A Review of Effective Strategies for Parent-Delivered Instruction

Abstract

Parent involvement in treatment is an important component of effective behavior-analytic services. Whether parents are expected to act as the primary behavior change agent or support treatment in other ways, behavior analysts must provide them with the resources necessary to encourage lasting behavior change. A critical component of supporting lasting behavior change is the foundational skills related to instruction delivery. Without these skills, parents will not likely benefit from more advanced programs and interventions recommended by behavior analysts. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to describe the foundational skills necessary for parents to successfully establish an instructional environment for further program and intervention delivery. To aid practitioners, a parent-friendly handout is included and discussed.

Appendix

The 4 Ps of Parent-Delivered Instruction

Prior to the Instruction

• Remove Distractors From the Environment ^{1, 2, 3}

  • Loud and/or busy environments can prevent your message from getting through. Helpful examples include removing/blocking access to a toy, asking a sibling to leave the area, or stopping the task you are engaging in.

• Increase Your Proximity ^{4, 5, 6}

  • Distance matters. Get close to the child, but not so close that your presence may be intimidating or provoke aggression.

Presenting the Instruction

• Look the Child in the Eyes ^{1, 2, 6, 7}

  • Eye contact helps establish compliance by assuring that you have the child’s attention and that they have yours.

• Remain Quiet and Calm ^{4, 8, 9, 10}

  • Showing emotion to your child is helpful and necessary in the appropriate context, but showing them that you are upset by yelling or snapping at them during a moment that you are attempting to gain compliance may be counterproductive. Children with behavioral challenges may be especially reactive to any perceived emotional response from parents. Remaining quiet and calm helps avoid an escalation of behaviors from the child.

• Give One Direction at a Time ^{1, 2, 3, 10}

  • Directions should be simple, clear, and concise. Explanations and logic can be used after compliance tasks are completed and should not be used for bargaining or any other reason during the direction. Over time, the number of directions/tasks can be slowly increased.

• Present Instructions as Statements Instead of Questions ^{1, 2, 9, 10, 11}

  • Don’t ask a question unless you want an answer. The instruction “Do you want to clean your area?” can lead to an answer “No!” whereas the instruction “Please clean your area” does not lead to an opportunity for an unwanted but technically appropriate response of “No.” This does not mean you shouldn’t give choices (described below).

• Make “Do” Requests Instead of “Don’t” Requests ^{9, 10, 11, 12}

  • If the child is engaging in an inappropriate behavior, find an alternative behavior that they can do instead. This can often be a “positive opposite,” meaning the appropriate alternative behavior is incompatible with the undesirable behavior. For instance, if the child is running around the room when they should be at the table working, instead of saying “Stop running,” you should say, “Have a seat at the table and begin your work.”

Prompting

• Give the Child Time to Begin the Task ^{1, 2, 3, 13}

  • The amount of time that it takes to begin a task can vary with each task and each child. Providing an appropriate amount of time to allow the child to begin the task without further assistance is a critical step in helping your child develop independent skills. Therefore, when presenting an instruction, a time window should be given to the child before additional guidance is provided. In some cases, it may also be helpful to provide advance notice if transitioning from one activity to another (e.g., “I need you to get started on the laundry in 2 minutes.”).

• Adjust Guidance as Necessary ^{11, 14, 15, 16}

  • If your child does not begin complying with the demand, do not repeat the instruction over and over again. That can appear as nagging and cause the instructions to lose their salience. Instead, you should provide the minimum guidance necessary to complete the task successfully.

Keeping Things Positive

• Praise More Than You Demand ^{9, 10, 17, 18}

  • The more challenging a child’s behavior, the more you should praise and reinforce other appropriate behaviors. Praise/encouragement should be delivered at least five times for every one corrective statement or demand placed.

• Refrain From Negative Comments ^{9, 10, 11}

  • Talking about the problem behavior to the child or around the child may increase the likelihood of that behavior. Although corrective feedback should be provided when appropriate, extra comments irrelevant to assisting the child should be avoided.

• Create Choices ^{19, 20}

  • Giving a child the opportunity to control some aspect of the task helps increase the likelihood of compliance and completion of complex tasks. When options exist that would not interfere with the completion of the task, present them to the child and allow them to choose how they will complete the task. However, it is important to note that this strategy is not permitting the child to bargain or argue their way out of completing a task.

Selected References

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