to express an interest in becoming a PACT trainer.
We have a number of implementation trials to test PACT in different communities, countries, cultures. We support local communities piloting and delivering local implementation trials by gaining feedback from users and parents (e.g. measuring changes in parent self-efficacy, family life questionnaire, parental values and aspirations) to inform help inform local service delivery and feedback social values to our IMPACT social enterprise. Several UK based PACT services have gained NHS funding based on quality measures of this kind.
Qualified professionals with experience in working with children with autism and families is required to be able to train in PACT. A minimum of 5 years clinical experience including 2 years experience of working with children with autism and their families is required to be eligible for accredited PACT training. Professionals with less experience may still complete the PACT level 1 e-learning course.