Overview
Understanding Problems
Learning Social Rules
Establishing Relationships
FAR Ideas
Using FAR at Home
Getting Started & Intro
Find the Key
Clean the Room
Guidance
Activity Sheets
Library of Activity Sheets
GoFAR Forms
Do2Learn Resources
 
 

Overview

The GoFAR program teaches self-regulation and adapting to situations. These are important skills children need to function in their daily lives. Using GoFAR, your child will learn how to organize and think through problems carefully to lessen impulsive or hurried responses. 

Your child will use a metacognitive technique called FAR. “Metacognitive” is a word that psychologists use to describe how to understand what we are thinking about and what we are doing. 

FAR has 3 steps:

  F Focus and Plan, where a child learns to focus attention on the work to be done and to come up with a plan to solve the problem;
  A Act, where the plan is carried out;
  R Reflect, where the child looks at how the plan worked and discusses how it was successful. If it was not successful, the discussion is about what could be done better. 

How to Use this Program

The GoFAR program is designed to provide your child practice using the ideas with real world actions. It involves three separate sections:

  1. Identify the existing behavior problems (Teaching the Concepts).
  2. Practice the rules in simple games (Game Practice).
  3. Transfer the knowledge in situations in the home (Real World Applications).  

Who is this program for?

Any child with self-regulation issues would benefit from the ideas behind GoFAR. The methods used in this program have been used for many years at Emory University to help children with FASD (Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders) and other effects of prenatal exposures where there are difficulties regulating arousal. Studies have found it effective in helping children make connections between events and improve behavior.  

Coles, C. D., Kable, J. A., & Taddeo, E. (2009). Math performance and behavior problems in children affected by prenatal alcohol exposure: intervention and follow-up. J Dev Behav Pediatr, 30(1), 7-15. doi:10.1097/DBP.0b013e3181966780

Coles, C. D., Kable, J. A., Taddeo, E., & Strickland, D. (2018). GoFAR: improving attention, behavior and adaptive functioning in children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders: Brief report. Dev Neurorehabil, 21(5), 345-349. doi:10.1080/17518423.2018.1424263

Coles, C. D., Kable, J. A., Taddeo, E., & Strickland, D. C. (2015). A metacognitive strategy for reducing disruptive behavior in children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders: GoFAR pilot. Alcohol Clin Exp Res, 39(11), 2224-2233. doi:10.1111/acer.12885

Kable, J. A., Coles, C. D., & Taddeo, E. (2007). Socio-cognitive habilitation using the math interactive learning experience program for alcohol-affected children. Alcohol Clin Exp Res, 31(8), 1425-1434. doi:10.1111/j.1530-0277.2007.00431.x

Kable, J. A., Taddeo, E., Strickland, D., & Coles, C. D. (2015). Community translation of the Math Interactive Learning Experience Program for children with FASD. Res Dev Disabil, 39, 1-11. doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2014.12.031

Kable, J. A., Taddeo, E., Strickland, D., & Coles, C. D. (2016). Improving FASD Children's Self-Regulation: Piloting Phase 1 of the GoFAR Intervention. Child Fam Behav Ther, 38(2), 124-141. doi:10.1080/07317107.2016.1172880

Kully-Martens, K., Pei, J., Kable, J., Coles, C. D., Andrew, G., & Rasmussen, C. (2018). Mathematics intervention for children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder: A replication and extension of the math interactive learning experience (MILE) program. Res Dev Disabil, 78, 55-65. doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2018.04.018