ASSESSING PARENTAL RESPONSE PATTERNS IN THE TREATMENT OF NONCOMPLIANCE IN CHILDREN

Child noncompliance is one of the most frequently reported behavior pr oblems in clinic-referred children. One difficulty with treating nonco mpliance in the clinic is that the demand characteristics of the situa tion may alter the rates of child compliance. The observation of paren t-child interactions, with an emphasis on parent behaviors, may be a m ore meaningful way to assess parent training programs. In the current stud the parents of three children each showed a distinctive pattern i n their responding to their children's compliant and noncompliant beha viors. An in vivo direct instruction procedure, that involved the ther apist working directly with the parent to provide immediate consequenc es was used. Following training, improvements in correct responding we re evident for all parents. Particularly noteworthy was that child com pliance was not an accurate indicator when assessing parents' initial skill levels.