Coping Power

--

David H. Barlow, PhD

Anne Marie Albano, PhD

Gillian Butler, PhD

David M. Clark, PhD

Edna B. Foa, PhD

Paul J. Frick, PhD

Jack M. Gorman, MD

Kirk Heilbrun, PhD

Robert J. McMahon, PhD

Peter E. Nathan, PhD

Christine Maguth Nezu, PhD

Matthew K. Nock, PhD

Paul Salkovskis, PhD

Bonnie Spring, PhD

Gail Steketee, PhD

John R. Weisz, PhD

G. Terence Wilson, PhD

Programs

Coping PowerPARENT GROUP PROGRAM

F a c i l i t a t o r G u i d e

Karen C. Wells • John E. Lochman • Lisa A. Lenhart

1

1Oxford University Press, Inc., publishes works that furtherOxford University’s objective of excellencein research, scholarship, and education.

Oxford New YorkAuckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto

With offices inArgentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam

Copyright © by Oxford University Press, Inc.

Published by Oxford University Press, Inc. Madison Avenue, New York, New York

www.oup.com

Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,without the prior permission of Oxford University Press.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication DataCIP data on fileISBN ----

3

Printed in the United States of Americaon acid-free paper

Stunning developments in healthcare have taken place over the last sev-

eral years, but many of our widely accepted interventions and strategies

in mental health and behavioral medicine have been brought into ques-

tion by research evidence as not only lacking benefit, but perhaps, in-

ducing harm. Other strategies have been proven effective using the best

current standards of evidence, resulting in broad-based recommenda-

tions to make these practices more available to the public. Several recent

developments are behind this revolution. First, we have arrived at a

much deeper understanding of pathology, both psychological and physi-

cal, which has led to the development of new, more precisely targeted in-

terventions. Second, our increased understanding of developmental is-

sues allows a finer matching of interventions to developmental levels

Third, our research methodologies have improved substantially, such

that we have reduced threats to internal and external validity, making the

outcomes more directly applicable to clinical situations. Third, govern-

ments around the world and healthcare systems and policymakers have

decided that the quality of care should improve, that it should be evi-

dence based, and that it is in the public’s interest to ensure that this hap-

pens (Barlow, ; Institute of Medicine, ).

Of course, the major stumbling block for clinicians everywhere is the ac-

cessibility of newly developed evidence-based psychological interven-

tions. Workshops and books can go only so far in acquainting responsi-

ble and conscientious practitioners with the latest behavioral healthcare

practices and their applicability to individual patients. This new series,

ProgramsThatWork™, is devoted to communicating these exciting new

interventions to clinicians on the frontlines of practice.

The manuals and workbooks in this series contain step-by-step detailed

procedures for assessing and treating specific problems and diagnoses.

About ProgramsThatWork ™

But this series also goes beyond the books and manuals by providing an-

cillary materials that will approximate the supervisory process in assist-

ing practitioners in the implementation of these procedures in their

practice.

In our emerging healthcare system, the growing consensus is that evi-

dence-based practice offers the most responsible course of action for the

mental health professional. All behavioral healthcare clinicians deeply

desire to provide the best possible care for their patients. In this series,

our aim is to close the dissemination and information gap and make that

possible.

This facilitator guide is designed to be used by therapists conducting

the parent component of the Coping Power Program. Coping Power is

a proven intervention aimed at teaching parents how to manage their

children’s aggressive behavior. Over the course of two school years and

weekly group meetings, parents are taught skills for combating mis-

behavior and reinforcing positive behavior. Parents practice various dis-

cipline techniques, as well as strategies for decreasing the stress associated

with parenting an aggressive child.

This comprehensive guide uses an easy to follow session-by-session for-

mat to systematically deliver the intervention to parents. It provides the

facilitator or group leader with detailed procedures for working with

parents, including sample dialogues, role-play exercises, and homework

assignments.

vi

David H. Barlow, Editor-in-Chief,

ProgramsThatWork™

Boston, Massachusetts

Chapter Introductory Information for Parent

Group Facilitators

Chapter Parent Group Logistics

Coping Power Program: Year 1

Chapter Session : Introductions, Overview, and Academic

Support

Chapter Session : Academic Support in the Home

Chapter Session : Stress Management—Part I

Chapter Session : Stress Management—Part II

Chapter Session : Basic Social Learning Theory and Improving

the Parent–Child Relationship

Chapter Session : Ignoring Minor Disruptive Behavior

Chapter Session : Giving Effective Instructions

to Children

Chapter Session : Establishing Rules and Expectations

Chapter Session : Discipline and Punishment—Part I

Chapter Session : Discipline and Punishment—Part II

Chapter Session : Getting Ready for Summer

Contents

Coping Power Program: Year 2

Chapter Session : Academic Support in the

Home—Review Session

Chapter Session : Building Family Cohesion

Chapter Session : Family Problem Solving

Chapter Session : Family Communication

Chapter Session : Long-Term Planning, Termination

References

About the Authors

viii

Background Information and Purpose of This Program

The Coping Power Program is based on a contextual social-cognitive

model of childhood aggression (Lochman & Wells, a; Lochman,

Wells, & Murray, ), which is a risk marker for later adolescent sub-

stance use and delinquency and can usefully serve as a conceptual frame-

work for cognitive-behavioral intervention. This model indicates two

relevant sets of potential mediators of adolescent antisocial behavior: ()

child-level factors (e.g., Tremblay & LeMarquand, ), including chil-

dren’s poor social-cognitive and decision-making skills, poor self-regula-

tion, perceived peer context, and poor ability to resist peer pressure, and

() contextual factors, including poor parental caregiver involvement

with, and discipline of, the child (e.g., Wasserman & Seracini, ).

It is assumed that broader contextual risk factors, such as the level of

neighborhood violence (Luthar, ), affect these mediational processes

and children’s subsequent behavior. The Coping Power Program, based

on this model, is provided primarily to preadolescent and early adoles-

cent aggressive children and their parents.

The Coping Power Program includes a child component, consisting of

a -session group intervention, and a coordinated -session parent com-

ponent; both of these are designed to be delivered over a - to -month

period of time. On the basis of outcome research (Lochman & Wells,

), we strongly recommend that the Coping Power parent and child

components be used together, since the best effects are achieved through

a combination approach. Nevertheless, the components can be used

alone with appropriate attention to minor adaptation.

1

Chapter 1 Introductory Information for Parent Group Facilitators

The Coping Power Program is often delivered near the time of children’s

transition to middle school. Intervention can begin in the year prior to

the middle-school transition (typically fifth grade) and continue into the

first year in middle school (typically sixth grade), although the program

is generally developmentally appropriate for children from the middle

elementary school grades through the middle years of middle school,

and can be used to cover grades to . Use with younger or older chil-

dren requires further adaptation. The Coping Power Program has been

delivered to target children who have been identified by teacher and par-

ent ratings of children’s aggressive behavior as being relatively high in ag-

gressive behavior problems, as well as to children who meet diagnostic

criteria for oppositional defiant disorder and conduct disorder. The

Coping Power child and parent components have been developed to be

delivered in tandem, with certain topics designed to come up at com-

mon times in the parent and child groups. However, as previously men-

tioned, the child and parent groups can be conducted individually and

separately with minor modifications.

This guide provides therapists with an overview of the Coping Power

Program with an emphasis on the parent component; a companion guide

provides an overview of the child component. Parent component group

sessions can take place at children’s schools, in neighborhood commu-

nity settings such as community recreation centers or neighborhood li-

braries, or at mental health outpatient clinics. The program has been

offered primarily in group session format, although we have used the

program in individual parent sessions with relatively minor adaptations.

Parent group sessions are designed to last – minutes. The group ses-

sions usually include six to eight parents or parent pairs. The Coping

Power parent component addresses the parenting domains identified in

prior studies as being related to child disruptive behavior.

Disorder or Problem Focus

Some children fall outside the normal or typical variations of externaliz-

ing behaviors (Lochman, Barry, Powell, Boxmeyer, & Holmes, ).

Within this group of disruptive children, aggression is a frequent and

2

particularly concerning complaint. Aggression is one of the most stable

problem behaviors in childhood with a developmental trajectory toward

negative outcomes in adolescence, such as drug and alcohol use, truancy

and dropout, delinquency, and violence (Lochman & Wayland, ;

Lochman, Powell, Whidby, & Fitzgerald, ). Children’s aggressive

behavior patterns may escalate to include a wide range of severe antiso-

cial behaviors in adolescence (Loeber, ), and this negative antisocial

trajectory may even continue into adulthood in the form of antisocial

personality disorder.

Childhood aggressive behavior can thus have serious and negative im-

plications for a child’s future. The negative effects are not limited to the

aggressive individual, however, as aggressive behavior by definition has

the potential to cause harm or injury to others. In today’s schools, ag-

gressive bullying, which may be verbal, physical, or psychological, is in-

creasingly being recognized as a serious problem (Rigby, ). Bullying

is a deliberate act with the intent of harming the victims (Farrington,

). Examples of direct bullying include hitting and kicking, charging

interest on goods and stealing, name calling and intimidation, and sex-

ual harassment. Other forms of bullying that are more indirect (i.e., re-

lational bullying) include spreading rumors about peers and gossiping

(Ireland & Archer, ).

Children who display high levels of aggressive behavior often exhibit ad-

ditional externalizing behaviors and may meet criteria for a disruptive

behavior disorder diagnosis such as oppositional defiant disorder (ODD)

or conduct disorder (CD; American Psychiatric Association, ).

Conduct disorder is defined as follows:

■ A repetitive and persistent pattern of behavior which violates the

rights of others or major age-appropriate societal norms or rules.

These behaviors fall into four main groupings: ) aggressive con-

duct that threatens physical harm to other people or animals;

) nonaggressive conduct that causes property loss or damage;

) deceitfulness and theft; ) and serious violations of rules. Three

or more characteristic behaviors must have been present during

the past months.

3

Oppositional defiant disorder is defined as follows:

■ A recurrent pattern of negativistic, defiant, disobedient, and hos-

tile behavior toward authority figures that persists for at least

months and is characterized by the frequent occurrence of at least

four of the following behaviors: losing one’s temper, arguing with

adults, actively defying or refusing to comply with request or rules

of adults, deliberately doing things that will annoy other people,

blaming others for one’s own mistakes or misbehavior, being

touchy or easily annoyed by others, being angry and resentful, or

being spiteful or vindictive.

Although not an explicit part of the diagnosis, aggression may accompany

the characteristic pattern of negativistic, hostile, and defiant behavior

associated with a diagnosis of ODD. More severe disruptive behaviors

including aggression towards people or animals, destruction of property,

theft, and deceit are associated with CD. Prevalence rates for these diag-

noses are estimated to be from % to % of the general population for

ODD and from % to more than % for CD (American Psychiatric

Association, ). It is noteworthy that some researchers are beginning

to identify psychological features that are linked to subsequent psycho-

pathy (Barry et al., ; Pardini, Lochman, & Frick, ; Pardini,

Lochman, & Powell, ). These youth, who display manipulation, im-

pulsivity, and remorseless patterns of interpersonal behavior, are usually

referred to as “callous” or “unemotional” and are considered to be con-

ceptually different from youth diagnosed with CD (Cleckley, ; Hart

& Hare, ). Children who display associated narcissistic features are

also at risk for heightened rates of externalizing behavior problems

(Barry et al., ).

Symptoms associated with ODD are age inappropriate, usually appear-

ing prior to years of age and no later than adolescence (American Psy-

chiatric Association, ). These symptoms include angry, defiant, ir-

ritable, and oppositional behaviors and are usually first manifested in the

home environment. The diagnosis of ODD should only be made if

these behaviors occur more frequently than what would be typically ex-

pected of same-aged peers with a similar developmental level. CD symp-

toms such as fire setting, breaking and entering, and running away from

home are more severe and may become evident as early as the preschool

4

years, but these behaviors usually occur beginning in middle childhood

to middle adolescence. Less severe symptoms (e.g., lying, shoplifting,

and physical fighting) are observed initially, followed by intermediate

behaviors such as burglary; the most severe behaviors (e.g., rape, theft

while confronting a victim) usually emerge last (American Psychiatric

Association, ). It is particularly important for those who provide

services to children and adolescents to be aware of the symptoms of

ODD and to provide intervention, because ODD is a common an-

tecedent to CD. Furthermore, a significant subset of those individuals

diagnosed with CD, particularly those with an early onset, subsequently

develop antisocial personality disorder (ASPD; American Psychiatric

Association, ). See Table . for DSM-IV-TR diagnostic criteria for

ODD and CD.

In terms of gender, ODD is more prevalent in males than in females

prior to puberty, though the rates are fairly equal after puberty. ODD

symptoms are typically similar in males and females, with the exception

of males exhibiting more confrontational behavior and having more per-

sistent symptoms (American Psychiatric Association, ). Rates of

CD diagnoses, particularly the childhood-onset type, are more common

in males than in females. According to the American Psychiatric Associ-

ation (), males with CD usually evidence symptoms such as “fight-

ing, stealing, vandalism, and school discipline problems” and females

usually engage in “lying, truancy, running away, substance use, and

prostitution.”

Childhood disorders rarely occur in isolation, so comorbidity issues are

important to consider when treating children within clinical popula-

tions (Hinshaw & Lee, ). ODD and CD are often observed in con-

junction with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), academic

underachievement and learning disabilities, and internalizing disorders

(e.g., depression and anxiety disorders). Among youth with CD and

ODD, % also have a diagnosis of ADHD (Hinshaw & Lee, ).

Furthermore, the hyperactive-impulsive subtype of ADHD is more

closely associated with aggression than the inattentive subtype. ODD in

conjunction with ADHD increases the likelihood for the development

of early-onset CD symptoms (Hinshaw, Lahey, & Hart, ; Loeber,

Green, Keenan, & Lahey, ). Children with disruptive behaviors are

at a greater risk for school dropout and thus becoming part of a deviant

5

peer group in their neighborhood. Moreover, children with both con-

duct problems and depressive symptomatology are more likely to engage

in substance use as adolescents than those children with conduct prob-

lems alone.

Diagnostic Criteria for Oppositional Defiant Disorder and Conduct Disorder

In Table . we list the DSM-IV-TR criteria for ODD and CD.

Development of This Treatment Program and Evidence Base

A series of research studies have been conducted with the Coping Power

Program and its predecessor, the Anger Coping Program. In addition to

case studies (Boxmeyer, Lochman, Powell, Yaros, & Wojnaroski, ;

Lochman, Boxmeyer, Powell, Wojnaroski, & Yaros, ), which have

indicated how the program can be used and adapted with individual

cases, efficacy, effectiveness, and dissemination studies described in this

section have provided the evidence base for the Coping Power Program.

Earlier Outcome Research With the Anger Coping Program

The Coping Power Program was developed from earlier intervention re-

search conducted by Dr. Lochman and his colleagues with the Anger

Coping Program, starting with initial positive behavioral changes found

in an uncontrolled pilot study (Lochman, Nelson, & Sims, ). The

Anger Coping Program, unlike the later Coping Power Program, only

had an intervention component for children, with no parent compo-

nent. In a subsequent controlled study, aggressive and disruptive

fourth- to sixth-grade boys were randomly assigned to anger coping–goal

setting (AC-GS), anger coping (AC), goal setting (GS), and an untreated

control condition (UC) groups (Lochman, Burch, Curry, & Lampron,

). The boys in the AC and AC-GS groups reduced their independ-

ently observed disruptive-aggressive classroom behavior and had re-

duced parent ratings of aggression, while the boys in the GS and UC

conditions became worse on these measures by the -month follow-up.

6

7

Table 1.1 Diagnostic Criteria for Oppositional Defiant Disorder and Conduct Disorder

DSM-IV-TR Diagnostic Criteria for ODD

A pattern of negativistic, hostile, and defiantbehavior lasting at least months, duringwhich four (or more) of the following arepresent:

. Often loses temper. Often argues with adults. Often actively defies or refuses to comply

with adults’ requests or rules. Often deliberately annoys people. Often blames others for his or her mis-

takes or misbehavior. Is often touchy or easily annoyed by others. Is often angry and resentful. Is often spiteful or vindictive

DSM-IV-TR Diagnostic Criteria for Conduct Disorder

A repetitive and persistent pattern of behaviorin which the basic rights of others or majorage-appropriate societal norms or rules are vi-olated, as manifested by the presence of three(or more) of the following criteria in the past months, with at least one criterion presentin the past months:

Aggression to People and Animals

. Often bullies, threatens, or intimidatesothers

. Often initiates physical fights. Has used a weapon that can cause serious

physical harm to others (e.g., a bat, brick,broken bottle, knife, gun)

. Has been physically cruel to people. Has been physically cruel to animals. Has stolen while confronting a victim

(e.g., mugging, purse snatching, extortion,armed robbery)

. Has forced someone into sexual activity

Destruction of Property

. Has deliberately engaged in fire setting withthe intention of causing serious damage

. Has deliberately destroyed others’ property(other than by fire setting)

Deceitfulness or Theft

. Has broken into someone else’s house,building, or car

. Often lies to obtain goods or favors or toavoid obligations (i.e., “cons” others)

. Has stolen items of nontrivial valuewithout confronting a victim (e.g.,shoplifting, but without breaking andentering; forgery)

continued

The improvement on the parents’ ratings indicated that the interven-

tions’ effects had generalized out of the school setting. Secondary analy-

ses indicated that certain subject characteristics significantly predicted

intervention outcome. Within the two cognitive-behavioral conditions,

the boys who demonstrated the most behavior change had the poorest

initial social problem-solving skills (Lochman, Lampron, Burch, &

8

Table 1.1 Diagnostic Criteria for Oppositional Defiant Disorder and Conduct Disorder continued

DSM-IV-TR Diagnostic Criteria for ODD

There are no separate codes based upon age ofonset for ODD.

There are no specified levels of severity forODD.

