Parent behavior training: Effects on the non-compliance of a deaf child

The present study examined the effects of a parent-centered behavioral training program on the non-compliance of a deaf child. The program, which was designed to alter general parent-child interactions, involved initially teaching the mother reinforcement skills for desirable behavior and, subsequently, a time out procedure for deviant behavior. The results indicated that a general behavioral program could be rapidly learned by a mother and applied to the special problems of a deaf child. Changes occurred in both the child's compliance and in the mother's behavior and attitudes toward the child.     

Parent training to increase compliance in a young multihandicapped child

A training program was implemented to modify a mother's behavior management skills to improve compliance in her 4-year-old child who suffered from severe developmental and physical disabilities. A multiple baseline analysis indicated that behavioral intervention was effective in training the mother to make definitive commands, provide appropriate positive attention, and persist with commands during social interactions with her child. In addition, substantial improvement in the child's compliance with mother's commands followed introduction of parent training. Further, positive collateral effects included the child's increased time on-task and decreased oppositional behavior. All gains were maintained at a 6-month follow-up probe.     

Toddler management training: Generalization and marital status

Six mother-child pairs received toddler management training intended to teach the mothers basic behavior modification techniques for use with their own oppositional preschoolers. In-clinic sessions proceeded through phases of baseline, differential reinforcement I, reversal, and differential reinforcement II. All mothers demonstrated the ability to employ intervention techniques within the clinic structure. The pairs were divided into two groups based upon reported vs no reported marital difficulties. Independent follow-up observations, conducted in the home 12 months later, indicated that (a) all mother retained the competence to generalized the use of intervention techniques across environments, and (b) mothers who had reported marital difficulties were notably less able to demonstrate generalization than were their counterparts.     

Success-based, noncoercive treatment of oppositional behavior in children from violent homes

OBJECTIVES: Errorless compliance training is a success-based, noncoercive intervention for children with severe oppositional behavior. The strategy involves hierarchical introduction of more demanding parental requests at a gradual pace that greatly reduces noncompliance and obviates the need for constraining consequences (e.g., time-out). In this study, this approach was evaluated as a treatment for severe disciplinary problems in children from violent homes. METHOD: Participants were 15 children (aged 3-10 years) and their mothers. All participants had experienced long-term family violence. Using a multiple-baseline design, the authors trained parents in a group format and conducted observations of child compliance in the home throughout the intervention. RESULTS: Observations indicated improvements in generalized child compliance that were maintained up to 6 months posttreatment. Pre-/post maternal reports indicated significant reductions in maternal perception of child noncompliance, externalizing and internalizing problems, and parenting stress. CONCLUSIONS: Researchers have noted a dearth of empirically supported interventions for children from violent homes. Errorless compliance training may help to fill this void, as it appears well suited to treatment of difficulties encountered by these youngsters and their parents.     

Pathways to maladaptive parenting with mothers and their conduct disordered children.

Maladaptive parenting with conduct disordered children appears to involve two social interaction traps called compliance and inconsistency. A mother's participation in these traps is thought to be influenced by her child, by the quality of the mother's life, and by her perceptions of child behavior. This study was an attempt to assess these influences and to examine their correlations with maternal trap participation. To do so, 33 clinic-referred conduct disordered children and their mothers were evaluated through direct observation, maternal self-reports, and maternal observations of home videotapes depicting mother and child. The data were then analyzed as correlational paths among trap measures and measures of the suspected influences. Results showed the two traps to be distinctly different processes, and inconsistency appeared to represent a more complex process than did compliance. Discussion of the findings centered on problems in maternal care of conduct disordered children and prospects for clinical interventions with these mother-child dyads.     

