Parent Training

Common Features

A single, uniform approach to parent training does not exist, but most programs share a number of common features. Many of these features were first derived by Constance Hanf and later codified and empirically evaluated by Rex Forehand and Robert McMahon. The training usually follows an initial assessment and an opportunity to convey to parents a conceptual overview of the goals, process, and methods of parent training. As with other skill-building strategies, parent trainers use a combination of instruction, modeling, rehearsal, coaching, feedback, and homework to enhance parents' skills. Somewhat unique to parent training is the use of a bug-in-the-ear listening device to augment in-the-moment coaching. With this device, therapists can suggest responses, give reminders, and offer encouragement, all while the parents are interacting with their child. This kind of device has also been used to assess children's level of compliance: Therapists deliver a series of clearly worded commands to parents via the bug-in-the-ear, and these commands are then repeated aloud to the child. This procedure controls for the quality of parents' commands and allows for a more valid assessment of children's willingness to comply with simple, direct command.

The content of most parenting training programs includes two general sets of parenting techniques. One set is designed to increase the rate at which children perform behaviors that parents deem appropriate and desirable. These techniques are based on the principle of positive reinforcement and include social reinforcement (e.g., praise, play, affection, attention), material rewards, and token economies. A second set of techniques is designed to decrease the likelihood that children will perform behaviors that are judged inappropriate or undesirable. Techniques designed to lower the rate of misbehavior include issuing clear commands, withdrawing social attention, taking away privileges, placing children in less reinforcing environments (i.e., time-out), and presenting children with aversive, punishing consequences.

Another common feature among parent training programs is the sequence of training. Typically, parents learn to use accelerative, reinforcement-based techniques before learning to use decelerating, punishment-based techniques. The first phase of training is sometimes referred to as child-directed interaction (CDI) or the child's game. The labels reflect the fact that the parent-child play sessions serve as the context for learning this first set of behavior management skills. Parents are trained to follow their child's lead during play and to attend to and contingently praise their child for appropriate behavior. Parents also learn to ignore their child's display of minor misbehaviors. The skills of contingent reinforcement are often extended beyond play to situations where the child's use of appropriate behavior is perhaps infrequent or inadequate. Sheila Eyberg and other proponents of parent-child interaction therapy (PCIT) have expanded this phase of training to ensure its equal emphasis with parent discipline and to highlight the importance of the affective quality of the parent-child relationship.

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