Children with serious behavior problems may be helped immensely if their parents are taught effective parenting skills for these children.
Researchers for the study said that in dealing with delinquency, or severe conduct disorder, it helps if parents can be involved in the training sessions and they are taught the interventions to use than correcting the children themselves.Researchers have observed various intervention methods and found that the best results in the behavior of the children are obtained where the parents have learned to use the interventions themselves to treat their children.
The study also found that children who had depression or anxiety respond more positively to interventions. Impulsive children with behavior problems and ADHD responded most when teachers and parents were both trained to use the interventions. Also one surprise result was that children with younger mothers responded to interventions more than those with older mothers. Parents who were less harsh and critical also helped their children adept to the treatment procedures faster than parents who are disciplinarians.
Researchers of the study feel that treating children with behavioral problems is not easy and require a lot of proper guidance from the counselors, teachers as well as parents. Hence it is best to teach the behavior modification procedures to both parents and teachers so that the behavior of children may be guided in all the spheres where they interact socially.
Reference: Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, July 2005