A component analysis of a behavioral skills training package used to teach conversation skills to young adults with autism spectrum and other developmental disorders

We conducted a component analysis of a behavioral skills training (BST) package to teach conversation skills to young adults with autism and/or developmental disorders. Performance following each component of the package was compared to a task analysis that included both vocal and non-vocal conversation skills, such as making comments related to the conversation topic, maintaining eye contact, maintaining and appropriate distance from the conversation partner. The components of the BST package included instructions, modeling of an appropriate conversation, rehearsal, rehearsal with feedback, in situ training with feedback provided to the participants in a private training room, and in situ training with feedback plus reinforcement. Results suggested unique components were correlated with acquisition of the conversation skills across participants. Results are presented as they relate to effective components of BST and implications for providing BST to individuals in clinical contexts.     

Relational psychophysiology: Lessons from mother–infant physiology research on dyadically expanded states of consciousness

Abstract

The authors illustrate how their work on mother–infant “relational psychophysiology” might inform psychotherapy research. They examined psychophysiology in 18 mother–infant dyads (infants' age: 5 months) during normal interaction and a still-face perturbation. They measured respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) as an index of emotion regulation and explored whether skin conductance (SC) concordance, previously linked to therapist empathy, occurs in mothers and infants. During the still-face episode, SC concordance correlated to infant negative engagement. Upon reengagement, when mothers often soothe their infants, concordance instead correlated to behavioral synchrony, an index of maternal sensitivity. Furthermore, maternal RSA became correlated to infant negative engagement. These findings suggest that a mother trying to calm her infant calms herself physiologically and her sensitivity on a behavioral level becomes coherent physiologically. Implications for psychotherapy research are discussed.     

Sequential Evaluation of Reinforced Compliance and Graduated Request Delivery for the Treatment of Noncompliance in Children with Developmental Disabilities

Errorless compliance training is a recently developed approach that has been demonstrated to be effective in treating severe oppositional behavior in children. In conjunction with several ancillary techniques, the approach comprises two fundamental components: reinforcement for child compliance and delivery of requests in a four-level hierarchy, from requests that yield high levels of compliance to those that yield low levels. To determine the relative contribution of each component, four children with developmental disabilities and severe oppositional behavior were observationally assessed in baseline and then treated using reinforcement following each instance of compliance to parental requests. Following this first treatment phase, we used the graduated request hierarchy in conjunction with reinforced compliance. Results indicated that use of reinforcement for compliance in isolation was ineffective in bringing about clinically significant improvements in child compliance. The addition of the graduated request hierarchy appeared to be associated with substantial changes in child compliance that maintained in follow-up assessments.     

Interaction with stressed mothers affects corticosterone levels in pups after reunion and impairs the response to dexamethasone in adult mice

BACKGROUND: Early adverse experiences are preeminent factors for the development of affective disorders. In the present study, we analyzed the effects of different postnatal manipulations applied either on the mother or on the offspring in mice. Maternal behavior and adrenocortical activity of both mothers and offspring at the end of postnatal stress and at adulthood were considered. METHODS: From postnatal day (PND) 1 to 14 mice underwent 15min of: (a) brief (15min) pups' exposure to clean bedding (CB: clean bedding), (b) mothers' exposure to the odor of a novel male (SM: stressed mother) or (c) mothers' exposure to a clean cage (CSM: control stressed mother), and (d) standard rearing (N-H: non-handled). The behavior of mouse dams during and after stress sessions was analyzed. Serum corticosterone of mothers and pups at the end of the stress session and 30min after reunion was assessed on PND 14. Moreover, anxiety levels and HPA-axis inhibitory feedback in response to dexamethasone administration were evaluated in adult male offspring. RESULTS: Overall, during the 14 days of treatment CB mothers when reunited with their pups showed higher maternal behavior than other dams. After the last stress (PND 14) SM and CSM maternal corticosterone levels increased as well as those of CB pups. While 30min of mother-infant interaction restored baseline corticosterone levels in SM and CSM mothers and in CB pups, SM and CSM offspring showed a decrease of corticosterone under baseline levels. At adulthood, SM and CSM males did not show the suppressive hormonal response to dexamethasone treatment. Moreover, adult CB and SM male mice displayed decreased anxiety in the open field. CONCLUSIONS: Maternal psychosocial stress during lactation seems to permanently affect the offspring's HPA functioning. These effects may be dissociated from the behavioral response as suggested by the decrease of anxiety in SM and CB adult mice.     

