Parent Skills Training

Each session begins with a review of homework and concepts covered during the previous week. The training material is presented in a variety of ways including exercises, videos, lectures, discussions, and role-plays. New concepts are then reviewed and new homework is assigned.

The optimum number of participants for parenting groups is 8 to 12 sets of parents. Child care should be available for participants with children under age 6.

The Parent Training Therapist Manual includes group exercises and homework forms, a communication section adapted from the Relationship Enhancement Program (Guerney, 1997), and sections on developmental age/stage-appropriate behaviors and drug education. A session for parents on changing problem behavior has been empirically demonstrated to increase the endurance of appropriate behavior.

Outline of Parent Skills Training Sessions

• Introduction and group building: This session presents group building exercises and a short lecture on learning theory. Goals include discussing change, focusing on positive thoughts, and encouraging parents to observe their child's good behavior.
  
  
• Developmental expectancies and stress management: This session discusses physical, mental, social, and emotional development with a focus on appropriate and realistic expectations for children at different ages. A section on stress and anger management teaches parents what to do when they feel overwhelmed.
  
  
• Rewards: This session covers rewarding children for good behavior, "attends" (describing and emphasizing positive behavior), and providing social rewards. Parents are encouraged to "catch their children being good."
  
  
• Goals and objectives: This session focuses on setting general goals, defining good behavior, setting behavioral goals and objectives, and making positive statements to children.
  
  
• Differential attention/Charts and spinners: This session teaches parents the skill of rewarding good behavior and ignoring bad behavior. Charts and spinners are described as a way to encourage good behavior. Charts list and record the child's progress on target behaviors the parent wants to improve (e.g., making the bed, brushing teeth, or cleaning the bedroom). The spinner has rewards for achieving target behaviors the parent and child have chosen together.
  
  
• Communication I: This session teaches parents about listening and speaking, "I" messages, and roadblocks to communication.
  
  
• Communication II: This session reinforces concepts covered in the previous session with extensive role-play.
  
  
• Alcohol, drugs, and families: This session introduces the parent's role in prevention of children's problem behaviors and awareness of at-risk behaviors.
  
  
• Problem solving, giving directions: This session teaches the basic steps of problem solving and reinforces them with role-play. Making requests, giving clear directions, and delivering effective commands are discussed.
  
  
• Limit setting I: This session introduces timeouts, overcorrection, positive practice, and the parents' game.
  
  
• Limit setting II: This session covers the issue of punishment, including how to solve a child's problem behavior by setting appropriate limits.
  
  
• Limit setting III: This session helps parents continue to solve problems in a variety of situations, including those supplied in the handbook, that may be relevant to their individual needs.
  
  
• Development/Implementation of behavior programs: This session reviews the process of implementing the abbreviated behavioral program. Parents develop a plan for the first week of a behavior program for their child.
  
  
• Generalization and maintenance: This session teaches parents to fade rewards (rewarding every other time for several weeks and then rewarding only occasionally if the desired behavior continues), look for naturally occurring rewards, troubleshoot, and maintain behavioral changes in their children.

Family Skills Training for Parents and Children	Juvenile Justice Bulletin • April 2000