DSM-IV-TR Diagnostic Criteria for Conduct Disorder

Serious Violation of Rules

. Often stays out at night despite parentalprohibitions, beginning before age years

. Has run away from home overnight atleast twice while living in parental orparental surrogate home (or once withoutreturning for a lengthy period)

. Is often truant from school, beginning be-fore age years

CD, Childhood-Onset Type: Onset of atleast one criterion characteristic of CD priorto age years

CD, Adolescent-Onset Type: Absence of anycriteria characteristic of CD prior to age years

CD, Unspecified Onset: Age of onset is notknown

Mild: Few if any conduct problems in excessof those required to make the diagnosis andconduct problems cause only minor harm toothers

Moderate: Number of conduct problems andeffect on others intermediate between “mild”and “severe”

Severe: Many conduct problems in excess ofthose required to make the diagnosis or con-duct problems cause considerable harm toothers

Curry, ). In another study of child characteristics that predict child-

only intervention outcomes, Lochman, Coie, Underwood, and Terry

() found that a social relations program that included cognitive-

behavioral and social-skill training components adapted from the Anger

Coping Program had significant impact at post-intervention and at

-year-follow-up only with aggressive-rejected children and not with

rejected-only children.

A long-term, -year follow-up study of the preventive effects of the

Anger Coping Program found that, in comparison to the untreated ag-

gressive group, the boys in the Anger Coping Program had significantly

lower rates of marijuana and drug involvement and lower rates of alco-

hol use, and they maintained their previously noted improvements in

self-esteem and social problem-solving skills (Lochman, ). In all of

these areas, the Anger Coping boys functioned in the same range as that

of the nonaggressive boys at follow-up. However, there were no longer-

term preventive effects on delinquency, and the classroom behavioral

improvements faded. Only a subset of Anger Coping boys who had re-

ceived a second-year booster intervention maintained their reductions in

passive off-task classroom behavior, a result suggesting that a longer in-

tervention period might be necessary to enhance the maintenance of

overt classroom behavioral change. These findings were encouraging, es-

pecially because of the longer-term reduction in substance use for the

Anger Coping children, and led to the inclusion of the Anger Coping

Program as a promising, empirically supported intervention for aggres-

sive children in critical reviews of the intervention literature (e.g.,

Brestan & Eyberg, ; Greenberg, Domitrovich, & Bumbarger, ;

Leff, Power, Manz, Costigan, & Nabors, ). This series of Anger

Coping studies indicated the need for a broader, multicomponent in-

tervention to have more lasting impact on serious antisocial outcomes,

thus the development of the Coping Power Program.

Coping Power Program: Efficacy Study

The Coping Power Program described in this chapter includes a child

component and a parent component. It was derived from the social-

cognitive contextual model described in greater detail later in the chap-

9

ter. In an initial efficacy study of the Coping Power Program, Lochman

and Wells (a, ) randomly assigned aggressive boys (%

African-American, % white non-Hispanic) from Durham, NC, to

one of three conditions: a cognitive-behavioral Coping Power child

component, combined Coping Power child and behavioral parent train-

ing components, and an untreated control group. The two intervention

conditions took place during fourth and fifth grades or fifth and sixth

grades, and intervention lasted for . school years. Screening of risk sta-

tus took place in elementary schools and was based on a multiple-

gating approach using teacher and parent ratings of children’s aggressive

behavior. The at-risk boys were in the top % of boys according to

teachers’ ratings of all the students in their classrooms.

Analyses of outcomes at -year follow-up indicated that the intervention

cells (child component only; child-plus-parent components) showed re-

ductions in children’s self-reported delinquent behavior and in parent-

reported alcohol and marijuana use by the child and improvements in

their teacher-rated functioning at school during the follow-up year, in

comparison to the high-risk control condition (Lochman & Wells,

). The Coping Power intervention effects on lower rates of parent-

rated substance use and of delinquent behavior at -year follow-up than

for the control condition were most apparent for children and parents

who received the full Coping Power Program with both the child and

parent components. In contrast, boys’ teacher-rated behavioral im-

provements in school during the follow-up year appeared to be prima-

rily influenced by the Coping Power child component. Mediation analy-

ses, using path analytic techniques, indicated that the intervention effect

for both of the intervention cells on the delinquency, parent-reported

substance use, and teacher-rated improvement outcomes at -year follow-

up were mediated by intervention-produced improvements in children’s

internal locus of control, parents’ consistency in disciplining their chil-

dren, children’s attributional biases, children’s person-perception skills,

and children’s expectations that aggression would not work for them

(Lochman & Wells, a).

10

Coping Power Program: Effectiveness Studies

Given these positive findings from the efficacy study, the next research

questions examined whether the Coping Power Program has similar pos-

itive effects in other settings and with personnel who are more equiva-

lent to typical school and agency staff. Several types of effectiveness and

dissemination studies have been conducted with the Coping Power Pro-

gram, including studies described later of intervention effects on chil-

dren’s aggressive behavior and problem-solving skills among aggressive

deaf children (Lochman et al., ) and among children with CD and

ODD in Dutch outpatient clinics (van de Wiel et al., ; van de Wiel,

Matthys, Cohen-Kettenis, & van Engeland, ; Zonnevylle-Bender,

Matthys, van de Wiel, & Lochman, ).

In an extensive effectiveness study, the effects of the Coping Power Pro-

gram (the combined child and parent components) as an indicated pre-

ventive intervention directed at high-risk children were compared with

the effects of a universal, classroom-level preventive intervention (Loch-

man & Wells, b). A total of male and female aggressive fourth-

grade students (% African-American) were randomly assigned to one

of four conditions. Children were selected from elementary schools

in Durham, NC. A greater proportion of these schools were in the inner

city and in high-poverty areas than was the case for the prior efficacy

study. Intervention began in the fall of the fifth-grade year and was de-

livered by personnel more equivalent to counselors and social workers in

school settings who had higher case loads and less opportunity for home

visits. At post-intervention, the three intervention conditions (Coping

Power alone; Coping Power plus classroom intervention; classroom in-

tervention alone) produced lower rates of substance use than in the

control cell (Lochman & Wells, b). Children who received both in-

terventions displayed improvements in their social competence with

peers, and their teachers rated these children as having the greatest in-

creases in problem-solving and anger-coping skills. The Coping Power

Program also produced reductions in parent-rated and teacher-rated

proactive aggressive behavior and increases in teacher-rated behavioral

improvement. A -year follow-up of this sample replicated the findings

11

of the prior efficacy study. Coping Power children were found to have

lower rates of self-reported substance use and delinquency and lower lev-

els of teacher-rated aggressive social behavior at school, in comparison

to the control children (Lochman & Wells, ). Recent analyses con-

ducted with growth curve modeling have found that at -year follow-up

after the end of treatment, positive intervention effects on youths’ prob-

lem behaviors at school have been maintained (Lochman et al., ).

In a second type of effectiveness study, an abbreviated form of the Cop-

ing Power Program ( child sessions, parent sessions) was delivered

to children and parents in a rural-to-suburban Southern city. Two hun-

dred and forty children who had been identified as being in the top

% of aggressive children in their schools were randomly assigned to

intervention and control conditions. Children receiving Coping Power

intervention during the fifth grade had significant reductions in teach-

ers’ ratings of externalizing behaviors by the end of the intervention, in

comparison to control children (Lochman, Boxmeyer, Powell, Roth, &

Windle, ). This finding indicates that the intervention could be

transported to a different setting in a somewhat abbreviated form.

Coping Power Program: Dissemination Studies

The Coping Power Program, which had produced effects with hearing

children in the prior studies, was adapted and disseminated in this study

for use with deaf children (Lochman et al., ). Deaf children in a res-

idential school were screened for aggressive behavior (N � ) through

use of teacher ratings, and were randomly assigned by classroom to the

Coping Power Program or to a wait-list control condition. The children

in the Coping Power Program attended group sessions and their teach-

ers and dormitory staff received training to influence the context around

the children, but there was no component for parents. The Coping

Power parent component was used as a guide for training of teachers and

dormitory staff, and the Coping Power child component was adapted to

meet the needs of the deaf children. According to teacher ratings, Cop-

ing Power children displayed behavioral improvement across the inter-

vention year in comparison to control children (effect size: .), and the

Coping Power children displayed significant improvements in their so-

12

cial problem-solving skills and in their communication skills. This

small-scale dissemination study suggests that the Coping Power Pro-

gram could be adapted to meet the needs of specialized populations in

residential settings, such as deaf children, who have unique communi-

cation difficulties.

In a Coping Power dissemination study of Dutch children with disrup-

tive behavior disorder, Dr. Walter Matthys and his colleagues developed

a briefer Dutch version of the Coping Power Program following train-

ing from Dr. Lochman in the Coping Power Program. Dr. Matthys ex-

amined its effects in a treatment study in which ODD and CD chil-

dren in a child psychiatry outpatient clinic were randomly assigned

Coping Power or to a care-as-usual (C) condition. Children in both con-

ditions displayed significant improvements in disruptiveness at the end

of treatment and at -month follow-up, but the Coping Power children

had significantly greater reduction in overt aggressive behavior by post-

treatment (van de Wiel et al., ). These positive treatment outcomes

of the Coping Power Program occurred even though the Coping Power

intervention staff had significantly less clinical experience than the care-

as-usual therapists. The Coping Power Program was also found to be

highly cost-effective (van de Wiel et al., ). A -year follow-up study

of this sample found that Coping Power had a preventive effect in pro-

ducing significantly lower marijuana and tobacco use, in comparison to

the control condition, indicating long-lasting effects of the intervention

on substance use in a sample of children with disruptive behavior disor-

der (Zonnevylle-Bender et al., ).

What Is Coping Power Based on?

Risk and Causal Factors Within a Contextual Social-Cognitive Model

The contextual social-cognitive model (Lochman & Wells, a),

which is derived from etiological research on childhood aggression, in-

dicates that certain family and community background factors (neigh-

borhood problems, maternal depression, low social support, marital

conflict, low socioeconomic status) have both a direct effect on chil-

13

dren’s externalizing behavior problems and an indirect effect through

their influence on key mediational processes (parenting practices, chil-

dren’s social cognition and emotional regulation, children’s peer rela-

tions) (Lochman, Barry, et al., ). A child’s developmental course is

set within the child’s social ecology, and an ecological framework is re-

quired (Lochman, ). Risk factors that are biologically related will be

noted first, followed by contextual factors in the model and, finally, by

their impact on children’s developing social-cognitive and emotional

regulation processes. The malleable child and parent risk factors within

this model serve as the targets for intervention in the Coping Power Pro-

gram, and this model of risk factors can be used to assess children to

adapt the program to various subtypes and individual children.

Biological and Temperament Factors

With regard to biological and temperamental child factors, some prena-

tal factors such as maternal exposure to alcohol, methadone, cocaine, and

cigarette smoke and severe nutritional deficiencies (Brennan, Grekin, &

Mednick, ; Delaney-Black et al., ; Kelly, Davis, & Henschke,

; Rasanen et al., ) have been found to have direct effects on

child aggression. However, in diathesis-stress models it is more com-

monly found that aggression is the result of interactions between child

risk factors and environmental factors (Masten, Best, & Garmezy, ).

Thus, risk factors such as birth complications, genes, cortisol reactivity,

testosterone, abnormal serotonin levels, and temperament all contribute

to children’s conduct problems, but only when environmental factors

such as harsh parenting or low socioeconomic status are present (Coon,

Carey, Corley, & Fulker, ; Dabbs & Morris, ; Raine, Brennan,

& Mednick., ; Scarpa, Bowser, Fikretoglu, Romero, & Wilson, ).

Examples of these diathesis-stress models abound in the literature on

child-level risk factors. Birth complications involving preeclampsia, um-

bilical cord collapse, forceps delivery, and fetal hypoxia increase the risk

of later violence among children, but only when the infants subse-

quently experience adverse family environments or maternal rejection

(Arseneault, Tremblay, Boulerice, & Saucier, ; Raine et al., ).

Higher levels of testosterone among adolescents and higher cortisol re-

14

activity to provocations are associated with more violent behavior, but

only when the children or adolescents live in families where they experi-

ence high levels of parental abuse or low socioeconomic status (Dabbs

& Morris, ; Scarpa & Raine, ). Children who have a gene that

expresses only low levels of the enzyme monoamine oxidase A (MAOA)

have a higher rate of adolescent violent behavior, but only when they

have experienced high levels of parental maltreatment (Caspi et al.,

). Similar patterns of findings have been obtained when children’s

temperament characteristics have been examined as child-level risk fac-

tors. Highly active children (Colder, Lochman, & Wells, ), children

with high levels of emotional reactivity (Scaramella & Conger, ),

and infants with difficult temperament (Coon et al., ) are at risk for

later aggressive and conduct problem behavior, but only when they have

parents who provide poor monitoring or harsh discipline. The children’s

family context can serve as a key moderator of children’s underlying pro-

pensity for an antisocial outcome.

Contextual Family Factors

There is a wide array of factors in the family that can affect child ag-

gression and conduct problems, ranging from poverty to more general

stress and discord within the family. Children’s aggression has been

linked to family background factors such as parent criminality, sub-

stance use, and depression (Barry, Dunlap, Cotton, Lochman, & Wells,

; Loeber & Stouthamer-Loeber, ; McCarty, McMahon, & Con-

duct Problems Prevention Research Group, ), low socioeconomic

status and poverty (Sampson & Laub, ), stressful life events (Barry

et al., ; Guerra, Huesmann, Tolan, VanAcker, & Eron, ), single

and teenage parenthood (Nagin, Pogarsky, & Farrington, ), marital

conflict (Erath, Bierman, and Conduct Problems Prevention Research

Group, ) and insecure, disorganized attachment (Shaw & Vondra,

). All of these family factors are intercorrelated, especially with

socioeconomic status (Luthar, ), and low socioeconomic status as-

sessed as early as preschool has predicted teacher- and peer-rated beha-

vior problems at school (Dodge, Pettit, & Bates, ). These broad

family risk factors can influence child behavior through their effects on

parenting processes.

15

Starting as early as the preschool years, marital conflict likely causes dis-

ruptions in parenting, which in turn contribute to children’s high levels

of stress and consequent aggression (Dadds & Powell, ). Both boys

and girls from homes in which marital conflict is high are especially vul-

nerable to externalizing problems like aggression and conduct disorder,

even after controlling for age and family socioeconomic status (Dadds &

Powell, ).

Parenting Practices

Some of these contextual family processes have their effect on children’s

behavior by disrupting parenting. Depressed mothers have higher rates

of inconsistent parenting over time, and inconsistent parenting is the

proximal mediator of children’s problem behavior (Barry, Dunlap,

Lochman, & Wells, ). Parenting processes linked to children’s ag-

gression (e.g., Patterson, Reid, & Dishion, ; Shaw, Keenan, & Von-

dra, ) include () nonresponsive parenting at age , with pacing and

consistency of parent responses not meeting children’s needs; () coer-

cive, escalating cycles of harsh parental nattering and child noncompli-

ance, starting in the toddler years, especially for children with difficult

temperaments; () harsh, inconsistent discipline; () unclear directions

and commands; () lack of warmth and involvement; and () lack of

parental supervision and monitoring as children approach adolescence.

Parental physical aggression, such as spanking and more punitive disci-

pline styles, have been associated with oppositional and aggressive be-

havior in both boys and girls. Low parental warmth and involvement

contribute to parents’ use of physically aggressive punishment practices.

Weiss, Dodge, Bates, and Petit () found that ratings of the severity

of parental discipline were positively correlated with teacher ratings of

aggression and behavior problems. In addition to higher aggression rat-

ings, children experiencing harsh discipline practices exhibited poorer

social information processing even when controlling for the possible

effects of socioeconomic status, marital discord, and child temperament.

It is important to note that although such parenting factors are associ-

ated with childhood aggression, child behavior also affects parenting

behavior in a bidirectional manner (Fite, Colder, Lochman, & Wells,

16

). Children’s temperament can moderate the relation between par-

enting practices and children’s problem behaviors (Colder et al., ).

Poor parental supervision has also been associated with child aggression.

Haapasalo and Tremblay () found that boys who fought more often

with their peers reported having less supervision and more punishment

than boys who did not fight. Interestingly, the boys who fought reported

having more rules than the boys who did not fight, which suggests the

possibility that parents of aggressive boys may have numerous strict rules

that are difficult to follow.

Parents’ attributional styles, or the way they think about the causes of

their children’s behavior, and the effectiveness of various parenting tech-

niques are related to childhood aggression (Baden & Howe, ; Dix

& Lochman, ). For example, mothers of conduct-disordered chil-

dren are more likely to see children’s misbehavior as intentional and to

attribute the causes to stable factors within the child that are outside of

the mothers’ control. Research also suggests that poor parental problem-

solving skills in interactions with their children are linked with their

children’s aggression and behavior problems (Pakasiahti, Asplund-Peltola,

& Keltlkangas-Jarvinen, ).

Contextual Peer Factors

Children with disruptive behaviors are at risk for being rejected by their

peers (Cillessen, Van Ijzendoorn, Van Lieshout, & Hartup, ), al-

though other factors, including the racial makeup of classrooms, also con-

tribute to children’s peer rejection ( Jackson, Barth, Powell, & Lochman,

). Childhood aggressive behavior and peer rejection independently

predict delinquency and conduct problems in adolescence (Lochman &

Wayland, ; Miller-Johnson, Coie, Maumary-Gremaud, Bierman, &

Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group, ). Aggressive chil-

dren who are also socially rejected tend to exhibit more severe behavior

problems than children who are either aggressive only or rejected only.

Similar to bidirectional relations evident between the degree of parental

positive involvement with their children and children’s aggressive beha-

vior over time (Bry, Catalano, Kumpfer, Lochman, & Szapocznik, ),

children’s aggressive behavior and their rejection by their peers reciprocally

17

affect each other (Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group, a).

Children who have overestimated perceptions of their actual social ac-

ceptance can be at particular risk for aggressive behavior problems in

some settings (Pardini, Barry, Barth, Lochman, & Wells, ).

Despite the compelling nature of these findings, race and gender may

moderate the relation between peer rejection and negative adolescent

outcomes. For example, Lochman and Wayland () found that peer

rejection ratings of African-American children within a mixed-race class-

room did not predict subsequent externalizing problems in adolescence,

whereas peer rejection ratings of Caucasian children were associated

with future disruptive behaviors. Similarly, whereas peer rejection can

predict serious delinquency in boys, it can fail to do so in girls (Miller-

Johnson, Coie, Maumary-Gremaud, Lochman, & Terry, ).