Parent behavioral training to modify child noncompliance: Effects on untreated siblings

The purpose of the present study was twofold: (a) to examine changes in parent behavior toward an untreated sibling after parent behavioral training to modify a target child's noncompliance and (b) to examine changes in the untreated sibling's behavior. Eight clinic- referred children and their mothers served as the subjects. Parent training consisted of the use of a standardized clinic program to modify child noncompliance. The outcome measure was home observations of the parent and untreated child's interactions. The results indicated significant changes in both the parent's behavior and the untreated sibling's noncompliance.     

Changes in social competence in young children treated because of conduct problems as viewed by multiple informants

In the present study changes in social competence were examined in a clinic sample of 127 children aged 4–8. The children were recruited to a controlled treatment study because of conduct problems at home and were randomised to the Incredible Years parent training (PT), combined PT and child therapy (CT) or a waiting-list control-group. Assessments were conducted pre- and post-treatment and at a one-year follow-up by multiple informants (mother, father, teacher and child). Parent training combined with child treatment showed most improvement in child social competence based on mother, father and child reports, however, father reports showed positive results for children treated with PT only. Treated mothers and fathers showed a decrease in correlations in their reports of social competence in the child after treatment as compared to parents in the waiting-list condition. No generalisation effects to peer-relationships in day-care/school were found, neither on teacher or child reports. A broad perspective using multiple informants from different settings is needed when effects of treatment of young children with conduct problems are evaluated and should include various aspects of social competence.     

Some Determinants of Mother-Infant Interaction in the Premature Nursery

This study examines the relative contribution to early maternal behavior of the psychosocial history of the mother, perinatal events, and infant behavior. The interaction of 32 mothers and their very low birth weight infants was observed both during maternal visits to the premature nursery and feeds during the infants' first 3 months at home. It was found that mothers showed a consistent level of activity vis-à-vis their infants; that this activity level was related to their responsivity to behavioral cues from the infants; and was predictive of caretaking patterns at home. Only psychological variables within the mothers' background were found to be significantly related to these maternal activity patterns.     

Heart rate correlates of attachment status in young mothers and their infants

OBJECTIVE: To explore heart rate (HR) correlates of attachment behavior in young mothers and their infants to generate specific hypotheses and to provide pilot data on which studies to test those hypotheses might be based. METHOD: Using the strange situation procedure, patterns of attachment were assessed in 41 low-income adolescent mothers and their infants. During the procedure, the HRs of the infants and mothers were recorded. The HR changes were analyzed and infant attachment group differences were examined. RESULTS: Infants in all attachment groups demonstrated a similar HR response. There were, however, notably different behavioral reactions in the insecure groups: relatively increased behavioral distress in the insecure/resistant infants and relatively decreased behavioral distress in insecure-avoidant infants. Mothers of insecure-resistant infants demonstrated elevated HRs during reunions and the insecure/resistant dyads demonstrated lower consistency between HR changes in infant and mother than the secure dyads. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest the discrepancy between attachment-related behavioral reactions and HR response in insecurely attached infants. Maternal and dyadic HR changes vary between the attachment groups.     

Stress during gestation alters postpartum maternal care and the development of the offspring in a rodent model.

