Behavioral Parent Training

In order to successfully implement BPT, we recommend that you have training in behavior therapy and working with parents. A deep understanding of behavioral principles and the mechanisms in which these principles can shape behavior is crucial in being able to teach BPT skills to parents. For a brief overview of behavioral principles, see our Individualized Behavioral Approach page. However, if you do not have a background in these approaches and would like to utilize BPT with families, you should seek additional training.

Below is an overview of strategies and principles taught in BPT. However, this is not a manual for BPT. There are many nuances to these strategies that are not covered in this overview. If you would like to implement BPT with a family in your school, we encourage you to obtain a manual that has specific steps and activities to effectively implement this intervention (see list of evidence-based behavioral parent training manuals below). There are various evidence based BPT programs that can meet the needs of the families you are working with.

1. Building caregiver/child relationship: One of the important first steps in BPT is building a positive caregiver/child relationship. To implement many strategies taught in BPT, children need to feel loved, heard, and supported by their caregivers. The principles of BPT are built on the assumption that a child values their caregiver’s attention. Therefore, building the caregiver/child relationship is crucial. Many BPT programs emphasize the idea of “one-on-one time” for caregivers to have with their child. This may start as just 5 minutes a day of uninterrupted, one-on-one play time with the caregiver and their child in which the child chooses and leads the activity. While many caregivers spend time playing or interacting with their child during the day, it is often shared with siblings, interrupted by texts, phone calls, or conversations, or the activity is decided by the caregiver. This one-on-one can be a great way for a caregiver to build a loving environment as a foundation for implementing behavioral modification strategies.

2. The coercive cycle: The coercive cycle can be a driver of continued behavioral problems for a child and is often taught as a first stage of BPT. It is important for caregivers to understand principles of reinforcement to better understand why the strategies taught in BPT can work. In a coercive cycle, a caregiver unintentionally reinforces their child’s undesirable behavior. More specifically, the cycle can begin when a limit is set by the caregiver. In an effort to remove the unwanted limit or instruction, the child may use coercive behavior (i.e., aversive behavior; escalating negative behavior) to try to get what they want. Because this behavior feels punishing to the caregiver, the caregiver may give in to the child or ignore the child. Because these actions reduce the negative child behavior temporarily, the caregiver is negatively reinforced and likely to continue with this pattern (rather than being consistent in enforcing the limit). In addition, because the coercive behavior was effective for the child, they will likely continue to engage in behavioral escalation in the future. In other situations, caregivers may respond harshly (with their own coercive behaviors such as yelling). Because this temporarily reduces the child’s negative behavior, harsh responses may be negatively reinforced and continue. These patterns (where coercion pays off for either the caregiver or the child) can shape continued negative and harsh behavior between caregivers and children. This can lead to a feedback loop in which the child’s behaviors become increasingly more escalated and the relationship between the caregiver and the child gets even harder to manage. The strategies discussed below help caregiver change this pattern. Namely, through the use of the strategies below, children learn that positive behaviors lead to better outcomes (caregiver praise and positive reinforcement) than negative behaviors (time out; loss of privileges). When coercive behaviors are no longer reinforced, they will decrease.

3. Attending: The principle of attending helps caregivers learn to encourage positive behavior using their attention, noticing and commenting on desirable behaviors. Caregivers are encouraged to engage with and praise their child when they are engaging in positive behaviors. This can be practiced during one-on-one time Caregivers describe out loud the positive behaviors they are seeing, which shows the child that their caregiver is paying attention (e.g., You are stacking the red blocks on the blue blocks. Very nice, I like how you added a yellow block). Caregivers should be positive and enthusiastic when they are attending to their child’s behavior.

4. Positive Reinforcement and Praise: Positive reinforcement occurs when caregivers provide something positive (e.g., a smile, hive-five, hug, praise statement, access to a privilege) to the child after a given behavior. This increases the likelihood of those child behaviors occurring again. Praise is a specific type of positive reinforcement. Caregivers are encouraged to try notice when their child is showing positive behavior then specifically label that behavior (e.g., It is really nice that you helped set the table for dinner). Praise is most effective when it specific and when it immediately follows the desired behavior. When caregivers use praise and positive reinforcement, the child learns that they can obtain desired outcomes (attention and access to privileges) through positive behavior rather than coercive behaviors. This can help to increase desirable behaviors and reduce or end coercive cycles.