As children with conduct problems enter adolescence they tend to asso-

ciate with deviant peers. It is believed that many of these teens have been

continually rejected from more prosocial peer groups because they lack

appropriate social skills and, as a result, turn to antisocial cliques as their

only means for social support (Miller-Johnson et al., ). The ten-

dency for aggressive children to associate with one another increases the

probability that their aggressive behaviors will be maintained or will es-

calate because of modeling effects and reinforcement of deviant behav-

iors (e.g., Dishion, Andrews, & Crosby, ). The relation between

childhood conduct problems and adolescent delinquency is at least par-

tially mediated by deviant peer group affiliation (Vitaro, Brendgen, Pa-

gani, Tremblay, & McDuff, ).

Contextual Community and School Factors

In addition to family interaction problems, peer rejection, and involve-

ment in deviant peer groups, neighborhood and school environments

have also been found to be risk factors for aggression and delinquency

over and above the variance accounted for by family characteristics (Ku-

persmidt, Griesler, DeRosier, Patterson, & Davis, ). Exposure to

neighborhood violence increases children’s aggressive behaviors (e.g.,

Colder, Mott, Levy, & Flay, ; Guerra, Huesmann, & Spindler,

) and their beliefs about aggression (Guerra et al., ), and begins

18

to have heightened effects on the development of antisocial behavior

during the middle childhood, preadolescent years (Ingoldsby & Shaw,

). Neighborhood problems have effects on parenting behaviors

(Pinderhughes, Nix, Foster, Jones, & Conduct Problems Prevention

Research Group, ) and have a direct impact on children’s aggressive,

antisocial behaviors (Greenberg, Lengua, Coie, Pinderhughes, & Con-

duct Problems Prevention Research Group, ; Schwab-Stone et al.,

) above and beyond the effects of poor parenting practices. Early

onset of aggression and violence has been associated with neighborhood

disorganization and poverty, partly because children who live in lower

socioeconomic status and disorganized neighborhoods are not well

supervised, engage in more risk-taking behaviors, and experience the de-

viant social influences that are apparent in problematic crime-ridden

neighborhoods.

Schools can further exacerbate children’s conduct problems, as children

experience frustration from academic demands and from peer influ-

ences. The density of aggressive children in classroom settings can increase

the amount of aggressive behavior of individual students (Barth, Dun-

lap, Dane, Lochman, & Wells, ; Kellam, Ling, Mersica, Brown, &

Ialongo, ).

Social Information Processing

On the basis of children’s temperament and biological dispositions, as

well as children’s contextual experiences from their family, peers, and

community, they begin to form stable patterns of processing social in-

formation (Dodge, Laird, Lochman, Zelli, & Conduct Problems Pre-

vention Research Group, ) and regulating their emotions. Children’s

emotional reactions such as anger can contribute to later substance use

and other antisocial behavior, especially when children have not devel-

oped good inhibitory control (Pardini, Lochman, & Wells, ). The

contextual social-cognitive model (Lochman & Wells, a) stresses

the reciprocal interactive relationships between children’s initial cogni-

tive appraisal of problem situations, their efforts to think about solutions

to the perceived problems, children’s physiological arousal, and their be-

havioral response. The level of physiological arousal will depend on the

19

individual’s biological predisposition to become aroused, and will vary

depending on the interpretation of the event (Williams, Lochman,

Phillips, & Barry, ). The level of arousal will further influence the

social problem solving, operating to either intensify the fight-or-flight

response or interfere with the generation of solutions. Because of the on-

going and reciprocal nature of interactions, it may be difficult for chil-

dren to extricate themselves from aggressive behavior patterns.

Aggressive children have cognitive distortions at the appraisal phases of

social-cognitive processing because of difficulties in encoding incoming

social information and in accurately interpreting social events and others’

intentions. They also have cognitive deficiencies at the problem-solving

phases of social-cognitive processing, shown by their generating mal-

adaptive solutions for perceived problems and having non-normative ex-

pectations for the usefulness of aggressive and nonaggressive solutions to

their social problems. In the appraisal phases of information processing,

aggressive children have been found to recall fewer relevant cues about

events (Lochman & Dodge, ), base interpretations of events on

fewer cues (Dodge, Pettit, McClaskey, & Brown, ), selectively at-

tend to hostile rather than neutral cues (Gouze, ), and recall the

most recent cues in a sequence, with selective inattention to earlier pre-

sented cues (Milich & Dodge, ). At the interpretation stage of ap-

praisal processing, aggressive children have been shown to have a hostile

attributional bias, as they tend to excessively infer that others are acting

toward them in a provocative and hostile manner (Dodge et al., ;

Lochman & Dodge, ). These attributional biases tend to be more

prominent in reactively aggressive children than in proactively aggressive

children (Dodge, Lochman, Harnish, Bates, & Pettit, ).

The problem-solving stages of information processing begin with the

child accessing the goal that the individual chooses to pursue, and this

will then affect the responses generated for resolving the conflict, which

occurs in the next processing stage. Aggressive children have been found

to have social goals that are more dominance and revenge oriented and

less affiliation oriented than is the case for nonaggressive children (Loch-

man, Wayland, & White, ). The fourth information-processing stage

involves a generative process whereby potential solutions for coping with

a perceived problem are recalled from memory. At this stage, aggressive

20

children demonstrate deficiencies in both the quality and quantity of

their problem-solving solutions. These differences are most pronounced

for the quality of the solutions offered, with aggressive children offering

fewer verbal-assertion solutions ( Joffe, Dobson, Fine, Marriage, &

Haley, ; Lochman & Lampron, ), fewer compromise solutions

(Lochman & Dodge, ), more direct-action solutions (Lochman &

Lampron, ), a greater number of help-seeking or adult intervention

responses (Rabiner, Lenhart, & Lochman, ), and more physically

aggressive responses (Pepler, Craig, & Roberts, ) to hypothetical

vignettes describing interpersonal conflicts. The nature of the social

problem-solving deficits for aggressive children can vary depending on

their diagnostic classification. Boys with a diagnosis of CD produce

more aggressive and antisocial solutions in vignettes about conflicts with

parents and teachers, and fewer verbal and nonaggressive solutions in

peer conflicts, in comparison to boys with ODD (Dunn, Lochman, &

Colder, ). Thus, children with CD have broader problem-solving

deficits in multiple interpersonal contexts, in comparison to children

with ODD.

The fifth processing step involves a two-step process: first, identifying

the consequences for each of the solutions generated, and second, eval-

uating each solution and consequence in terms of the individual’s de-

sired outcome. In general, aggressive children evaluate aggressive beha-

vior as more positive (Crick & Werner, ) than do children without

aggressive behavior difficulties. Children’s beliefs about the utility of ag-

gression and their ability to successfully enact an aggressive response can

operate to increase the likelihood of aggression being displayed, as chil-

dren who hold these beliefs will be more likely to also believe that this

type of behavior will help them to achieve the desired goals, which then

influences response evaluation (Lochman & Dodge, ). Deficient be-

liefs at this stage of information processing are especially characteristic

for children with proactive aggressive behavior patterns (Dodge et al.,

) and for youth who have callous or unemotional traits consistent

with early phases of psychopathy (Pardini, Lochman, & Frick, ).

Recent research has found that these beliefs about the acceptability of

aggressive behavior lead to deviant processing of social cues, which in

turn lead to children’s aggressive behavior (Zelli, Dodge, Lochman,

Laird, & Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group, ), indi-

21

cating that these information-processing steps have recursive effects

rather than strictly linear effects on each other.

The final information-processing stage involves behavioral enactment,

or displaying the response that was chosen in the preceding steps. Ag-

gressive children have been found to be less adept at enacting positive or

prosocial interpersonal behaviors (Dodge et al., ). This interpreta-

tion would suggest that improving the ability to enact positive behaviors

may influence aggressive children’s beliefs about their ability to engage

in these more prosocial behaviors and, thus, functions to change the re-

sponse evaluation.

Schemas Within the Social-Cognitive Model

Schemas have been proposed to have a significant impact on the infor-

mation-processing steps within the contextual social-cognitive model

underlying cognitive-behavioral interventions with aggressive children

(Lochman, Magee, & Pardini, ; Lochman & Wells, ). Schemas

can involve children’s expectations and beliefs of others (Lochman et al.,

) and of themselves, including their self-esteem and narcissism

(Barry et al., ). Early in the information-processing sequence, when

the individual is perceiving and interpreting new social cues, schemas

can have a clear, direct effect by narrowing the child’s attention to cer-

tain aspects of the social cue array (e.g., Lochman, Nelson, & Sims,

). A child who believes it is essential to be in control of others and

who expects that others will try to dominate him or her, often in aver-

sive ways, will attend particularly to verbal and nonverbal signals about

someone else’s control efforts, easily missing accompanying signs of the

other person’s friendliness or attempts to negotiate. Schemas can also

have indirect effects on information processing through the influence of

schemas on children’s expectations for their own behavior and for oth-

ers’ behavior in specific situations. Lochman and Dodge () found

that aggressive boys’ perceptions of their own aggressive behavior was

primarily affected by their prior expectations, whereas nonaggressive

boys relied more on their actual behavior to form their perceptions.

22

Risks and Benefits of This Treatment Program

Across a series of efficacy, effectiveness, and dissemination studies, there

has been evidence for the utility of the Coping Power Program in re-

ducing children’s later delinquency, substance use, and problem behav-

iors at school. However, it is evident that not all children improve when

using the program. Analyses of moderating factors have not identified

systematic subtypes of children with regard to race, gender, or initial

level of severity of problem behavior who may be less likely to be re-

sponsive to the program (e.g., Lochman & Wells, , ); such

analysis will remain a focus of future research. A particular risk to be

considered when using the program has to do with the aggregation of

aggressive children into groups. Prior research has found that group in-

terventions with antisocial adolescents sometimes have iatrogenic effects,

and can produce worse outcomes for these youth through iatrogenic

effects due to deviancy training among the youth (Dodge, Dishion, &

Lansford, ). We have not found overall iatrogenic effects in the Cop-

ing Power studies, but undoubtedly in some groups of youth the impact

23

ParentingPracticesContext

Child SocialCognitionand SelfRegulation

Child’sPerceptionof PeerContext

ProximalAggressiveBehavior

Violence andDelinquency

SubstanceAbuse

AcademicFailure

Community ContextNeighborhood Problem

Family ContextMaternal DepressionLow Social SupportMarital ConflictLow SESParent Aggression

Figure 1.1

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy Model of Youth Antisocial Behavior (Lochman, ).

of the program is limited by negative peer influences. This risk requires

careful attention by the therapist, and will be noted in Chapter .

Alternative Treatments

A variety of alternative treatments exist at different developmental levels

(Lochman, Pardini, Phillips, & McElroy, ) and are summarized here.

Preschool and Early Elementary School

Several programs developed for the preschool and early elementary

school years have shown positive outcome effects, and these include the

Incredible Years Program, parent–child interaction therapy (PCIT),

Early Risers, and Fast Track. Webster-Stratton’s (, ) Incredible

Years Training Series includes a videotape modeling parent training, typ-

ically administered in a therapist-led group. During these groups, par-

ents view and discuss video vignettes demonstrating social learning and

child development principles and how parents can use child-directed in-

teractive play, praise, and incentive programs and nonviolent discipline

techniques. An advanced version of the program incorporates video

vignettes promoting parents’ personal self-control, communication skills,

problem-solving skills, social support, and self-care. Webster-Stratton

has also developed a child videotape modeling program and teacher train-

ing curriculum, which have been shown to enhance outcome effects of

the original Incredible Years parent training program (Webster-Stratton

& Hammond, ; Webster-Stratton & Reid, ).

Parent–child interaction therapy (PCIT) was specifically designed to

target the parent and child dyad, with the therapist serving as a coach to

improve the parent and child’s interaction patterns in vivo (Brinkmeyer

& Eyberg, ). Operant-conditioning parenting techniques similar to

those described above are taught using this coaching method, including

a specific system for implementing time-out after a child disobeys a

command. PCIT is used most often with families of preschool-age chil-

dren (i.e., between the ages of and ). Significant improvements in

children’s behavior, parenting stress, and parents’ perceptions of control

24

have been found in families receiving PCIT relative to families in a wait-

list control group. Moreover, these gains are maintained following treat-

ment completion and generalize to children’s classroom behavior.

Early Risers is a multicomponent, competency-enhancement program

that targets elementary school children (ages to ) who are at high risk

for early development of conduct problems, including substance use

(i.e., who display early aggressive, disruptive, or nonconformist behav-

iors) (August, Hektner, Egan, Realmuto, & Bloomquist, ). Inter-

vention components include parent education and skills training, par-

ent–school consultation, child social skills training and strategic peer

involvement, and reading and math instruction and educational enrich-

ment activities.

The Fast Track Program is a comprehensive, long-lasting, multicompo-

nent intervention that starts with children as they enter elementary

school (Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group, , ,

b). Fast Track has components for working with children in social

skills groups, peer-pairing activities, and tutoring. It also has compo-

nents for working with parents in parent groups and in home visits. The

program for children targeted at high risk for later negative outcomes is

augmented by a universal prevention program delivered by teachers.

Preadolescence and Early Adolescence

Problem-solving skills training (PSST) is a program targeted for school-

age antisocial children between and years old. Children attend

weekly sessions lasting approximately minutes each (Kazdin, Siegel,

& Bass, ). In PSST the daily interpersonal situations that children

face are emphasized, with specific focus on individual interpersonal

deficits. Leaders teach problem-solving skills such as generating multiple

solutions to a problem and thinking about the consequences. In addi-

tion, problem-solving skills are applied to interpersonal situations with

teachers, peers, siblings, and parents. Techniques such as role-play, rein-

forcement, modeling, and feedback are all used to teach and reward

effective problem-solving skills. Children are also given tasks called

“super-solvers” which allow them to practice techniques from the ses-

sions outside of the group with other people. Parent participation is also

25

an important component of the training. Parents watch the sessions and

serve as a coleader in addition to supervising the use of the new skills at

home (Kazdin et al., ). Parents also learn parent behavioral man-

agement skills.

Middle to Late Adolescence

Multisystemic therapy (MST) is an individualized intervention that fo-

cuses on the interaction between adolescents and the multiple environ-

mental systems that influence their antisocial behavior, including their

peers, family, school, and community (Henggler, Melton, & Smith,

). Strategies for changing the adolescent’s behavior are developed in

close collaboration with family members by identifying the major envi-

ronmental drivers that help maintain the adolescent’s deviant behavior.

Services are delivered in the family’s natural environment and can include

a variety of treatment approaches including parent training, family ther-

apy, school consultation, marital therapy, and individual therapy. Al-

though the techniques used within these treatment strategies can vary,

many of them are either behavioral or cognitive-behavioral in nature

(e.g., contingency management, behavioral contracting). Clinicians are

guided by a set of nine MST principles that include concepts like fo-

cusing on systems strengths, delivering developmentally appropriate

treatment, and improving effective family functioning. Throughout the

intervention, clinician adherence to these treatment principles is closely

monitored through weekly consultation with MST experts.

Functional family therapy (FFT) combines principles from both family

systems theory and cognitive-behavioral approaches to intervene with

antisocial adolescents and their families (Klein, Alexander, & Parsons,

). The clinical practice of FFT has evolved over the past years,

and the most recent version of FFT consists of three intervention

phases: () engagement and motivation, () behavior change, and ()

generalization. During the engagement and motivation phase, the ther-

apist addresses maladaptive beliefs within the family system to increase

expectations for change, reduce negativity and blaming, build respect

for individual differences, and develop a strong alliance between the

family and the therapist. The behavior change phase is then used to im-

26

plement concrete behavioral interventions designed to improve family

functioning by building relational skills, enhancing positive parenting,

improving conflict management skills, and reducing maladaptive inter-

action patterns. These behavioral interventions are individualized to fit

the characteristics of each family member and the family relational sys-

tem as a whole. Finally, the generalization phase of the intervention is

used to improve the family’s ability to competently influence the systems

in which it is embedded (e.g., school, community, juvenile justice sys-

tem) to help maintain positive change.

The Adolescents Transition Program (ATP) was designed as a preventa-

tive intervention for middle school youth exhibiting risk factors for the

escalation of problem behavior (Dishion & Andrews, ). The pro-

gram initially consisted of weekly -minute parent and teen group

sessions. The parent groups consisted of to caregivers and were de-

signed to teach family management skills such as monitoring, positive

reinforcement, limit setting, and problem solving. Skills taught within

the session were reinforced through the use of exercises, role-play, and

discussions about how the skills can be employed within the home. In

addition to these group sessions, families received three individual con-

sultation sessions.

Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care (MTFC) is an alternative to

traditional group care settings for antisocial youth who are removed

from the care of their parents or guardians. In MTFC, antisocial youth

are temporarily placed with a community-based foster family. Contin-

gencies governing the youth’s behavior are systematically modified

through consultation with a comprehensive treatment team (Fisher &

Chamberlain, ). As the youth’s behavior improves, a gradual tran-

sition is made from the MTFC setting back to their parent or guardian’s

home. Each foster family is assigned a behavioral support specialist,

youth therapist, family therapist, consulting psychiatrist, parent daily re-

port caller, and case manager or clinical team manager to assist with

program implementation. Foster parents, who are informally screened

for program participation, engage in a -hour preservice training that

provides an overview of the treatment model and teaches techniques for

monitoring and modifying adolescent behavior. Adolescents are able to

earn privileges within the foster home by following a daily program of

scheduled activities and fulfilling behavioral expectations. The youth’s

27

biological parents or guardians assist in the treatment planning, engage

in family therapy to learn effective parenting skills, and begin applying

newly learned skills during short home visits. As the family’s function-

ing improves, the visits are extended until complete reunification occurs.

Family therapists continue to follow the case for to months following

reunification to assist in the successful resolution of problems that arise.

The Role of Medications

Although we have not had any clinical trials in which we have examined

the adjunctive effects of medications with children in our program, we

routinely encourage parents to seek psychiatric evaluation of comorbid

conditions that might require medication. Most common is ADHD,

which co-occurs in many of the children with aggressive behavior,

ODD, or CD with whom we intervene. Careful assessment and medical

management of ADHD is expected to enhance the Coping Power in-

tervention effects with children who have comorbid ADHD.