BACKGROUND: Epidemiological studies suggest that environmental adversity can alter parental care and thus influence child development. We addressed the question of whether stressors can directly affect parental behavior using a rodent model of stable, individual differences in maternal behavior. METHODS: Lactating rat mothers were characterized as high or low in pup-directed licking/grooming (LG) behavior, rebred, and subjected to 7 days of intermittent stress or control conditions during gestation. Female rats were mated a third time without any subsequent intervention. Maternal behavior, oxytocin receptor (OTR) binding, and offspring behavior were examined. RESULTS: Stress reduced OTR levels and pup LG of high LG mothers to levels comparable with those of low LG mothers. The adult offspring of the gestational stress/high LG mothers resembled those of low LG mothers on behavioral measures of anxiety and maternal behavior, as well as OTR levels. The results of the third mating revealed an enduring effect of gestational stress on both mother and offspring maternal LG. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that stress can directly alter maternal care through the neuroendocrine systems that normally regulate this behavior. Thus, the effects of environmental adversity can be transmitted across generations through a nongenomic mechanism involving maternal care.     

Prenatal stress and early adoption effects on benzodiazepine receptors and anxiogenic behavior in the adult rat brain

Chronic maternal stress during pregnancy has been associated with behavioral alterations that persist into adulthood. Moreover, adoption procedures performed immediately after birth can reverse these alterations. In this study, we examined the effects of prenatal restraint stress and adoption at birth (cross-fostering) on the behavioral response to an anxiety-provoking situation and on the adult male offspring expression of benzodiazepine (BDZ) receptors in selected brain areas. Adult offspring of rats stressed during the last week of pregnancy exhibited higher levels of anxiety than control rats. The anxiogenic behavior found at the elevated plus maze (EPM) has been related to the reduced levels of BDZ receptor levels in specific brain areas. Adult offspring of rats stressed during pregnancy exhibited a decrease in the number of BDZ receptors binding sites in the central amygdaloid nucleus (Ce), CA1, CA3, and the dentate gyrus regions of the hippocampus when compared to controls. Regarding the adoption procedure, control pups raised by a foster gestationally stressed mother showed similar levels of anxiety as stressed groups. Stressed offspring raised by a foster control mother showed reduced anxiety levels compared to that of the control groups. Adoption per se showed no difference in time spent, neither in the open arms of the plus maze nor in BDZ receptor levels, when compared to the corresponding control and stressed groups. Stressed offspring raised by a foster control mother reverted BDZ receptor levels to control values. However, control pups raised by a gestationally stressed foster mother showed similar values compared to the control offspring in hippocampus, in spite of showing an anxiogenic behavior in the EPM. We found a significant increase of Ce BDZ receptor levels in control offspring raised by a foster stressed mother that could be explained as a compensatory effect to a GABA receptor desensitization. In summary, the behavioral outcome of the adult offspring is vulnerable both to the stress experience during the late prenatal period as well as to possible variations in care during lactation by mothers subjected to chronic stress during gestation. There seems to be a direct correlation between anxiety state and BDZ receptor levels in the adult offspring raised by their biological mothers. However, the mechanism of BDZ regulation leading to an anxious behavior might be different if the insult is received only postnatally as opposed to both pre and postnatally.     

A behavioral perspective on conduct disorders

THIS paper provides a selective overview of behavioral approaches for conduct-disordered behavior. Although no definitive statement can be made regarding etiology, some empirical support exists for behavioral strategies. Assessment approaches discussed include the behavioral interview, behavioral observations, and behavioral checklists. Decisions regarding types of behavioral interventions to be employed directly follow from assessment data. Assessment information can be formulated in terms of a behavioral excess/skill deficit model. Hence, conduct-disordered behavior can be a function of excessive disruptive behavior and/or a lack of requisite skills necessary to obtain satisfaction. Parental training strategies in contingency management and contingency contracting are discussed regarding behavioral excesses. Relative to skill deficits, contingency procedures along with skills training in communication, problem-solving and self-control are reviewed, using parental training and cognitive-behavioral frameworks. In general, these interventions have empirically demonstrated efficacy. However, future research is required to identify specific factors that account for successful treatment, and attention should be directed toward preventive issues. Important data could be obtained from the identification of high-risk environmental situations. A predictive understanding of high-risk populations could result in the development of early intervention programs, which might to some extent obviate the occurrence of conduct disorders.     