5. Selective Ignoring: Children value attention from their caregivers and are often reinforced by both positive and negative attention. Therefore, caregivers are encouraged to strategically ignore mild unwanted or negative behavior from their child. When a child engages in an unwanted behavior, caregivers should stop paying visual and verbal attention, keep a neutral face, and turn their attention onto something else. Once the child stops their negative or unwanted behavior, caregivers bring their attention back to the child and praise them for engaging in positive behaviors. This helps the child to see that the way to get attention from their caregiver is by engaging in positive behaviors. For example, Lily struggles with transitioning from screen time to her bedtime routine, and frequently whines and complains when told it is time to turn off the iPad. Rather than arguing with her about turning off the iPad (coercive behaviors), her caregivers can use the skill of selective ignoring and turn their attention away from Lily while she is whining. The moment she turns off the iPad, they can praise her – as noted above. This can help her to learn that she can get attention from her caregivers by following directions.

6. Effective instructions: When giving instructions to a child, it is important to ensure that caregivers are giving clear, direct instructions so that the child understands the expectations. Effective instructions state specifically what the child should do without extraneous comments or qualifiers. An example of an effective instruction is: “Ahmed, your room is very messy. Please go put your clothes in the laundry basket now”. This instruction is short and specific and state in a respectful manner. An example of an ineffective instruction: “Ahmed, will you go clean up your room? It is disgusting, I don’t even know how you live in there. Your cousins are coming over, so you don’t want them to see it like that!”. This instruction is buried in a string of statements which can make it harder for the child to know or remember the expectations. The command is also stated as a question, which tells the child that they have the option to say “no”.

7. Token economy: A token economy is a behavioral intervention that serves to motivate children to demonstrate appropriate behaviors. Token economies can be designed as reward systems (i.e., students earn tokens for demonstrating desired behaviors) or as response-cost systems (i.e., students earn tokens for positive behaviors and lose tokens for behaviors that are inconsistent with expectations). Tokens are exchanged for rewards or privileges over time. Token economies improve behavior by connecting positive behavior to a reward (and connecting challenging behavior to a cost, if using response-cost).

8. Time out: A time out from positive reinforcement (or time out) is an intervention designed to reduce disruptive child behaviors by temporarily removing the child from an activity; therefore, eliminating the positive reinforcement they receive from the enjoyable activity. While in time out, the child can practice self-regulation and be rewarded by rejoining the activity once a short amount of time has passed and appropriate behavior has been demonstrated.

Positive reinforcement and praise, token economies, and time out are also helpful strategies for teachers; thus, additional details about these strategies can be found in the Classroom Tab of Beacon.

1. Contact the family of the student to explain BPT and the benefits they may see if they engage in the intervention. It is important to have buy-in from the caregiver of the student in order to implement BPT effectively.

2. Work with the parents to identify student behaviors that may be appropriate targets for BPT.

3. Select a BPT program based on the skills that you think would be most valuable for addressing the student behaviors identified by the parents. Programs often have a variety of sequences of lessons, and some may be more or less relevant to the family. It may be helpful to modify the sequence of lessons in a program to prioritize those most appropriate for the family.

4. Implement the BPT program based on the manual you are following.

5. Evaluate student behavior changes using Beacon progress monitoring.

1. Ask the parents what they currently do at home to help manage their child’s challenging behaviors. Use this conversation to identify and build from their strengths. Often times, parents have good ideas and helpful practices already in place and small changes can make a big difference. This approach of showing curiosity and interest in their current strategies can enhance parental buy-in.

2. You may want to engage the teacher in many of the teacher strategies that match with BPT strategies (e.g., praise, token economy, time out). This can help provide consistency between home and school.

3. Many parents are hesitant about BPT because it can make them feel like their parenting abilities are being questioned. When engaging a parent in BPT it is important to emphasize that their child’s behavioral concerns are not their fault, but that they can implement specialized parenting strategies to help improve their child’s behaviors. Parenting a child with behavioral concerns can be challenging, so caregivers often need a unique and specialized set of parenting skills that are typically not needed for other children. It is important to praise and point out the positive parenting behaviors that caregivers are already using.

4. Parents may also be hesitant about BPT because they want you to work directly with the child, as the child is the one with challenging behaviors. BPT is most typically used for elementary school-aged children who developmentally may not have the insight and skills to be able to regulate their emotions and behaviors in the same way that adolescents can. Therefore, it is important to work with teachers and families to help establish an environment that can facilitate success for their child.

• Defiant Children – Russell A. Barkley, Ph.D.
• Defiant Teens – Russell A. Barkley, Ph.D.
• Helping the Noncompliant Child – Robert J. McMahon, Ph.D. & Rex L. Forehand, Ph.D.
• Incredible Years – Carolyn Webster-Stratton, Ph.D.
• Parent Management Training: Alan E. Kazdin, Ph.D. · Positive Parenting Program (Triple P): www.triplep.net