Outline of This Treatment Program

The content of the Coping Power parent component is derived from so-

cial learning theory–based parent training programs developed and eval-

uated by prominent clinician-researchers in the field of child aggression

(Forehand et al., ; Patterson, Reid, Jones, & Conger, ). Over the

course of the sessions, parents learn skills for (a) identifying prosocial

and disruptive behavioral targets in their children through use of speci-

fic operational terms, (b) rewarding appropriate child behaviors, (c) giv-

ing effective instructions and establishing age-appropriate rules and

expectations for their children in the home, (d) applying effective con-

sequences to negative child behaviors, (e) managing child behavior out-

side the home, and (f ) establishing ongoing family communication

structures in the home (such as weekly family meetings). In addition to

these basic parent training skills, sessions address stress management for

parents, family cohesion, and problem solving, and parents are contin-

ually informed about the skills that children are addressing in their

group sessions so parents can reinforce those skills when they appear.

28

29

Table 1.2 Topics of Child and Parent or Caregiver Group Sessions

Child Component Parent or Caregiver Component

Session Description Session Description

Year 1

Group Structure and Behavioral Introductions, Overview, and Goal-Setting Procedure Academic Support

– Goal Setting Academic Support in the Home

Organizational and Study Skills – Stress Management

– Awareness of Feelings and Physiological Arousal Related to Anger

Anger Coping and Self-Control Basic Social Learning Theory and Improving the Parent-Child Relationship

– Using Self-Statements for Anger Ignoring Minor Disruptive Coping Behavior

Relaxation and Overcoming Giving Effective Instructions to Barriers to Self-Control Children

– Perspective Taking Establishing Rules and Expectations

Perspective Taking and Introduction – Discipline and Punishmentto Problem Solving

– Social Problem Solving Getting Ready for Summer

– Group Creates Videotape

Year 2

Review From Previous Year Academic Support in the Home-Review Session

Organizational and Study Skills Family Cohesion BuildingReview

Application of Social Problem Family Problem SolvingSolving to Teacher Conflict

Application of Social Problem Family CommunicationSolving to Making Friends and Being Friends With Others

Application of Social Problem Long-Term Planning, TerminationSolving to Group Entry and Negotiation With Peers

continued

When the child and parent components of Coping Power are imple-

mented together, certain parent skills are introduced at the same time

that the respective child skills are introduced, so that parents and chil-

dren can work together at home on what they are learning. For example,

parents learn to set up homework support structures and to reinforce

organizational skills around homework completion as children are learn-

ing organizational skills in the Coping Power child component. Like-

wise, parents learn the PICC model of problem solving around the same

time that their child learns the model in the child component. Then par-

ent and child are encouraged to use the PICC model together at home.

Use of the Parent Workbook

Because the Coping Power Program is a group intervention, workbooks

have been made available for purchase in sets of eight. Each parent should

receive a copy of the workbook prior to, or at the start of the first group

meeting. Instruct parents to bring the workbook to every session. It con-

tains parent-friendly summaries of the session content and also contains

forms and homework sheets for tracking assignments in between sessions.

30

Table 1.2 Topics of Child and Parent or Caregiver Group Sessions continued

Child Component Parent or Caregiver Component

Session Description Session Description

Sibling Conflict and Problem Solving

Application of Social Problem Solving to Peer Pressure

Refusal Skills

Problem Solving About Neighbor-hood Problems, Deviant Peer Groups, and Centrality of Group Membership

Group Creates Peer Pressure Poster

Positive Quality Development and Peer Relationships

Review and Termination of the Coping Power Program

Forming a Group

Assessment for Inclusion in Group Therapy

Children are identified for inclusion in this program through parent and

teacher reports of their aggressive behavior. These reports can consist ei-

ther of teacher nominations, teacher and parent behavioral ratings, or,

in clinic settings, identification of children with ODD or CD diagnoses.

Once these children are identified, their parents can be contacted and

asked to participate in the parent component of the program. As noted

in the introductory chapter, we recommend that the full Coping Power

Program, with the child and the parent components, be used. In this

chapter, we will describe logistics issues for the parent component.

Many factors are believed to contribute to the development and main-

tenance of aggressive behavior (Lochman, Powell, Whidby, & FitzGerald,

). While innate characteristics and contextual factors are outside of

the influence of therapeutic intervention, such programs can address so-

cial competence and social-cognitive skills as well as parent skills related

to child aggressive behavior. These child and parent factors are believed

to mediate the negative outcomes of aggressive behavior (Lochman &

Wells, ). The social-cognitive model of children’s aggression sug-

gests that aggressive children demonstrate cognitive distortions when in-

terpreting incoming social information and evaluating social problems

and have deficiencies in formulating appropriate responses to these

problems. Their parents also show deficiencies or excesses in certain par-

enting behaviors (Lochman & Wells, ). Consequently, the assess-

ment of a child’s social-cognitive skills and functioning as well as of par-

31

Chapter 2 Parent Group Logistics

ents’ behaviors related to child aggression is central to understanding the

child’s therapeutic needs and likelihood of benefiting from child and

parent group interventions.

The Coping Power Program for children with conduct problems is an

example of a dual-component (i.e., child component and parent com-

ponent) group intervention for which inclusion is assessment based. For

school-based preventive interventions, Lochman and Wells have used a

multiple-gating approach to assess children’s behavior for elevated levels

of aggression appropriate for inclusion in the program. First, teachers

rate each of their students on severity of verbal aggression, physical ag-

gression, and disruptiveness. The %–% most aggressive children are

then contacted for inclusion in Gate of the program screening. For

Gate , parents complete the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). Chil-

dren with T scores below to on these measures have typically been

excluded from the program (Lochman & Wells, ). If parent ratings

are not available, teacher ratings for children’s aggression have proved to

be effective screeners for later child maladjustment (Hill, Lochman,

Coie, Greenberg, & Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group,

; Lochman & Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group, ).

Group Size

The optimal size of the Coping Power parent component groups is six

to eight parents or parent pairs and two group leaders, although parent

groups can be effectively led by one therapist if sufficiently prepared and

organized for the session. The group content can readily be used with

small groups of two or three parents as well. Thus, if not all parents at-

tend every session, the group can still continue.

Group Meetings and Program Duration

The Coping Power parent component consists of sessions, each last-

ing – minutes. Sessions are typically conducted every to weeks

and should span the same time period as the child component. The pro-

gram is designed to be used in a closed-group format as session content

32

builds on prior sessions. The program could be adapted to a modified

closed form in which some parents are added to the group up through

the third or fourth session, as long as the new parents are given individ-

ual sessions to provide them with condensed content of the sessions they

missed. This situation is not optimal, however, so every effort should be

made to have all the parents begin the group together.

Preparing for Group Meetings

Prior to the first meeting, therapists should identify the space for their

parent group session. We have conducted parent group meetings in the

children’s schools after school hours, in recreation centers, and in local

libraries in the communities where the parents live. On occasion we have

also conducted home visits for home-bound parents and conducted in-

dividual parent meetings with them there. Therapists should also meet

with children’s teachers if possible, to identify relevant behavioral goals

in the school setting that parents can work on in the context of school-

focused parent group meetings.

Before each session, therapists should review the session to refamiliarize

themselves with the materials so that they are not reading directly from

the manual while conducting the session. Prior to the session, therapists

should also assemble the materials needed for that session, making sure

that there are enough supplies for every parent.

Confidentiality

It is always important to review issues of confidentiality at the very

beginning of every new parent group. School, local, and state regula-

tions related to confidentiality should be followed. Beyond that, the

group leader should conduct a discussion of the importance of confi-

dentiality in the first session. This should include an explicit statement

that parents not discuss with anyone outside the group anything that is

talked about concerning other parents and/or children in the group.

Likewise, parents should not identify other parents in the group or their

children to anyone outside the group. The leader should obtain from all

33

parents verbal agreement with these principles, and parents can be asked

to sign a confidentiality statement, provided in the corresponding par-

ent workbook.

Special Issues

Group Cohesion and Parent Expectations

It is important to convey the purpose of the group and to develop a

group structure and format. Taking time up front to form a cohesive

working group will help to establish a solid foundation and encourage

parent attendance and cooperation with the program. Thus, in the ini-

tial session, inform the parents that this is a structured, -session parent

intervention group. The groups will occur approximately every –

weeks, with a break over the summer and holidays. Though most par-

ents find the groups to be very supportive in nature, these are not simply

“support groups.” Rather, the groups will focus on parenting skills that

can assist children in making a good transition to middle school and pre-

venting or reducing their disruptive and aggressive behavior. Skills are

cumulative—that is, later skills build on earlier skills. Generally a new

skill will be presented or discussed at each meeting. Thus, attendance at

as many parent groups as possible is highly recommended so that par-

ents don’t get behind in the sequence of skills presented in each group.

It is also important in the initial session to inform parents about the

structure of each group meeting and that there will be homework as-

signments. Group meetings are not open ended, but generally follow an

agenda that includes initial greeting, checking in with parents about

homework they have been practicing since the last meeting, presenta-

tion of a new skill or component, group discussion of the new skill,

planning a homework assignment, and open discussion in the remain-

ing minutes of the meeting.

34

Group Needs

While adherence to the objectives outlined in the curriculum is very im-

portant for treatment integrity, it is equally important to attend to the

needs of the individual groups. For example, some parents may have

strong opinions or even objections to some of the material presented in

the curriculum. It is important to allow an opportunity for differences

of opinion to be heard, without letting one or two parents overwhelm

the group’s process. If some parents express skepticism about some

of the techniques, other parents can be asked to share their opinion, or

the therapist can ask if parents would be willing to try the new tech-

niques even though they are skeptical and assess for themselves whether

they are helpful or not.

Attendance

Training parents in skills for managing their children’s disruptive and ag-

gressive behavior has been shown to be an effective intervention for these

children, but the intervention can only be effective to the extent that

parents actually attend sessions to learn the strategies. Thus, parental at-

tendance at meetings is an important issue for the counselor or therapist

specifically to address. This is especially true if the program is initiated

and implemented in the school setting where the child may have been

identified by the school, but not necessarily the parent, as having a prob-

lem. In these cases of school-initiated referral, the first phone call to the

parent is very important in gaining not only the parent’s consent for the

program but also their cooperation with attending parent groups or

meetings. The parent must be informed of the child’s difficulties in

school and should be asked if similar or other difficulties are occurring

at home. The therapist should then attempt to relate participation in the

Coping Power Program to not just improving their child’s behavior at

school but also reducing problems that the parent is dealing with or

worried about for their child. The first phone call is very important in

setting the tone for a therapeutic alliance between the therapist and the

35

parent as a team that will work together to help the child. The therapist

can specifically inform the parent that by having the therapist, parent,

and child all working together in the Coping Power Program, there

should be improvements in the child’s behavior not just at school but

also at home.

Once the parent’s initial consent and cooperation is elicited, the thera-

pist should, if possible, schedule one individual meeting with the parent

prior to the beginning of the group. The purpose of this meeting will be

to further cement the therapeutic alliance between the parent and the

therapist, to complete any consent and parent-report forms that may

need to be completed, and to assess further the parent’s perceived wor-

ries and concerns about problems with the child. The therapist may also

attempt to assess the day-to-day structure and schedule of family life and

determine how many other children and adults live in the family, if there

are any co-parent figures who might want to be included in the parent

group, how the parent currently disciplines the child, if and how the

parent and the child spend time together in pleasant activities, and what

kind of chores or behavioral expectations there may be for the child.

Since these are all areas that will be discussed in the parent group, it is

useful to have some assessment of these areas with individual families be-

fore the group begins.

The logistics of the parent group meeting will be important in maxi-

mizing the probability that parents will attend groups. It is our experi-

ence that parents are most likely to attend groups that are as close and

conveniently located to their homes as possible. Thus, a local library,

local recreation center or the children’s school may be good locations.

Likewise, the time of the group should be set so that it is maximally con-

venient for the greatest number of parents; usually, after work hours, in

the evening or on Saturdays.

To further increase the convenience of attendance at parent group ses-

sions, it can also be useful to provide a baby sitting service in the same

building where the group will be meeting for parents who have other

young children. Likewise, we have sometimes provided finger foods,

pizza, or a light dinner during groups scheduled during early evening

hours, or coffee and doughnuts for Saturday morning meetings. For

36

schools attended by low-income families who may not have transporta-

tion, we have also occasionally provided stipends for taxi service to and

from group meetings. Of course, the availability of these kinds of sup-

ports is dependent on funding sources. If funding is limited, therapists

may try to approach PTA groups or other community organizations for

small grants to fund supports of this kind that can facilitate attendance

at parent group meetings.

Homework Compliance

Parent compliance with homework assignments is another issue that fre-

quently must be addressed in parent training groups. Many parent train-

ing group meetings end with a homework assignment for parents of

practicing a new skill or parenting strategy with their child at home.

Many of these homework practice assignments include monitoring

forms for parents to keep a daily record of their homework practice.

Some parents are very compliant with these assignments and return to

the next group with their monitoring forms filled out. Other parents re-

port that they did the assignment but did not fill out or bring back the

forms. Still other parents do not do the assignment at all. Because the

therapist does not want to discourage attendance at the group sessions

for those parents who do not do the homework assignments, it is im-

portant not to criticize or express disapproval of parents who do not do

the assignments. It is best for the therapist to approach noncompliance

with homework by helping parents to problem-solve obstacles to doing

the homework assignments and to elicit suggestions from other parents

about how to address barriers to homework completion. It is our expe-

rience that when parents who have not done the assignments hear par-

ents who have done them discuss their successes or improvements in

their child’s behavior, the noncompliant parents may become motivated

to try the assignments. Nevertheless, some parents never implement the

homework assignments, and they should not be discouraged from at-

tending group. However, the therapist should realize that the children of

these parents may not make as much progress.

37

Common Elements of Every Session

Review of Session Content

It is important to spend a few minutes at the beginning of each session

to review the main points from the previous session. Begin each session

by asking parents to recall the major points from the previous group

meeting, using reminders as needed. Because each session in the parent

component builds on the previous one, the process of review enhances

the opportunity for parents to retain the material being covered from

one week to the next. Recapping the primary message from each group

meeting is one way of meeting this objective.

Homework Review

As noted in the previous section, many parent group meetings end with

a homework assignment to go home and practice the new skill or par-

enting strategy with their child. It is very important when a homework

assignment is given that the assignment is reviewed early in the next

group meeting. Failure by the therapist to review the homework assign-

ment sends a message that the therapist must not think that the home-

work practice is very important. Parents should be asked if they did the

assignment and how it went. Any problems identified in the implemen-

tation of the assignment should be addressed and possible solutions to

these problems offered by the therapist. Other parents can also be asked

about their ideas about how to address problems with homework prac-

tice. Parents who did not do the assignment should be encouraged to try

again next week once obstacles have been addressed.

Presentation of New Skill or Agenda Item

At this time in the session the major agenda item for the planned session

will be presented. The therapist will present the new material from the

session module and ask for feedback from parents about what they think

of the new material. Parents are asked to anticipate how they think the

38

new skill will work with their child in their family and whether they

think they will implement the new skill.

Homework Assignment

If there is a homework assignment associated with the new skill pre-

sented in the session then it should be assigned. The parameters of the

homework assignment should be explained or discussed. For example,

the details of how, when, and where the homework practice will be done

should be discussed so that parents have a good idea before they leave the

session of how they will go home and implement the assignment. If

there are any monitoring forms associated with the assignment they

should be distributed during this discussion and the therapist should

show and explain how the monitoring forms are to be filled out. Ask par-

ents to anticipate any problems with the assignment and to try problem

solving as many of these as possible before the end of the session.

Open Discussion

If there is time left, the therapist should ask the parents if there are any

additional items they would like to discuss or address in the session that

day. These do not necessarily have to relate to parent training, but may

have to do with school issues, neighborhood issues, etc.

Handling Parental Absence

In spite of the best efforts of therapists to encourage attendance of all

parents at every group meeting, there will undoubtedly be meetings that

some parent(s) do not attend. Because the skills in the program are gen-

erally cumulative, the non-attending parent(s) will miss the new skill

presented and the homework assignment associated with that skill. The

therapist is then faced with the problem of how to “catch up” the non-

attending parent(s).

39

We have taken various approaches to this problem. One option is to ask

non-attending parents if they can arrive – minutes early for the next

group to meet individually with the therapist and catch up on the missed

material. This is not an optimal solution because the parent will not have

a chance to practice the homework assignment in the interim. Another

option is to call parents right away to inquire about their absence and to

briefly review the presented new material to the parent on the phone. If

the parent cannot spend time on the phone on the initial contact, a tele-

phone appointment is scheduled with the parent. The parent is directed

to the relevant homework explanation and monitoring forms in the

workbook. We have also conducted home visits with non-attending par-

ents to inquire about them and present the new material. This option

should be used sparingly because if parents believe that the therapist will

always visit them at home, their motivation to attend group sessions may

be diminished. Finally, if none of these options is available or practical,

the therapist should be sure and review the previous material at the be-

ginning of the next group with all the parents, and parents who did not

attend the previous session might be asked to stay a little late at the end

of the meeting to make sure they understand the material presented in

the group review.

Training Group Leaders

With regard to therapist skills and attributes (Lochman, Powell, Jackson,

& Czopp, ), intervention staff for the Coping Power Program has

consisted of clinicians at the master’s level of professional training (e.g.,

school counselors, master’s degree in social work) and psychologists at

the early Ph.D. level. These individuals conduct both the child compo-

nent within the school or clinic settings and the parent component, gen-

erally at the child’s school, an accessible community center, or a clinic,

during a convenient time for parents. An interest and prior experience

in working with children and families within a cognitive-behavioral

framework are essential for a clinician who chooses to implement this

program.

Adequate training and consultation are also critical for successful imple-

mentation of the Coping Power Program (Lochman, Wells, & Murray,

40

). Clinicians should begin their training by reading the two Facilita-

tor Guides for all group meetings (child group program and parent group

program), which contain the session-by-session outlines of the objectives

and the process of each of the major components of the program. At-

tendance at a Coping Power training workshop is the second stage rec-

ommended for any clinician using this program. Information on Coping

Power training and workshops can be obtained at www.copingpower.com.