Consequences of the presence of the mother or unfamiliar adult female on cortisol, ACTH, testosterone and behavioral responses of periadolescent guinea pigs during exposure to novelty

Periadolescent guinea pigs were exposed to a novel environment for 10, 30, 60, or 90 min while either alone or with either their biological mother or an unfamiliar adult female. Both classes of females reduced plasma cortisol, ACTH and vocalization responses to the novel environment, and did so to an equivalent degree. However, behavioral interactions with the mother and unfamiliar female differed considerably. The offspring exhibited more defensive behavior and were the targets of more agonistic acts when with the unfamiliar female, though one agonistic behavior, kicking, was observed more often in tests with the mother. Males displayed more social/courtship behavior and tumescence with the unfamiliar female. Further, males exhibited higher plasma testosterone levels when with the unfamiliar female than when either with the mother or alone. These data in conjunction with earlier findings suggest that the ability of unfamiliar adult females to moderate hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal activity fully emerges during the periadolescent period, is not dependent on nurturant behavior by the adult female, and may facilitate the redirection of social behavior from the mother to unrelated adults. Further, mothers appear to inhibit maternally directed sexual behavior and plasma testosterone elevations in their periadolescent sons, effects which likely serve to inhibit inbreeding.     

Brief Report: Fathers’ and Mothers’ Ratings of Behavioral and Emotional Problems in Siblings of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Debate is ongoing about whether typically developing siblings of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are at greater risk of behavioral or emotional problems than siblings of children without ASD. Most data on behavior is provided by mothers, and we do not know whether fathers’ reports differ. The strengths and difficulties questionnaire (Goodman in J Child Psychol Psychiatry 38(5):581–586, 1997) was completed by 168 mothers and 130 fathers. Parents were more likely to rate siblings as having ‘abnormal’ behavior when compared to a normative population. We found moderate correlations between mother–father ratings. More research may be needed to understand any clinical benefits of gathering data about sibling adjustment from more than one parent in the family. Implications for clinical practice and future research are discussed.     

Maternal perception of child temperament and observed mother-child interaction

This research explored the relationship between maternal perception of child temperament characteristics and observations of mother-child interaction in a free play situation. Children were divided into “difficult” and “easy” temperament groups on the basis of their mothers' responses to a temperament questionnaire. Mothers were also interviewed regarding their use of different child rearing techniques. The results indicated that difficult and easy children did not behave differently with their mothers. Mothers, however, did show behavioral differences as a function of their child's temperament classification. In addition, the children's behavior varied as a function of sex and temperament when level of maternal control was considered as a variable. These results suggest that control may be influential in determining whether a mother perceives her child as difficult or easy. The results also suggest that a child's temperament characteristics should not be considered in isolation from his or her sex: that being an easy or difficult child is different depending on whether one is a boy or a girl.     

Assessment and treatment of multiple behavior problems exhibited by a profoundly retarded adolescent

The severe aggression and noncompliance of a profoundly retarded blind male were subjected to extensive behavioral assessment in order to identify controlling variables. The assessment, conducted across settings and therapists, suggested that these inappropriate behaviors functioned to avoid or terminate nonpreferred activities. Intervention consisted of manual guidance when there was noncompliance with instructions and edible reinforcement upon compliance; there were no direct contingencies for the inappropriate behaviors. Treatment procedures were implemented in a multiple baseline design across therapists and settings. Results show that the intervention consistently increased compliance, with concurrent decreases in inappropriate behaviors. Edible reinforcement and neuroleptic medication were withdrawn systematically with no loss of therapeutic gains. Family members and school personnel were trained to use the intervention procedures. Results are discussed in terms of functional assessment, response covariation, compliance training, parent and staff training, and behavioral assessment of the effects of neuroleptic medication.