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APA Psychotherapy Training Videos are intended solely for educational purposes for mental health professionals. Viewers are expected to treat confidential material found herein according to strict professional guidelines. Unauthorized viewing is prohibited.
This approach uses behavioral psychology to train parents. The goal is to show parents more effective strategies for managing their child's behavior and to teach children skills that reduce the need for discipline. Some key strategies in this approach include
This approach is highly successful with both intact families with concerns about their child's behavior and families experiencing minor to moderate behavior problems with their children. Initially, a reasonable assessment should be conducted to rule out more serious conditions such as autistic spectrum disorder and developmental delays. This can be accomplished using multiple measures with multiple informants including an interview with the child, a family history, and two forms (parent, teacher, or day care) of a standardized rating scale. The next step is to ascertain what changes the parent(s) would like to see and to discuss and clarify the goals of therapy. Lastly, the therapist and parent(s) agree on a starting point and begin therapy. In this session, the Rating Scales (BASC) were completed prior to the interview and identified the child as appropriate for this type of intervention. The initial interview further substantiated the appropriateness of this parent–child dyad for this type of therapy. While conducting the interview with the mother, Dr. Christophersen modeled how to implement time-in with her child. He encouraged the mother to use the procedures and feedback provided to continue with the therapy. Dr. Christophersen phoned the mother twice after the videotaping to identify and discuss any questions she had about his recommendations. The mother indicated considerable satisfaction with the results of her early efforts with her child. |