During the workshop, clinicians will become familiar with the back-

ground and rationale of the Coping Power Program and will review in-

dividual sessions to discuss the relevance of the session objectives to the

overall objectives of the program. Once the clinician begins implement-

ing the program, it is essential that he or she have access to an experi-

enced Coping Power Program interventionist or another supervisor with

cognitive-behavioral specialty training with children and parents for reg-

ular consultation throughout the process.

Basic skills essential to all practicing clinicians should also be noted be-

cause of the impact these skills have on treatment compliance and dis-

continuation of treatment (i.e., by caregivers). The clinician’s ability to

build therapeutic alliances with the child, relevant school personnel, and

parents and caregivers is an important element of the Coping Power

Program. Failure to build rapport with pertinent people may interfere

with effectual implementation of the program. Also, a clinician’s ability

to empathize with the child and the parents of the child is essential to

treating children with externalizing problems.

Strict adherence to ethics should be practiced by the clinician, which can

become somewhat complicated with the different therapeutic alliances

that may potentially be created, particularly if the clinician chooses to

use a school-based group format for the sessions (i.e., clinician–child,

clinician–teacher, clinician–parent). Some potential conflicts that may

arise that should be considered by clinicians from an ethics standpoint

are a parent having concerns of confidentiality and fears about his or her

child attending a group and possibly being “labeled” at school; a parent

(with a strained relationship with a teacher) sharing information in con-

fidence that the clinician knows would be helpful for the teacher; or the

child sharing information with the clinician during an individual session

that the clinician feels would be useful for group discussion. Clinicians

with multiple, intertwined therapeutic relationships must inform all par-

41

ties of the limits of confidentiality, and clinicians should not violate these

rules of confidentiality set within the clinician–group, clinician–child,

clinician–school personnel, or clinician–parent relationships. Also, proper

documentation of parent group sessions, child group sessions, individ-

ual sessions, and other related contacts (i.e., individualized education

plan [IEP] meetings) is essential and should be practiced.

42

Coping Power Parent ProgramYear 1

This page intentionally left blank

Materials Needed

■ Flip chart and markers

■ Questions for parent–teacher conference

Session Outline

■ Familiarize staff and parents with one another

■ Set up the plan for group (confirm meeting time and place)

■ Orient parents to the structure of the groups

■ Provide overview of the program

■ Present information regarding academic support in the home

Introduction and Overview

At the start of the first session, introduce yourself and any other staff

that may be working with you. Explain and define your role and intro-

duce the first topic of the year: providing academic support in the home.

Discuss with parents the reasons why transitioning from elementary

school to middle school may be stressful for their children and how this

program can help. Making the transition to middle school presents many

challenges. Children must adjust to a new school setting and to having dif-

45

Chapter 3 Session : Introductions, Overview, and Academic Support

(Corresponds to chapter of the workbook)

ferent teachers for each class, and they will have to learn to organize

multiple homework assignments. They must change classes throughout

the day, deal with increased expectations for self-responsibility and inde-

pendence, and handle increasing peer pressure. Because of all of these

adjustments and stresses, this time represents a major challenge to chil-

dren’s (and parents’) coping abilities. Sometimes children may not know

how to cope effectively with all of these stressors. Explain to parents that

it is not unusual to see an increase in academic and behavioral difficul-

ties during this time period, even in children who have progressed

through most of their elementary school years with few problems.

You may use the following sample dialogue to provide an overview of the

Coping Power Program.

The Coping Power Program is designed to teach children positive cop-

ing skills to prevent future difficulties that may otherwise occur. The

program is also designed to assist parents with developing and refining

skills that can help support the coping skills that your child is learning

in the group. In addition, the program emphasizes the use of parent-

ing skills that may help to ward off behavioral difficulties that chil-

dren may already be displaying or may display in the future. Even if

your child is not currently having behavior problems, the skills taught

in this program emphasize prevention and encourage healthy child

development.

Ask parents the following questions and discuss:

■ What concerns do you have regarding the difficulties that your child is

facing at school, in the neighborhood, or in the community?

■ What do you worry about in terms of the stressors that your child may

be facing or the choices that your child is making and will make in

the future?

Tell parents that in this group they will learn and practice different par-

enting skills that are useful for helping their children cope with frustra-

tions and difficult situations that may lead them to feel frustrated, angry,

or discouraged. Encourage group discussion using all or some of the

following questions:

■ What areas do you feel your child currently has difficulty with?

46

■ Are there areas that you predict your child may have difficulty with in

the future if he were to become stressed? How do you think your child

typically reacts to stress?

■ Are there any interpersonal difficulties (difficulties with other people)

that your child currently has or may have?

Structure of the Program

Discuss the structure of the program with the parents (e.g., one meeting

every other week) and provide them with a schedule of meetings. Par-

ents can record meeting dates and times on the calendar in the work-

book. Let them know that there will be total sessions offered over the

course of two school years and ask parents to quickly review the topic

areas to see if there are any other topics that they would like to see in-

cluded. Be sure to emphasize that the parent groups are not only about

school-related issues. Other topics such as stress management for parents

will be addressed as well.

If children are participating in the program as well and you (or someone

else) are running the children’s group, discuss with parents the following

information related to the structure of the child component.

The child program consists of sessions scheduled to occur weekly

(leaving time for holidays, school closures, field trips, and testing). Some

of these sessions will occur in fifth grade, while some will occur in sixth

grade. Likewise, parent groups will be held during the children’s fifth-

and sixth-grade years. Let parents know that the focus of the child group

is to help children develop and improve their coping skills. The goal is

to teach the children skills that will help them make better choices, get

along better with others, and manage negative emotions in an appropri-

ate manner. A key component of the child group is the weekly setting of

goals. Children will set goals for themselves and their teacher will com-

plete a form each week indicating whether or not the children have

met them.

Tell the parents that the children’s group may create a video during

one part of the program and that the hope is to show the parents this

video to give them a sense of what the children are learning. You may

47

wish to consult with the children’s group leader (if someone other than

yourself ) to find out if he or she plans on making a video that parents

can view.

Ask parents if they have any questions at this point about the child or

parent groups.

Confidentiality

Introduce the topic of confidentiality. Indicate that, within the limits

described in the confidentiality statement provided in Chapter of the

workbook, everything said in the group remains confidential. You may

use the following sample dialogue:

Confidentiality means that we will not share any information about

you with anyone outside group. In addition, because we would like

for all of you to feel comfortable talking about problems or issues that

arise for you, it is also important that you feel that other group mem-

bers will maintain everyone else’s confidentiality. Therefore, it is im-

portant that everyone in the group agrees not to talk about group

members when they are outside of the group.

Possible follow-up questions include the following:

■ Do you all feel that this type of confidentiality is important? Why?

■ Can everyone agree to maintain the confidentiality of everyone in the

group?

■ What other rules do we need to impose in order to feel comfortable?

Getting Acquainted

After completing the initial introductions and providing a brief over-

view of the program, introduce the “get acquainted” activity. Ask par-

ents to pair up and interview each other. Each group member should try

to find out enough information about the other person to be able to in-

troduce that person to the rest of the group. Useful information to ob-

tain includes the other person’s name, the number of people in his or her

48

family, and any hobbies or activities he or she enjoys. Instruct parents to

also find out one thing about their partner’s child that the partner thinks

is positive. Take approximately minutes to complete this activity.

Write these interview areas on the flip chart for parents to refer to as they

do their interviews. Parents may write their partners’ responses in the

space provided in the workbook. You can also create your own interview

form with the questions already written down and provide this to the

group members as a means of structuring the interview. The group lead-

ers should join the pairing process (not with each other) so that group

members can get to know you as well. After the interviews are com-

pleted, return to the group and have each person introduce their partner

to the others.

Finalize Plans for Group

At this time, finalize any planning about group time, place, structure,

and transportation sharing that may still need to be discussed. Now that

the parents are acquainted with each other, they may be willing to dis-

cuss carpooling. Ask parents about possible obstacles to attendance and

see if the group can help generate solutions to these problems.

Academic Support in the Home

The topic of today’s session is how parents can provide their children

with academic support. Discuss with the group ways for keeping up to

date on their children’s homework assignments. In order for parents to

support their children’s completion of homework, they have to be aware

of what is happening at school. Parents need to have a method for track-

ing homework assignments and monitoring their child’s progress effec-

tively. Sometimes children mislead parents by telling them that they do

not have homework or that they did it in school, when they actually did

not. If there is an effective homework-monitoring system in place, some

academic problems can be avoided. If not, it may be beneficial for par-

ents to set up a system with the teacher and enlist her help in establish-

ing a method for monitoring homework. Simple techniques such as hav-

49

ing a folder or notebook that includes the homework with a note writ-

ten by the teacher at the end of each day may be all that is required. In

this notebook would be a page on which the child writes down the as-

signment for every subject. At the end of the class period or the end of

the day, the teacher initials each assignment to indicate that it is listed

correctly. The teacher should be asked to add in anything that the child

has left out and to let the parents know if the child has completed any

of the homework during class time. In addition, the folder or notebook

should have a parent signature page on which parents can write com-

ments or concerns and indicate whether or not the child completed the

assignments. It is the child’s job to get home with the assignment book.

Excuses for not having the assignment book are not acceptable.

Parent–Teacher Meetings

Ask parents if they have had a meeting with their child’s teacher this

year. If they did, ask parents to inform the group about the content of

the meeting and to report on the teacher’s willingness to communicate

with the parents about homework. For those parents who have not had

a meeting, ask if they think it would be useful to set one up in the near

future. Be aware that some parents are suspicious and avoidant of school

personnel, so be sure to be sensitive to these issues during the discussion.

Refer parents to the list of parent–teacher conference questions in Chap-

ter of the workbook. Emphasize the importance of being on time for

meetings with teachers. This will start things out on a good note. Teach-

ers usually have back-to-back parent meetings scheduled, and if one par-

ent is late it throws off the schedule and makes all the other parents have

to wait for their appointment.

In some groups it may also be helpful to role-play making a phone call

to the teacher. The group leader could play the part of a parent calling

the teacher to set up a meeting, while a parent or other staff member

plays the part of teacher. The role-play should include asking the teacher

for a meeting in a respectful way and telling the teacher what the par-

ent’s agenda is (e.g., “I’d like to talk with you about what your expecta-

tions are and how I can support Johnny’s academic progress at home”).

50

In addition to the role-play of the phone call it may also be helpful in

some groups to role-play actual components of the meeting with the

teacher. The group leader or a parent could play the part of teacher while

a parent or other staff member plays the part of parent. The role-play

would involve the meeting between the two. The teacher should start

out by welcoming the parent and telling the parent that she is glad to

talk with the parent about his son. The parent should express interest in

working cooperatively with the teacher. The parent could then ask the

teacher a series of questions such as those listed in the workbook.

Indicate that at the next meeting, the group will further discuss aca-

demic supports for the home and ways to make homework go more

smoothly for everyone.

Closing the Session

Thank parents for their attendance at the first group session and encour-

age them to try to come to as many group meetings as possible. Empha-

size that consistency in group attendance will ensure that they are able to

try all of the new techniques and will give them an opportunity to share

their experiences and hear about the experiences of other parents. Make

sure each parent knows that they are an important part of the group pro-

cess and that they will add to the group through their participation.

Answer any questions that parents have about the group content, meet-

ing times, structure, etc.

Homework

✎ Suggest that any parents who have current concerns about their child’s

behavior or academic performance in school set up a teacher meeting

using the suggestions and strategies reviewed in today’s session. If par-

ents have questions about this task, engage in problem solving and in-

form them that you will follow up with them next week to see how

their meetings went.

51

This page intentionally left blank

Materials Needed

■ Flip chart and markers

Session Outline

■ Set agenda

■ Review previous session and homework

■ Teach parents how to set up a homework system at home and monitor

their child’s progress in completing assignments

■ Assign homework

Set Agenda

Begin the session by welcoming all the parents to group and checking in

with them on any reactions or questions that they may have to the last

meeting. On the flip chart, write down the agenda for today’s session.

Refer back to the agenda throughout the session to keep the session on

track.

Review of Previous Session and Homework

Answer any questions that parents have about the structure of the group

and, if new parents are present, be sure to conduct a brief review about

53

Chapter 4 Session : Academic Support in the Home

(Corresponds to chapter of the workbook)

group issues such as confidentiality and allow an opportunity for the

parents to get to know one another before beginning with new session

content.

Ask if any parents called to schedule a parent–teacher meeting or actu-

ally had a parent–teacher meeting as discussed in the last session. If so,

inquire how the call or the meeting went. Answer any questions that

parents have about this experience. Validate good efforts on the part of

parents who did this step.

Continue Discussion of Academic Support in the Home

Talk to parents about the variety of things they can do to increase the

likelihood that their children will complete their homework. Refer par-

ents to the information in Chapter of the workbook on setting up a

homework system. Use the same information provided here to guide the

discussion.

How to Set up a Good Homework System at Home

Homework is an opportunity for children to learn and for parents to be

involved in their child’s education. It is also an opportunity for parents

to teach their child that learning can be fun and that education is im-

portant. When children know that their parents care about homework,

they have a good reason to complete and turn in their assignments.

Why Do Teachers Assign Homework?

Teachers assign homework for various reasons:

■ To review and practice what has been taught in school

■ To prepare for the next day’s class

■ To teach children how to use resources (library, reference books, etc.)

■ To explore subjects in greater depth than time permits in class

54

■ To teach children to work more independently

■ To encourage self-discipline and responsibility

How Can Parents Be Most Effective in Their Help?

. Set expectations. Parents must communicate clearly to their child

what the expectations are for homework behavior. They may seek

their child’s input (their child may help determine the homework

time or spot), and they should provide an opportunity for their

child to ask questions. However, the parent must remain in charge

of the homework process, even as the child remains responsible for

the homework itself. As children become more responsible toward

their homework, they may require less parental monitoring.

. Assist child in bringing home assignments and necessary materials.

■ Provide an adequate backpack or other method of carrying

materials.

■ Provide the necessary assignment book.

■ Check what was brought home as early as possible.

. Identify a time and place where homework will be done each

day. Setting a consistent time for homework is a good idea. This

time can be modified if necessary, but consistency is important. If

the child is not used to completing homework during chunks of

time, the parent may need to begin with setting minutes as a

goal and gradually increasing the time allotted to minutes or an

hour. As with time, it is a good idea to assign an area in which

homework will be completed. This area should be organized so

that homework can be accomplished there. This requires privacy,

a writing surface, a place to store materials, and a place to put fin-

ished work so it will not be forgotten the next day (perhaps a

backpack). The homework place does not have to be fancy, but

should be in a quiet area and should remain consistent from day

to day. A special box for materials along with an expectation that

homework be done at the kitchen table is often all that is needed.

. Remove distractions. Turn off the TV and radio, and do not allow

social telephone calls. All family members should engage in quiet

55

activities during homework time. If there are young children in

the home who may be noisy, they should be removed from the

homework area. If distractions cannot be eliminated, parents

should consider changing the location of the homework area

(e.g., community library).

. Set a homework time. Issues to be considered here include the

following:

■ The child’s schedule (e.g., most alert, fewest conflicting

interests)

■ The family’s schedule (e.g., parent’s work schedule, dinner

time)

■ Parent’s personal schedule (e.g., meetings, activities, sleep)

■ Siblings’ schedule (e.g., when are they most likely to not dis-

rupt the child’s homework time)

■ Potential distractions (e.g., favorite TV show, opportunity to

play outside while still light, community activities that they

would like to be involved in)

■ The amount of time required to complete homework

Note: Some children actually focus better with some background noise, so

parents may need to individually tailor rules and structure.

. Review assignments. Parents should check their child’s assignment

book or homework tracking form from school if there is one, and

review the child’s’ homework for the day. Or, parents can check

the school’s homework Web page if there is one to see the child’s

assignments. At the beginning of each homework session, parents

should help their child set up each academic task, if this help is

needed, and review the instructions with the child.

. Provide supplies. Pencils, erasers, paper, dictionary, glue, stapler,

calculator, pencil sharpener, scissors, and a ruler should all be kept

nearby. Keep all supplies together in one place if possible. If par-

ents cannot provide supplies, they can check with the teacher,

school counselor, or principal about sources of assistance.

. Set a total duration for homework (e.g., minutes). This rule

should be standard unless there is a change in the normal routine.

56

Modify the time in accordance with times when a lot of homework

was assigned or only a small amount of homework is assigned. If

the child works very hard but does not complete the assignments,

parents must evaluate what is not working (e.g., is the teacher as-

signing too much homework? Is the child not working produc-

tively? Does the child have a specific problem that needs to be

addressed [e.g., attention, reading ])? Each problem will call for a

different plan of action.

. Set a good example. Parents should read, write, or do other activi-

ties that require thought and effort.

. Show an interest. Parents should talk with their child about

homework assignments. Parents can take the child to the library

for materials. Most importantly, parents can read with the child.

. Vary the structure. Whatever the child’s age, if the child is having

difficulty completing and turning in assignments that previously

caused no difficulty, it is probably time for parents to increase

supervision and structure.

. Be available to help during homework time. Being present during

homework time has the advantage of increased monitoring and

provides the child with a source of assistance and support. If par-

ents cannot be present during homework time, they can use re-

sources available in the community to help (e.g., enroll the child

in an after-school program, ask friends or neighbors to help, call

home to check on the child’s status, provide the child with small

rewards for homework done in the parents’ absence).

Ask each parent to comment on the place and time that will be desig-

nated for the completion of homework. Advocate the notion of “pro-

tected homework time” (i.e., a time specified each day for doing home-

work when the TV and radio are off, telephone calls are not allowed, and

incoming telephone calls are intercepted and a message taken). If any

parent has difficulty creating protected homework time, try to enlist sug-

gestions from other parents.

57

Monitoring Homework

Explain to parents that children will differ with regard to the amount

and intensity of monitoring they need to progress through their home-

work. For example, children who have learning disabilities or difficulty

sustaining attention need more monitoring than other children. Each

parent will have to decide the appropriate level of monitoring for his or

her child.

