A Family Systems Approach to Behavioral Training with Parents of Autistic Children

This paper reviews briefly the use of behavioral procedures and parent training techniques with parents of autistic children. Potential hazards that may arise when the clinician fails to be sensitive to the family context are examined. Behavioral clinicians are urged to undertake behavioral parent training from a family systems context and thereby enhance the likelihood of more enduring changes for the autistic child and the family as a whole. Case illustrations are provided.     

Home-School Communication in the Treatment of Childhood Behavior Problems

There is a shortage of intervention strategies for children with behavior disorders which incorporate both home and school influences. To address this need, a service delivery model was evaluated for public school children (Pre-K through G2) who were at risk for educational failure on account of behavior problems, family dysfunction, and poverty and social disadvantage. Interventions based on eco-behavioral principles were delivered by home-visitors in consultation with clinical child psychologists. A primary goal of all treatment plans was to enhance parent-teacher communication. Children in the experimental group (N = 34) showed overall improvement (as judged by parents) and decreases in targeted problems (as reported by teachers and parents), relative to control students (N = 15). The program decreased the number of children placed in special education. There was indication that better communication between home and school related to academic improvement. The protocol provides a possible behavioral consultation model of early intervention for behavior disorders and demonstrates how clinical services can be integrated with systems-wide dropout prevention efforts.     

Assessing the Verbal Behavior of Conduct Problem Children During Mother-Child Interactions:

In this study we compared the verbal behavior of 4 to 8-year-old conduct problem and normal children in interactions with their mothers in the Child-Directed Interaction phase of the Dyadic Parent-Child Interaction Coding System (Eyberg & Robinson, 1983). It was predicted that conduct problem children would use less praise, ask fewer questions, make more critical statements, and give more commands during interactions with their mothers than normal children. Results support two of these four predictions, with conduct problem children using fewer questions and less praise. Implications for the assessment and treatment of conduct problems as well as how these verbal behaviors may develop from problem parent-child interactions are discussed.     

Preventative Behavioral Parent Training: A Preliminary Investigation of Strategies for Preventing At-Risk Children From Developing Later Conduct Problems

Children exhibiting conduct problems comprise the largest source of referrals to children's mental health services. The treatment for conduct problems that possesses the greatest amount of empirical support is behavioral parent training. Unfortunately, a cogent approach to the identification of risk factors and prevention of chronic conduct problem display has not been developed. This project was an initial longitudinal assessment examining the merits of preventative behavioral parent training as a primary prevention strategy for at-risk children. Results demonstrated that prevention participants were engaging in normative rates of disruptive behaviors at 6-month follow-up, whereas comparison children showed a behavioral decline over time.     

Behavioral Treatment of Self-Choking in a Developmentally Normal Child

ABSTRACT

In the past, self-choking behavior has been associated with individuals who were either developmentally disabled or experienced psychosis symptoms, and has usually been treated with aversive procedures. A time-series design using several different non-aversive behavioral procedures was used to analyze these treatment effects on an 11-year-old girl whose habit of self-choking interfered with normal functioning. Habit reversal procedures, which implement an incompatible response in place of the target behavior, did not, as first hypothesized, have a positive effect on self-choking behavior. However, attention from a male therapist as a positive reinforcer initially decreased the frequency of self-chokes and percent of time spent self-choking. Attention contingent on performance was not as effective on the child's behavior as attention administered noncontingently. Overall, the behavioral treatment approach applied here does not appear to reduce the target behavior in a clinically significant manner. Implications for future treatment approaches for this behavior are discussed.     

The effects of attentional training on physiological stress recovery after induced social threat

Abstract

Social stress has been related to both physiological and psychological responses. The recovery of stress is influenced by the way environmental information is processed, i.e., what information is attended to and how it is interpreted. The present study investigated the effect of attention modification training on physiological stress recovery following induced stress. A group of applicants preparing for a job interview were randomly allocated to an attention training condition versus a control condition. Afterwards, they were asked to give an artificial job interview to a real life jury while being videotaped. Participants in both conditions showed decreased heart rate variability during the job interview, which indicates an overall physiological stress response. However, during a 30-minute follow-up period after the training, indices of heart rate variability showed improved stress recovery only in the attention training condition. Attentional training is proposed as a promising strategy to prevent enduring stress reactions.     

Protection of Children from Physical Maltreatment in Canada: An Evaluation of the Supreme Court's Definition of Reasonable Force

In 2004, the Supreme Court of Canada set out seven criteria to distinguish reasonable from abusive corrective force with children. We tested the validity of those criteria by mapping them onto a nationally representative data set of substantiated cases of physical abuse. The court's criteria defining reasonable force actually characterized the majority of cases of child physical maltreatment in Canada. These cases were more likely to be characterized by the use of spanking in the family than by each of the criteria set out by the Supreme Court. One in five cases was not characterized by any of the court's criteria, and virtually none were characterized by all of them. The findings provide stronger support for abolishing physical punishment than for legal attempts to narrow its definition.     

Attributions for Different Types of Traumatic Events and Post-Traumatic Stress Among Women

This study investigated the relationship of attributions to post-traumatic stress symptoms among women exposed to different types of traumatic events. Participants were 424 female undergraduates who previously experienced a serious accident, natural disaster, child abuse, or adult interpersonal violence. Path analysis indicated a significant indirect pathway from event type to post-traumatic stress through global attributions. Interpersonal-violence survivors exhibited the highest levels of global attributions and post-traumatic stress symptoms. Regression analyses revealed significant interactions between event type and attributions in predicting post-traumatic stress. Stable attributions were associated with increased symptoms in sexual-assault survivors and decreased symptoms in natural-disaster survivors. These findings have implications for improving cognitive interventions for survivors of different types of traumatic events.     

Child Abuse and Divorce

Summary

This article addresses the problem of divorce situations in which there are also allegations of abuse. Its goal is to provide guidance for professionals evaluating these cases. It describes the challenges peculiar to cases where divorce and abuse allegations coexist, relevant research findings, and potential sources of bias. The article suggests a multidisciplinary approach may be the optimal strategy for evaluating these cases. Specific guidelines for evaluation and decision-making are provided.     

Relationships between Past Trauma Exposures and PTSD among Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence

This study examined child abuse and community violence exposure as potential risk factors in the development of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms following exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV). In a community sample of 51 primarily low-income women who had experienced IPV, childhood exposure to child abuse made a unique contribution to PTSD symptom severity from subsequent IPV. Community violence also accounted for variance in PTSD symptom severity, but in the opposite direction, with individuals exposed to community violence reporting lower levels of PTSD symptoms from IPV. These findings suggest the need for further research to identify which factors related to community violence exposure might inoculate individuals against the development of PTSD following IPV exposure.