Let parents know that they should monitor their child’s progress on a

regular basis and be sure to praise the child for appropriate work beha-

vior. It may be necessary to offer praise every minutes; this period of

time could be extended as the child gets used to the new structure. Par-

ents can offer help during these check-in times, but assistance should be

kept to a minimum so that the child remains focused on completing

their work independently. If the child requires help, parents can offer as-

sistance after the child has attempted all of the assignments.

An alternative to monitoring at specified time intervals is to have the

parent help the child break daily homework assignments down into

manageable pieces. For example, the parent can instruct the child, “Do

your math homework first and then bring it to me.” The parent can then

check each piece and praise the child for correct answers. Incorrect items

should be identified and folded into the next subunit so that the child

can try them again. Some homework assignments are long term. The

parent must assist the child in setting and meeting interim goals for the

completion of these projects. Long-term tasks may be broken down into

manageable pieces, and the parent can monitor the completion of each

piece by the specified time deadline.

Instruct parents to set a total duration for homework (e.g., minutes

or hour). If the child does not finish homework in the allotted time,

the parent should evaluate whether too much homework was assigned,

whether the child had difficulty with particular tasks, or if the child was

not working productively. Each of these scenarios calls for a different

plan of action. For children who are unaccustomed to successfully com-

pleting any homework, it is often useful to begin by requiring only min-

utes, then gradually increasing this by -minute increments until the full

length of time is obtained. Usually this process takes several weeks.

58

If the parent does not understand the homework, they can simply check

to see that all the problems have at least been attempted. The teacher can

check for accuracy later.

Summary

Discuss parents’ reactions to the preceding material. There will un-

doubtedly be complaints about the amount of time and work on par-

ents’ part in implementing a homework system. Empathize with this

complaint and ask parents how much time and energy they currently

spend worrying about their child’s academic performance, meeting with

teachers, and arguing with their child about her homework. Point out

the relationship between homework completion and school success and

failure. Help parents figure out how a system like the one described can

be implemented in their family. Emphasize to parents that they should

work closely with their child in developing the homework structure.

They should ask for their child’s input on how the structure should be

designed so that it is easy for everybody involved (child, teacher, parent).

By allowing the child to give input into developing the program, parents

create for the child a sense of “ownership” of the plan while at the same

time having their own input. Some areas in which children could be

asked to give their input include the following:

■ Exact time for homework

■ Exact place for homework

■ How frequently they would like parents to check their homework

■ Color of notebook

■ Whether or not the teacher should initial each entry or if they

would like to do it on their own and see how it goes

Ask the parents to identify areas of negotiation before they meet with

their child. Parents may choose to give their child two or three choices

in a particular area, and the child could choose one.

Refer parents to the sample homework system forms in Chapter of the

workbook. They can use these forms or create other forms that they feel

59

are more appropriate for their child; these are just examples. Remind

parents that they may want to set up a meeting with their child’s teacher

before establishing the new homework structure.

Homework

✎ Instruct parents to establish a homework system with their children

and be ready to discuss it at the next meeting.

60

Materials Needed

■ Flip chart and markers

■ Active relaxation script

Session Outline

■ Set agenda

■ Review previous session and homework

■ Introduce concepts and techniques of stress management (time man-

agement and taking care of personal needs)

■ Perform active relaxation exercise

■ Assign homework

Set Agenda

Begin the session by welcoming all the parents to group and checking in

with them on any reactions or questions they may have to the last meet-

ing. On the flip chart, write down the agenda for today’s session. Refer

back to the agenda throughout the session to keep the session on track.

Answer any questions that parents have about the structure of the group

and, if new parents are present, be sure to conduct a brief review about

group issues such as confidentiality. If there is any additional planning

61

Chapter 5 Session : Stress Management—Part I

(Corresponds to chapter of the workbook)

that needs to be done regarding time, day, location of group, trans-

portation issues, etc., review that now.

Review of Previous Session and Homework

Briefly review the previous session, in which the group talked about a

system for helping children to improve their homework completion.

The group discussed rules and structures that parents could establish in

the home for supporting homework completion. Ways of monitoring

and checking children’s homework were also discussed.

Ask each parent in the group how the implementation of homework rules

and structures went and discuss their child’s reactions. Positively reinforce

parents who tried some type of rules and monitoring and encourage those

who did not to try some of the successful strategies that other parents have

spoken about. Also, ask parents about the outcome of any parent–teacher

meetings that occurred since the last session. Ask if they included the

teacher in the development of the homework structure.

Stress Management

Inform parents that today, as well as in the next session, the group will

be talking about the impact of stress on the lives of parents. The group will

discuss ways to manage stress and, in particular, the stress associated with

parenting. Begin by discussing the various types of stressors (positive and

negative) and the cumulative effect that stress has on the individual.

Positive and Negative Stressors

Explain to parents that stress can come from any change in their lives to

which they must adjust. Many people think of stress as disruptive events

or crises. Obvious examples are natural disasters (e.g., fires, earthquakes,

floods), the death of a family member, physical injury, and illness, but

there are many more. Interestingly, events that most people think of as

positive (e.g., getting married, buying or moving to a new home, or

62

starting a new job) are often highly stressful. If a person experiences a

large number of stressors, the accumulation of these events can lead to

high levels of stress. Ask the parents to talk about some of the stressors

and daily hassles in their lives.

Physiological Definition of Stress

Further define stress for the group by talking about the physical reac-

tions that take place in the body when unpleasant events occur. Some re-

actions include increased rate of breathing, faster heartbeat, increased

blood pressure, muscle tension, and sweaty or cold hands. If a person is

already in a state of chronic stress and then another stressor is added

(e.g., the car breaks down, their child misbehaves), the regulatory cen-

ters or chemicals in the brain may overreact, causing an extreme emo-

tional reaction. When a person’s body is reacting and overreacting in this

way, the person may feel anxious, fatigued, and tense, and over a long pe-

riod of time, he or she can feel chronically fatigued or even physically sick.

Stress in Parenting

Go through this section quickly so that the parents have ample time to

talk. In brief, introduce the idea that parenting is hard work and that

there is no down time. Because of this, parents may overreact to prob-

lems or lose emotional control while in a parenting encounter. You may

use the following sample dialogue:

Parenting can, at times, be very stressful, especially if parents also have

a number of other ongoing daily stressors in their lives. Children can

be quite demanding of their parents’ attention, and if they are having

behavior or learning problems at home or at school, they may require

extra energy, effort, and problem solving on the part of the parent.

Such children present their parents with many situations that require

some type of disciplinary action, creative solutions, or thoughtful,

positive consequences. Parents may find that they must take themselves

off “automatic pilot” in their reactions to their children and must con-

stantly think through how they want to manage their child. While this

63

kind of proactive approach is in the child’s best interest, it can also be

stressful for the parent, who must constantly be on the front line

thinking, planning, and acting. When parents are also experiencing

other stressful events in their lives, the possibility for emotional overre-

action and loss of control in parent–child encounters increases.

Ask parents to share with the group how some of the stressors and daily

hassles identified earlier affect their feelings toward and parenting of

their child.

■ How do they feel at the end of a day that has had a lot of stressors?

■ What kind of bodily reactions do they experience?

■ What impact does this have on their patience and tolerance

toward their child?

■ What impact does this have on their ability to use thoughtful

parenting skills?

■ If stress makes them feel chronically tired or fatigued, how does

this affect their parenting?

Time Management

This section relates to the concept of time management and healthy liv-

ing. The Pie Chart of Life is used, and parents are requested to draw

their own pie charts detailing the various segments. It is expected that

most parents take little time for themselves. This realization can lead to

a discussion about the benefits of adequate self-care, such as more en-

ergy, interest, and enthusiasm that can be used in the other areas of their

lives.

Pie Chart of Life

Work with parents to help each of them use the Pie Chart of Life in the

workbook to visualize how they prioritize their time. It is not uncom-

mon for people to be unaware of the demands on their time and the

areas of their lives that they are neglecting.

64

Ask each parent to make a list of the different roles they have in life.

After making the list, they could count the number of roles, and then

make that many sections of pie inside the large circle on the page in the

workbook. Ask parents to try to make different-sized pieces to corre-

spond to how much time, energy, and “space” they currently think each

role occupies in their life. Have parents observe and comment on how

much time and energy they currently devote to parenting, and how

much they currently devote to taking care of themselves. Ask them if

this is the way they want their time to be spent, or if they would like to

make some changes in the sizes of any of these sections.

Ideally, there should be one piece of the pie that is devoted to taking

care of ourselves. However, for many parents, this piece of the pie gets

smaller and smaller with the passage of time and the imposition of

new responsibilities. The end result is often the complete neglect of self.

We think that we have to do this in order to meet the demands of the

other roles in our lives, but if we neglect ourselves for too long, we will

end up having little stamina, energy, or enthusiasm to give to those

other areas of our lives. Taking care of yourself is one of the first steps

in stress management; it will help you feel better and be more effective

in all areas of your life.

Taking Care of Personal Needs

Refer parents to the Taking Care of Myself Worksheet in the workbook.

This can be completed during the session if there is time, but can also

be done as a homework assignment.

Ask parents for their ideas about ways to take care of personal needs. Par-

ents may have specific examples of how they do this or how they would

like to do it if they had time.

Some examples of ways to take care of oneself include the following:

■ Reading a book

■ Relaxing in your favorite chair

■ Listening to music

65

■ Taking a warm bath

■ Going for a leisurely walk

■ Practicing a specific relaxation exercise

Ask parents to name other possible relaxing activities. If they mention

highly arousing activities (e.g., listening to fast music, watching a thriller

movie), inform them that these activities would likely interfere with re-

laxation by heightening their level of arousal.

For some parents, “taking care of myself ” may mean claiming min-

utes for themselves when they first get home from work. Explain that

this means that when the parent gets home from work, all chores (e.g.,

cooking dinner) are delayed for a half-hour, the children are instructed

to delay all requests, discussion of problems does not occur, and all other

activities are put off for minutes while the parent relaxes (e.g., chang-

ing clothes and lying down on the couch).

Be sure to stress that the parent must put “boundaries” around this time;

it should be protected from intrusion from other family members or

other chores that need their attention. For example, parents may men-

tion activities such as going shopping by themselves or gardening. For

some people these activities would indeed reduce stress. For others, how-

ever, they may not function as an effective stress management technique.

After the discussion, ask parents what kind of plan for taking care of

themselves they feel they can commit to. Have them use the Taking Care

of Myself Worksheet and list activities they will do and how often they

will try to do them. Also, have them list the arrangements they will need

to make in order to make this happen.

Active Relaxation

As discussed earlier, stress affects the body in multiple ways (e.g., in-

creased heart rate, increased blood pressure, muscle tension) and often

results in fatigue that negatively affects a person’s ability to function. Let

parents know that the effects of stress can have a negative impact on

their ability to parent because they are tired and have less energy to de-

66

vote to parenting (e.g., not finding the time or energy to structure and

monitor homework, forgetting to reward their child for a job well done,

not being attentive to whether their child has completed their assigned

chores). If parents learn to manage stress during the day, they will be

more able to find the time, energy, and interest needed to carry out the

role of being an effective parent.

One way for parents to reduce stress levels is to use active relaxation. This

technique helps people feel better by creating a pleasant feeling, one op-

posite that associated with stress. Active relaxation is an activity that par-

ents can do during the time allotted for taking care of themselves.

Refer parents to the relaxation handout in the workbook. Read aloud

from the script provided here as parents follow along.

All parents should get comfortable in their chair and close their eyes as

you read slowly through each step. You will be giving them instructions

while they follow along, doing each step in the procedure. At the end of

the entire procedure, say the cue word, “relax,” times in a calm, low

voice.

Relaxation Script

. Get comfortable in your chair. Place your arms on the arms of the

chair. Close your eyes and keep them closed throughout the entire

exercise.

. Become aware of the various muscle groups in your body (e.g., hands

and arms; face, neck, and shoulders; chest and stomach; hips, legs,

and feet).

. Bend your arms at the elbow. Then, make a tight fist with both hands

while tightening the biceps and forearms. Hold for seconds. Pay at-

tention to the tension. Then relax. Pay attention to the relaxation.

. Tense your entire face and shoulders, tightly shut your eyes and wrinkle

your forehead, pull the corners of mouth toward your ears, tighten

your neck and hunch your shoulders. Hold for seconds. Pay attention

to the tension. Relax. Pay attention to the relaxation.

67

. Take in a deep breath and arch your back. Hold this position for sec-

onds. Now relax. Take in another deep breath and press out your

stomach. Hold . . . and relax.

. Raise your feet off the floor while keeping your knees straight. Pull

your feet and toes back toward your face and tighten the muscles in

your shins. Hold . . . and relax. Now, curl your toes down toward the

floor, tighten your calves, thighs, and buttocks and hold . . . and relax.

. Scan each muscle group in your mind and relax any tense muscles.

. Now, become aware of your breathing. Slow your breathing down as

you breathe in and out, in and out.

. With your next deep breath, count slowly from to as you breathe in

and count from to as you breathe out. Your stomach should ex-

pand and deflate with each breath.

. Repeat this deep, slow, breathing . . . in and out . . . in and out . . .

Stop when you are feeling deeply relaxed.

. Say the word “relax” to yourself approximately times every time you

exhale.

. Now, gradually let your breathing return to normal and open your

eyes.

Once parents are relaxed, ask them to keep their eyes closed and imag-

ine the last disciplinary encounter with their child in which they became

angry or irritated with the child. Ask them to continue deep breathing,

and keep their muscles relaxed while they imagine their child’s annoying

behavior. After giving this series of instructions, the group leaders

should wait for approximately minutes. Then, count backward from

, down to , and ask parents to open their eyes on “.” Inquire as to

how the procedure worked. Ask parents about any problems they had

with the procedure. Problem solve with them and then, if time permits,

have them go back through the entire procedure under their own in-

struction while you remain silent.

68

Homework

✎ Instruct parents to complete the Taking Care of Myself Worksheet in

the workbook and implement the plan between now and the next

session.

✎ Ask parents to practice the entire relaxation procedure one or two

times per day.

✎ If parents feel themselves having physical stress reactions in parenting

encounters with their child, instruct parents to say the word relax to

themselves while trying to be conscious of relaxing their bodies and

slowing their breathing, and then proceed in the interaction with the

child.

69

This page intentionally left blank

Materials Needed

■ Flip chart and markers

■ Example of completed Thoughts, Feelings, and Behaviors Worksheet

Session Outline

■ Set agenda

■ Review previous session and homework

■ Further discuss concepts and techniques of stress management

■ Explore ways to manage stress in daily life

■ Present the cognitive model of stress and mood management

■ Introduce the Thoughts, Feelings, and Behaviors Worksheet

■ Assign homework

Set Agenda

Begin the session by welcoming all the parents to group and checking in

with them on any reactions or questions that they may have to the last

meeting on stress management. On the flip chart, write down the agenda

for today’s session. Refer back to the agenda throughout the session to

keep the session on track.

71

Chapter 6 Session : Stress Management—Part II

(Corresponds to chapter of the workbook)

Review of Previous Session and Homework

In the previous session, the group talked about ways to manage stress

and defined stress in two ways:

■ As negative or positive events that happen to us

■ As physical reactions we have in our body

The group also discussed ways of dealing with stress. For homework,

each parent was asked to develop and implement a plan detailing the

ways in which they were going to take care of themselves on a daily basis.

Ask each parent to refer to their homework assignment and discuss it.

Make sure to include a discussion about obstacles to carrying out their

plan, especially the difficulty of protecting the time they need to take

care of themselves. Look to other group members for assistance in help-

ing develop good plans for each group member. Also, be sure to ask if

this assignment helped them in any way. Specifically, find out if they no-

ticed improvements in their physical state and if they had more time and

patience with their child.

Management of Stressful Events and Daily Hassles

Planning Ahead

During this session, you will present to the group some additional steps

they can take to manage stress in their lives. One approach has to do

with managing the multitude of daily hassles that are a part of every per-

son’s life. For people who experience a lot of stress, it may be necessary

for them to list the stressors and then prioritize them, starting with those

that require immediate attention and ending with those that can be dealt

with at a later date. One option is to list all things that need to be done

in a specific period of time (e.g., a week), then prioritize them by im-

portance, and make a plan to meet goals within that week. Remind par-

ents that most things take twice as long to complete as they originally

thought they would. Parents should leave enough time so that small

“emergencies” can be taken care of without steering them off track.

72

Putting Time Back Where It Belongs

Remind parents to keep a healthy perspective on life and to not over-

extend themselves. Tell them it is important to establish healthy personal

boundaries that they, along with others, can respect.

Refer parents to the section in the workbook “Putting Time Where It

Belongs.” We have provided the same information here for you to guide

the group discussion. Do not attempt to cover all of the information,

but use it to point out that, at times, people experience stress because

they do not pay attention to how they are handling or juggling different

roles and expectations. The following guidelines for parents provide use-

ful ideas for managing stress more effectively.

Know What Needs to Be Done and Learn to Prioritize

Know your goals and when they need to be met. A day planner or other

device that allows you to write out what you need to get done is usually

helpful. Set timelines that allow for small “emergencies” (sometimes

called “wiggle room”). This practice will help to reduce stress by giving

you some leeway within your schedule.

Block Your Time

If you find yourself with many tasks that require small amounts of time

or can be done simultaneously, do them together. For example, you may

be able to do laundry, clean the oven (self-clean), and conduct a confer-

ence call all at the same time. Alternatively, if you need to run short er-

rands, make sure that you do these in a planned manner (i.e., map out

your course of action to reduce wasted time).

Set Realistic Goals

Do not overburden yourself. Know your limits and set goals that you

know you can achieve. There is, however, a delicate balance between set-

73

ting the bar too high (setting unrealistically high goals) and setting it too

low (not setting enough goals). If you do not set your goals high enough

there is the chance that stress will increase—not only will your jobs not

get done, but the lack of activity and lack of success in meeting goals will

have a negative effect on your functioning. Know your limits but take

them to their end!

Juggle Tasks

Life comes with many surprises, both good and bad, and these surprises

usually put our schedules off course, resulting in frantic attempts to

catch up. This action of frantically trying to catch up is usually ineffec-

tive and typically results in feeling stressed out. So, instead of trying to

catch up, accept the change and look at your list and identify low-priority

items that can be moved to a different day or different week. This is why

you prioritize in writing. You can easily identify what can be put off and

you can make sure that it is rescheduled.

Improve Energy Level

Low energy can be the result of illness, poor eating habits, sleep depri-

vation, being overloaded with work or chores, and many other things. It

is important to look for the source of the decreased energy and look for

a solution. Try eating right, getting enough sleep, and working hours

that allow you to rest and enjoy part of every day. People often think that

“burning the midnight oil” will help reduce stress because “at least one

job is complete.” However, this often backfires because the next thing on

the list becomes a priority and the cycle of overwork, lack of sleep, and

poor eating continues. A healthy lifestyle will lead to increased energy,

and this energy in turn will help you to meet your goals.

Get Rid of Environmental Chaos!

There are few things as stressful as a disorganized, cluttered, and dirty

life space. Unfortunately, with the demands of work, parenting, and

74

other roles, it is difficult to keep our environments neat and clean. While

the ultimate goal would be to keep “everything” clean, try setting goals

to work on one room at a time and set a schedule for cleaning. Enlist the

help of your spouse and children and make sure to reward yourself for

the completion of goals. Though it is often impossible to do (finan-

cially), hiring someone to clean and organize your household can reduce

stress substantially. Not only does this help provide hours that can be put

toward other things (e.g., being with family, taking care of yourself ), but

you no longer have to carry out jobs that are generally considered un-

pleasant. Also, good organization makes it easier to do your jobs—you

know where things are and do not have to waste time searching for

things.

Schedule Time for Yourself Each Day

Make sure that each day you set aside “personal time.” This may be on

your lunch break, before work, or after work—the time should be set

according to what fits in your schedule, not someone else’s! Be sure to

make the time substantial enough to give you a feeling of being rested,

but not so long that it interferes with your ability to meet your other

goals. Remember, the key to stress management is to be able to handle

multiple tasks and keep in control of your time. If you put too much

time into any one thing, other areas will suffer.

Schedule Time off Weekly, Monthly, and Yearly

Do not assume that other people will make sure that you keep time for

personal use—you need to plan ahead. This time is in addition to the

time you take each day. These segments should be longer and be used for

doing enjoyed activities. Vacations can be as short or as long as you want,

just plan ahead and make sure that you do not schedule important tasks

just before you leave or just after you come back. Everyone needs time

to readjust to the needs of home and work and you should plan for this.

75

Just Say No

Saying “no” or setting limits with people takes practice and planning. In

part, your ability to say no will improve when you are clear about your

priorities. If you have a high-priority event or task that you need to ac-

complish and someone asks you to do something for them, you already

know that your time is allocated and you can’t help out. This does not

mean that you need to practice being rude; on the contrary, people ap-

preciate it if you set your priorities and do not accept tasks that you can-

not complete or will complete in a haphazard fashion while under

duress. Know your limits and be assertive when people are trying to get

you to overextend yourself.

Stop Procrastinating

The old adage “Don’t put off to tomorrow what you can do today” is ap-

plicable here. Achieving your goals and giving yourself rewards for doing

so is a great stress reducer!

Cognitive Model of Stress and Mood Management

At this point, discuss with the group the importance of thoughts in the

management of stress reactions. Thoughts can contribute to how stressed

or upset a person feels. They can also reduce the impact that stress has

on a person’s life. Usually, the sequence of thinking, feeling, and react-

ing goes like this:

■ Something happens

■ We have a thought or thoughts about the event

■ These thoughts create a feeling, positive or negative

■ We act or behave in ways that reflect those feelings

Use the following example to illustrate this sequence to the group.

Ms. Watson went to the dentist’s office and arrived promptly at her

scheduled appointment time. Unfortunately, she was left waiting in

76

the office for over hours without any word from office personnel.

Ms. Watson believed that the dentist had purposely left her waiting

because he was angry with her for missing her previous appointment

without calling to cancel. The first thought that ran through her mind

was that her dentist was a mean and vengeful person and that he de-

served to be punished for his behavior. After having this thought she

became very angry, yelled at the receptionist, and stormed out of the

office.

Ask parents to come up with a different scenario using positive thoughts.

For example, if Ms. Watson had believed that her dentist was running

late because he was involved in a difficult procedure that was scheduled

on an emergency basis, she probably would not have thought of him as

mean or vengeful. She might also have stayed at the office and had her

procedure completed, or she might have chosen to reschedule her ap-

pointment for a different date. This technique is known as “cognitive

reframing”—that is, reframing a negative thought as a positive one.

According to the cognitive model of stress and mood management,

people act very differently according to their thoughts about a situation.

Explain to the group that these thoughts are categorized as automatic

thoughts (ATs), which seem to happen instantly and without much re-

flection. Parents need to become aware of their thoughts as a first step in

gaining control over their emotions and behavior. Refer back to the ex-

ample of Ms. Watson.

In Ms. Watson’s situation she could have prevented her angry outburst

by simply speaking with the receptionist and asking questions in a

calm manner. Even if she did not like the information given to her,

the fact that she asked a question and maintained emotional control

would have helped her to get her needs met in the most effective man-

ner. The saying, “Ask, don’t assume,” is a good one to remember be-

cause in many situations it is our assumptions that mislead us and

result in interpersonal problems or increased stress.

Let parents know that they can learn to use their thoughts to help them

manage their reaction to stress and to help them change their feelings as

problems arise. Encourage them to identify some of the negative thoughts

they may have about their children and to consider the negative effects of

these thoughts.

77

Inform parents that part of the Coping Power Program for children in-

volves teaching children about how their thoughts influence their feel-

ings and how their feelings influence their behavior. Ask that parents

talk to their children about this concept and model positive reframing.

Role-Play Exercise

Describe a situation that may come up in parent–child interactions (e.g.,

child comes home from school with an F on a test, child breaks some-

thing in the house, child spills something on the floor or the carpet). In

the role-play, the group leader playing the parent should show signs of

physiological arousal (e.g., clench fists, grit teeth, hold breath) and should

say aloud some of the dysfunctional thoughts that he or she may be

having (e.g., “I’m gonna murder that kid, I can’t deal with that kid any-

more”). The parent should then display a behavioral overreaction (e.g.,

scream at the child, ground him for a month, etc.). The child should re-

spond in kind with some overreaction (e.g., run away).

Allow the parents to talk about the role-play. Point out how the dys-

functional thoughts and physiological arousal led to a behavioral overre-

action from the parent.

Thoughts, Feelings, and Behaviors

Begin this section by going over the sample Thoughts, Feelings, and Be-

haviors Worksheet with parents (see Fig. .). The same example is in-

cluded in the parent workbook. Indicate that although they may not

want to spend the time completing this type of form, putting things in

writing often helps people to better understand themselves and puts

them in better control of their emotional responses.

A list of feeling words is provided in the workbook so that parents have

an example of different descriptors of feeling states. It is common for

people to use the same word to describe very different feeling states. Ac-

curate identification of a feeling state, however, is one of the most im-

portant steps in gaining control of emotional responses (e.g., anger has

78

79

Thoughts, Feelings, and Behavior Worksheet

Dysfunctional Thought Sequence

Thoughts Feelings Behavior

Functional Thought Sequence

Thoughts Feelings Behavior

My child is doing this on purpose to hurt me Enraged Screaming at or hitting my child

Figure 6.1

Example of Completed Thoughts, Feelings, and Behavior Worksheet

My child just does not care about me Depressed Give up trying to help my child

My child is just bad and there is nothing Ican do to change that Hopeless Withdraw attention from my child

I must be a bad parent for my child to act like this Guilty and inadequate Reward my child for negative behavior

My child’s intentions are good but he can’talways control his behavior Loving and determined Kind but firm response to

disruptive behaviorMy child loves me even though his

behavior is sometimes bad Happy and secure Good follow-through with parenting skillsthat will help my child

My child’s behavior can improve with my help Determined and understanding Pay attention to my child’s

positive behavior

I am a good parent Competent Act loving and firm

many degrees of intensity, and there is a big difference in how we should

respond if we are slightly annoyed than if we are furious).

Ask parents to share personal examples of times when they experienced

negative thoughts and feelings that resulted in reactions that were ex-

treme. Be careful to support parents and assist them in supporting each

other in the sharing of these events.

Also ask parents to share a personal example of when positive and ap-

propriate thoughts and positive and appropriate feelings about an event

led to behavior that was justified by the situation. These are events in

which they felt that by engaging in a positive or neutral thought about

their child, they were able to control an extreme emotional or behavioral

reaction. For example, a child breaks a precious lamp while helping his

parent vacuum the house. By thinking that this was just an accident and

that the child had this accident while trying to help, the parent would

let go of her anger and would help the child to not feel guilty about the

accident.

If time permits, have parents complete the Thoughts, Feelings, and Be-

haviors Worksheet during the session. Ask parents to write down one or

two personal examples of instances in which some event, and the thoughts

associated with it, led to a negative action or overreaction on their part.

Instruct parents to write down replacement thoughts that are more be-

nign and less likely to lead to extreme reactions. Ask that all group mem-

bers assist one another in generating a list of benign replacement

thoughts. Blank worksheets are provided for parents in the workbook.

Homework

✎ If not completed during the session, have parents finish filling out the

Thoughts, Feelings, and Behaviors Worksheet in the workbook before

the next session.

✎ Ask parents to continue to implement their stress management tech-

niques and modify their personal plan as needed.

80

Materials Needed

■ Flip chart and markers

■ ABC model of social learning theory

■ Child Behavior Checklist

Session Outline

■ Set agenda

■ Review previous session and homework

■ Present basic social learning model (the ABC Model)

■ Introduce concept of positive consequences for good behavior

■ Discuss tracking and labeling behavior

■ Present goals of parent–child special time

■ Assign homework

Set Agenda

Begin the session by welcoming all the parents to group and checking in

with them on any reactions or questions that they may have to the last

meeting. On the flip chart, write down the agenda for today’s session.

Refer back to the agenda throughout the session to keep the session on

track.

81

Chapter 7 Session : Basic Social Learning Theory andImproving the Parent–Child Relationship

(Corresponds to chapter of the workbook)

Review of Previous Session and Homework

In the previous session, the group continued to discuss stress manage-

ment techniques. The group also discussed the importance of thoughts

in the management of stress reactions (the cognitive model of stress and

mood management), as well as how to use the Thoughts, Feelings, and

Behaviors Worksheet to better understand themselves and put them in

better control of their emotional responses.

Last week’s homework assignment was to continue to implement the

techniques of stress management. Briefly check in with group members

and address questions and concerns as deemed appropriate.

Basic Principles of Social Learning

Begin this discussion by presenting the basic social learning model. You

may use the following sample dialogue:

In the groups at school, your children are learning a lot of skills that

they may use to control their own behavior, cope with anger, and in-

teract appropriately with peers and teachers. These skills are based on

social learning theory, a theory that says that behavior is influenced by

the events that occur just before and just after it. For example, chil-

dren in this age range often pay very close attention to how their par-

ents react when they do something. As such, your behavior has a lot to

do with whether your child will display that behavior again in the fu-

ture. Because of your role as a parent, you can do a lot to help your

child improve positive behavior and decrease negative behavior.

ABC Model

Refer parents to the model of social learning theory in Chapter of the

workbook. A copy is also provided here in Figure ..

Explain to parents that from now on, the group will be talking a lot

about their children’s behavior, the B on the model. A behavior is some-

thing observable that a child does. It can be good or bad. For example,

82

walking, screaming, arguing, hitting, and washing the dishes are all be-

haviors. Make sure parents understand the difference between a behavior

and an attribute. Examples of attributes may include stubbornness,

meanness, laziness, etc. Behavior is changeable because both the child

and the parent are aware of what needs to be changed. If Morgan hits

her sister and is told that she should not hit her sister, she clearly knows

what behavior is unacceptable. Alternatively, if Morgan is simply told to

stop being bad, she does not have a clear understanding of what she is

supposed to stop doing.

The A on the model refers to antecedents and the C refers to consequences.

Antecedents are the events that happen just before a child’s behavior,

and consequences are the events that happen just after it. These events

have a lot to do with how parents can control their child’s behavior.

Positive Consequences for Good Behavior

Discuss with parents how they can modify their child’s behavior by using

positive consequences to reward good behavior. Research has shown that

if children receive positive consequences for their good behavior, they

are more likely to repeat that behavior in the future. The consequence

should occur as close to the behavior a possible; this increases the likeli-

hood that the child will make the connection that their behavior resulted

in this consequence.

Ask parents to provide examples of positive consequences. Examples in-

clude things like trips to the store, getting a movie, candy, and the like. Be

sure to stress the importance of the use of praise as an easy, cost-effective,

and powerful positive reinforcer. Parental praise will increase the likeli-

83

ANTECEDENTS

ABEHAVIOR

BCONSEQUENCES

CFigure 7.1

ABC Model of Social Learning Theory

hood that the child will exhibit good behavior and will improve her self-

esteem.

Refer parents to the section in the workbook The Power of Praise. Par-

ents often ask if it is ok to praise a child long after the behavior has oc-

curred. The answer to this question is yes. However, it is important to

note that immediate praise is more effective than delayed praise. En-

courage parents to remember the phrase, “catch my child being good.”

It may help them remember to use praise to reinforce good behavior. Be

sure to stress to parents that if they happen to forget to praise their child

right away or if they notice something praiseworthy after the fact, it does

not mean they should not praise their child. Praise can be given at any

time, although it is always better to do it earlier rather than later.

There are two types of praise that parents can give. Define the difference

between labeled praise and unlabeled praise.

■ Labeled praise identifies exactly what the child did that was good.

For example, “I like the way you completed your homework be-

fore dinner” is an example of labeled praise.

■ Unlabeled praise indicates to the child that they did something

well but does not say exactly what the behavior was. For example,

“good job” is an example of unlabeled praise.

Both types of praise are effective and each may be more or less appro-

priate to any given situation. Labeled praise may be better if the child is

having a hard time learning or displaying a new good behavior.

Tracking Positive and Negative Behavior

Explain to parents that in order to use positive consequences effectively,

they need to be aware of their child’s behavior. Often parents overlook

good behavior, but are quick to notice bad behavior.

Refer parents to the Child Behavior Checklist in Chapter of the work-

book. The checklist is set up so that the positive behaviors in the right-

hand column are opposite the negative behaviors in the left-hand col-

umn. Ask each parent to check the behaviors that they find to be

problematic for their child. If there are any negative behaviors that are a

84

85

Child Behavior Checklist

Negative Behavior Positive Behavior

□ Argues

□ Cries if doesn’t his get way

□ Defies authority

□ Destroys property

□ Is fearful (inappropriately)

□ Fights with siblings

□ Fire setting

□ Hits others

□ Hyperactive

□ Irritable

□ Lies

□ Noisy

□ Does not mind adults

□ Does not eat meals

□ Pouts

□ Stays out too late

□ Steals

□ Talks back to adults

□ Teases others

□ Throws temper tantrums

□ Whines

□ Yells

□ Gets in trouble at school

□ Other

□ Other

□ Discusses things calmly; accepts adultdecisions

□ Doesn’t cry; discusses things calmly

□ Follows directions; obeys rules

□ Uses objects appropriately

□ Brave; assertive

□ Plays and shares with siblings; assiststhem

□ Does not play with fire

□ Solves problems verbally

□ Behaves calmly

□ Concentrates

□ Good natured; easy going

□ Is honest

□ Quiet; still; peaceful

□ Follows directions; accepts decisions

□ Good appetite

□ Handles disappointments

□ Obeys curfew

□ Respects others’ property

□ Is respectful; listens

□ Compliments others; doesn’t insultothers

□ Accepts “no”; negotiates well

□ Uses age-appropriate voice

□ Uses normal voice volume

□ Performs well in school

□ Other

□ Other

problem for their child and are not on this list, they should write them

at the bottom in the space titled “Other.” After parents have checked

negative behaviors, ask them to go back and select the three that are most

problematic and identify them with the numbers , , and , accordingly.

A copy of the checklist is provided on page for your reference.

Encourage the selection of “Does not mind adults” as a negative beha-

vior if this is relevant for the child. Noncompliance is a very important

target behavior for aggressive children. Sometimes parents mean non-

compliance when they say something else. For example, some parents

say, “He just does not listen,” or “He has a bad attitude,” or “He does

not respect me,” when they actually mean, “He does not follow the di-

rections of an adult.” Clarify that parents are really seeing noncompli-

ance when they talk about some of these other behaviors.

As a homework assignment, ask parents to track the top three negative

behaviors they identified on the checklist, as well as their positive oppo-

sites, using the Behavior Tracking Form in the workbook. Instructions

for completing the form are included in the workbook.

Parents may ask what they are to do when they see their child engaging

in negative behavior. Inform them that they can continue to do what

they normally would, because the focus right now is on observing beha-

vior and rewarding positive behaviors. The group will talk about conse-

quences for negative behavior in a later session; at that time they can

choose to use different techniques if they believe that the current ones

are not effective.

Parent–Child Special Time

Explain to parents that in addition to praising good behaviors, it is also

important that they spend relaxed, non-problem-focused time with

their child. You may use the following sample dialogue:

Even though your child is getting older, you are still the most impor-

tant people in their lives. You are the people they look to in times of

stress and you are the role models for their behavior. If you and your

child have developed a positive relationship with one another, and you

86

nourish this relationship on a regular basis, it is more likely that your

child will continue to look to you for support in the future. Maintain-

ing a close, positive contact with your child is an excellent way to

counteract the influence of negative outside forces. Such forces include

but are not limited to peer groups (gang or other), the media, and

negative adult role models. Research has shown that children who

maintain close bonds to and positive relationships with their parents

are less likely to join gangs, are less likely to be influenced by negative

peer groups, and are more able to stand firm against negative peer

pressure.

Ask parents to generate ideas about age-appropriate parent–child activi-

ties. Encourage parents to think creatively and try to put themselves in

their child’s place. Ask them to think of activities that their child would

enjoy rather than activities that need to be done for the family (e.g.,

chores, shopping for groceries). Write down the list of ideas on the flip

chart and encourage parents to write them down in the space provided

in the workbook.

Maintaining a positive relationship with your child can often be ac-

complished with something as simple as making sure that you reserve

or minutes per day to be with your child in a relaxed way, with-

out a lot of other distractions. For example, you could spend minutes

a day talking with your child about her day. Ask about school, ask

about plans for the week, and simply show an interest in what they

are doing. You may want to spend those minutes a day doing an ac-

tivity together (e.g., playing a game) and talking with one another. In

addition, some children this age still like to have their parents read to

them, and this is a good way to nourish a close bond between parent

and child. The main idea is that the time you spend with your child

should not be used for discussing problems or negative behavior; this

time should be protected and used only for positive interactions.

Emphasize that this time is for interaction and not simply sharing the

same physical space (e.g., watching TV together). It is important that

children be interested and involved when spending time with parents.

Parents need to encourage children to talk and relate positively. Ask par-

ents for ideas of how to encourage their children to talk and relate to

them during special time.

87

Have parents brainstorm and write their ideas down. Be sure that the

following examples are included:

■ Praise the child often

■ Show an interest—ask questions

■ Do not criticize or reprimand regardless of what happens

■ Defer all problems to a later time

■ Avoid controversial subjects

■ Have fun just being together

■ Allow your child to choose the activity

■ Participate fully in whatever activity they choose

After parents have completed their lists, ask the group the following

questions:

■ What do you think about having regular, positive contact with your

child while doing an activity together or just talking together?

■ Do you think that this can help to develop and maintain a strong

parent-child bond? Why?

Ask parents to determine what activity that they would like to engage in

with their children. Ask each parent to set a goal for the number of times

per week they would like to spend interacting positively with their child.

Encourage parents to be realistic about frequency and length of time al-

lotted for this activity. For example, suggest only or minutes a day

and suggest that this occur three or four times per week. This would be

a good start to making a positive change in the parent–child relation-

ship. It would be best if the amount of special time spent together in-

creased over time, but any time spent together is better than none.

Refer parents to the Special Time Worksheet in Chapter of the work-

book. The first line is for the parents to set a goal regarding frequency

(e.g., three times per week for hour; once a day for minutes). For

each day they are to list the activities and the time spent interacting with

their child. Ask them to keep track of any observations they may have

while implementing the special time. There is space provided on the bot-

tom of the worksheet.

88

Homework

✎ Ask parents to complete the Behavior Tracking Form for weeks. Be

sure to stress the importance of praising positive behaviors and using

the tracking form as a guide for monitoring the prosocial opposite of

the negative target behavior (the behavior that is to be decreased).

✎ Ask parents to bring their tracking sheets with them to the next

session.

✎ Remind parents to implement their “special time” goals. Make sure

that they understand how to complete the Special Time Worksheet and

that they know to refer to Chapter of the workbook for reminders.

✎ Ask parents to bring their completed Special Time Worksheets to the

next session for review and discussion.

89

This page intentionally left blank

Materials Needed

■ Flip chart and markers

Session Outline

■ Set agenda

■ Review previous session and homework

■ Discuss ignoring as a technique for dealing with minor disruptive

behaviors

■ Conduct a role-play to illustrate the ignoring technique

■ Assign homework

Set Agenda

Begin the session by welcoming all the parents to group and checking in

with them on any reactions or questions that they may have to the last

meeting. On the flip chart, write down the agenda for today’s session.

Refer back to the agenda throughout the session to keep the session on

track.

91

Chapter 8 Session : Ignoring Minor Disruptive Behavior

(Corresponds to chapter of the workbook)

Review of Previous Session and Homework

In the previous session, the group talked about the ABC model of social

learning theory, how to use positive consequences and praise to reward

good behavior in their children, and the importance of parent–child

special time.

Reiterate the importance of doing homework. Remind parents that their

active participation can have a strong impact on their child’s behavior.

Practicing skills is very important, especially if these skills are new to

them. Also remind parents that they may not see big changes in the be-

ginning because they are introducing the program one skill at a time.

Children usually show bigger changes when the whole program is in

place. If parents can implement each step as they go along, they should

see more change when both the child and the parent have completed

their programs.

Last session’s homework assignment was tracking positive and negative

behavior, praising or giving positive consequences for positive behaviors,

and parents spending special time with their child. Spend a few minutes

talking with the parents about each homework assignment.

Tracking Positive and Negative Behavior

Discuss any problems or concerns that parents experienced with track-

ing behavior and using positive reinforcement. Ask parents whether they

noticed more of their child’s behavior now that they are spending more

time focused directly on their child. Be sure to normalize any initial

negative reactions that were associated with the assignment. Let the par-

ents know that if they continue to praise good behavior, it is very likely

that their child will respond positively (e.g., self-esteem will improve and

there will be a noticeable increase in good behavior). If possible, point

out positive trends on the tracking sheet (i.e., that over the course of the

week, there are more instances of recorded good behavior).

92

Parent–Child Special Time

Review each parent’s completed Special Time Worksheet and evaluate

the types of activities engaged in. Be sure to point out if there are any

instances of noninteractive activity or activities judged to be non-

age-appropriate or not reflective of a child’s interests (e.g., cleaning the

bathroom).

Ignoring Minor Disruptive Behavior

At the last session, you discussed with the group the technique of prais-

ing positive behavior. Today, you will talk to parents about consequences

for negative behavior. Let parents know that although punishment is a

useful and effective technique, it is not the only way to deal with prob-

lem behavior.

Another strategy is to ignore minor disruptive behavior—that is, beha-

vior that is irritating or annoying, but not dangerous. This type of be-

havior can sometimes result in an overreaction from the parent. Ex-

amples of overreactions include hitting, yelling at the child, grounding the

child for months at a time, or removing ALL privileges for a minor

transgression such as whining, begging parents for something, or small

tantrums. Tell parents that it is important to realize that overreaction sig-

nals a loss of personal control over emotions and behavior. Stress the im-

portance of regaining control in order to parent effectively. Be sure to

clarify that you are not talking about ignoring serious or dangerous bad

behaviors (e.g., beating up on a younger sibling, separating from parents

in a store without permission). These are behaviors that cannot be ig-

nored, and parents must respond to them in some way.

Research indicates that talking to a child immediately after he or she has

been caught doing some negative behavior may serve to actually reward

the behavior, so the likelihood of it occurring again is higher. Specifi-

cally, talking, but even reprimanding or scolding, can actually increase

the likelihood that the child will repeat that behavior. While this does

not make intuitive sense, it does happen and may relate to the fact that

93

the child simply enjoys getting the parent’s attention, positive or not.

This is why ignoring is an effective technique. Ignoring entails the par-

ent cutting off all communication with the child while the negative be-

havior is happening. This means not speaking to or looking at the child

at all.

Although it sounds easy, ignoring is actually very hard to do. This is es-

pecially true when the child persists in arguing with the parent. Inform

parents that when they first start to ignore some of their children’s minor

negative behavior, the frequency of the behavior may actually increase.

This is normal and to be expected. It signifies that the child is trying

harder to get the negative attention he or she has come to expect. After

a while of parents using the ignoring technique, however, the negative

behavior will eventually decrease in frequency. Once parents have suc-

cessfully ended an episode in which they have ignored a negative beha-

vior, it is important for them to look for positive behaviors they can

praise.

Refer parents to Chapter of the workbook for more detailed informa-

tion on the ignoring technique.

Role-Play Exercise

Conduct two role-plays with the group to demonstrate the ignoring

technique. In the first role-play, you and another staff member will

model a parent–child interaction in which the parent is setting a limit

with the child. (If there is not a second staff member available, a parent

volunteer could be asked to play the part of the child in the role-play.)

The person playing the child starts to argue, and the person playing the

parent gets pulled into the argument with an escalation in voice tone and

volume. Do not hesitate to be dramatic; this will introduce some humor,

making it easier to take in the role-play. The second role-play should be

one that demonstrates the correct ignoring response on the part of the

parent. The person playing the child should escalate their behavior,

making it hard for the parent to ignore them, but the parent should con-

tinue to ignore the person playing the child. After the role-play, discuss

with the parents the difficulty that the leader role-playing the parent had

94

with continuing to ignore the person playing the child during worsen-

ing behavior.

After these role-plays, ask two parents in the group to conduct a role-

play in the same way. Parents can be asked to role-play ignoring in a

similar parent–child scenario and ask for feedback from the group on

what the parents did well and how the parent maintained control while

ignoring the child.

Summary

Ask the group what they think about the technique of ignoring and

what they observed in the role-play. There may be negative reactions to

practicing this technique. If so, address these as indicated. Refer parents

to the Praise and Ignoring Behavior Tracking Form in Chapter of the

workbook. Ask each parent to identify three behaviors for which they

would be willing to practice ignoring and their positive-behavior oppo-

sites. Have parents write these in the first column of the form. Inform

the group that they will be tracking these behaviors for a period of

weeks and simply need to circle whether or not the behavior was ob-

served and how they responded to it. Parents can refer back to the Child

Behavior Checklist from the previous session if they need help identify-

ing negative behaviors.

Homework

✎ Instruct parents to continue monitoring and tracking their children’s

good behaviors and to praise these behaviors when they occur.

✎ Parents should track a negative behavior and practice ignoring it with

the aid of the Praise and Ignoring Behavior Tracking Form.

✎ Ask parents to bring completed tracking forms to the next session.

95

This page intentionally left blank

Materials Needed

■ Flip chart and markers

Session Outline

■ Set agenda

■ Review previous session and homework

■ Discuss instructions that work and how they differ from ineffective

instructions

■ Assign homework

Set Agenda

Begin the session by welcoming all the parents to group and checking in

with them on any reactions or questions that they may have to the last

meeting. On the flip chart, write down the agenda for today’s session.

Refer back to the agenda throughout the session to keep the session on

track.

Review of Previous Session and Homework

Briefly review last week’s discussion on ignoring minor disruptive beha-

vior. Ask those who completed the Praise and Ignoring Behavior Track-

97

Chapter 9 Session : Giving EffectiveInstructions to Children

(Corresponds to chapter of the workbook)

ing Form to share with the group how they completed it and how their

child responded. If the child escalated the negative behavior, at first you

should exclaim, “Good! That shows that you were doing it correctly, and it

was beginning to work!” Ask parents how they were able to hold firm in

the face of the child’s escalation. For parents who did not do the home-

work, ask them what the obstacles were to doing the homework or how

the child’s reaction made it unsuccessful. Offer suggestions for how the

parent can fine-tune the use of ignoring and ask the other group mem-

bers if they have any ideas. Point out any positive trends on the tracking

sheets that parents brought back to group.

Ask parents about their practice of catching their children being good

and praising good behavior. This is something that parents should con-

tinue to do, even as new skills are added. Follow up with parents who

had a hard time doing this previously and ask if they had a better expe-

rience this week. Praise all parents who at least tried to do the homework

assignments.

Instructions that Work

Following instructions is an adaptive behavior for children. Begin the

discussion by talking about the importance of compliance (or following

instructions) as a behavior for children to improve. Explain that children

who cannot or will not comply with their parents’ instructions create a

negative family climate. Their defiance and resistance result in fewer

positive social interactions among family members and, if children are

not taught to follow directions at home, they may also be noncompliant

within multiple settings, including the school, the neighborhood, and

the homes of friends. Teachers, parents, and other adults do not enjoy

dealing with a child who is noncompliant and defiant. In addition, a

child cannot profit from the school environment if she will not follow

directions and, as a result, her grades may drop. Other parents will not

want the child in their home and, as a result, peer relationships may be

affected. Being able to follow adult instructions is a very important skill

for children to learn, and it is the responsibility of the parent to teach

this skill to their children. Some children may not have difficulty fol-

lowing instructions at home but may have difficulty following them at

98

school. If this is the case, parents can still work with their children on

following directions at home as a way of helping them to improve their

school behavior.

Ask parents if they can give examples of the kinds of instructions they

give their children over the course of a typical day. Ask how likely it is

that the child will follow the instruction the first time without arguing

or engaging in defiant behavior. Some children are not actively argu-

mentative or defiant but may be passively noncompliant. For example,

they hear the parent but they just keep doing whatever they are doing

without saying anything. This is also noncompliance.

Giving Good Instructions

Instructions are the antecedents to the behaviors of compliance or non-

compliance; this is the A of the ABC; it is what comes before a behavior.

Refer parents back to the ABC chart presented in Session . If parents

give good instructions to their child, it is more likely that the child will

comply. If parents give ineffective instructions to their child, it is more

likely that their child will not comply. Punishing a child for not follow-

ing poorly articulated instructions is not a good decision.

Talk to parents about the considerations they must keep in mind before

giving instructions to their children. First, parents should plan their in-

structions before they give them. They should ask themselves, “Is the

instruction something I have determined that my child must comply

with? Will I follow through with consequences if my child does not

comply?” If the instruction is not important enough for the parent to be

willing to follow through with consequences, then the instruction

should not have been given in the first place.

Second, parents should take into consideration the timing of the in-

struction. Interrupting the child in the middle of an activity that the

parent has given the child permission to do (e.g., watch TV, listen to

music with a friend, play basketball) may be perceived by the child as

unfair and may increase the probability of noncompliance. It is better to

wait until an ongoing activity has been completed before giving the next

instruction.

99

Finally, even though parents clearly have authority over their children, it

is important that children be treated with respect. This means using a

pleasant (rather than hostile or sarcastic) tone of voice and saying

“please,” as long as this is not done in a begging manner.

Qualities of Good and Bad Instructions

Good instructions are those that state specifically and directly what is to

be done. Specifically, the instruction should be

■ given as a direct statement,

■ given only once, and

■ followed by seconds of silence.

This keeps the instruction in the forefront of the child’s attention and

gives the child an opportunity to comply. The instruction should be pre-

ceded or followed by “please,” but not in a begging manner.

Good Instruction: “Johnny, your room is very messy. Please, go clean it

up now” (followed by silence for seconds).

It is also important that parents are sure that the child has the ability to

perform the task they are instructing her to do. If the child does not have

this ability, parents should not give that instruction. If parents wish to

give an explanation to the child, they should give the explanation first.

For example, “Johnny, it’s raining outside, and I do not want you to get

wet and muddy. Please go put on your raincoat.”

Bad instructions are instructions that actually elicit noncompliance in a

child. That is, they make it more likely that the child will not comply.

Bad Instruction: “Johnny, won’t you pleeeeeeease go clean up your

room because it’s so dirty? I hate for your aunt Carol to see it looking

like that. I am not even sure how you can stand it, because it’s been so

dirty for so long.”

This is a combination of what is called a “buried command” and a

“question command,” asked in a begging manner.

100

Refer parents to Chapter of the workbook for more detailed informa-

tion on good and bad instructions.

Homework

✎ Instruct parents to begin practicing good instructions this week and

watch to see if their child complies. Tell parents to praise the child for

following good instructions.

The sequence is as follows:

Instruction → Comply → Reward or Praise

101

This page intentionally left blank

Materials Needed

■ Flip chart and markers

Session Outline

■ Set agenda

■ Review previous session and homework

■ Introduce concept of establishing rules and expectations

■ Assign homework

Set Agenda

Begin the session by welcoming all the parents to group and checking in

with them on any reactions or questions that they may have to the last

meeting. On the flip chart, write down the agenda for today’s session.

Refer back to the agenda throughout the session to keep the session on

track.

Review of Previous Session and Homework

Talk to parents about the use of good instructions. Find out if they im-

plemented any changes in the way they deliver instructions to their child

and if they noticed any differences as a result. What did they notice

103

Chapter 10 Session : Establishing Rules and Expectations

(Corresponds to chapter of the workbook)

about the instructions that they had been giving? Ask if any of the par-

ents had difficulty implementing this homework assignment and, if they

did, provide some feedback as to how they might implement it next

time. Other parents may be helpful in offering solutions.

Look for opportunities to reinforce parents for continuing to work on

ALL the previous homework assignments (e.g., ignoring, tracking be-

haviors, special family time, etc.) in addition to providing those covered

during this session. Praise all parents who at least tried to do the home-

work assignment and be sure to ask parents whether or not they are

continuing to spend special time with their children. This is a very im-

portant part of improving and maintaining a strong parent–child rela-

tionship, and leaders should be sure to reinforce its implementation on

a regular basis.

Setting up Rules and Expectations

In the discussions to follow you will provide the distinction between

rules and expectations. Behavior rules refer to behavior that the parent

would like for the child to decrease (e.g., hitting, cursing, name-calling),

whereas expectations refer to behaviors that parents would like their chil-

dren to increase (e.g., completing chores, prosocial behaviors, etc.).

Behavior Rules

Define behavior rules as rules established for behaviors that parents want

their children to decrease or inhibit without having to give instructions

or commands every time the thought or impulse occurs. These are be-

haviors that children should learn to do (or not do) on their own with-

out having to be told every time. Behavior rules help children establish

rule-governed behavior. Examples of behavior rules include no hitting

or fighting, no cursing or name-calling in the home, and no breaking or

destroying property. Refer parents to Chapter of the workbook for a

more complete list.

Tell parents that when behavior rules are violated, they are not to warn

their children that they will be disciplined if they do not stop. Instead,

104

they are to provide an immediate consequence for the behavior. The im-

mediate consequence will have the practical effect of stopping the on-

going behavior and will have the educational effect of teaching and mo-

tivating the child to inhibit his impulse to engage in the misbehavior. In

addition, the immediacy of the consequence helps to motivate children

to instruct themselves to stop. This is beneficial since parents cannot al-

ways anticipate misbehavior before it occurs, nor are they always present

to provide consequences to their children. In time, children will learn

that they are responsible for their own behavior and that they will expe-

rience a negative consequence when they do not comply.

Part of the homework for parents this week is to establish behavior rules

for their children. Parents should be instructed to help their children

learn these rules by labeling them and making the child aware of what it

means to break them. For example, “Curtis, you just hit your brother,

and that is against our behavior rules.”

Expectations and Other Appropriate Behavior

Just as children need to know from their parents what the behavior rules

are (rules about what behaviors children are not supposed to do), chil-

dren also need clarity from their parents about what they are supposed

to do in the way of chores, or other expectations for good behavior. In

addition, parents need to honestly ask themselves if their behavioral ex-

pectations are in line with their child’s age and abilities.

Ask the group to discuss some age-appropriate chores and behavioral ex-

pectations for their children. Examples include making their bed, cleaning

their bathroom after use, setting the table, assisting with after-dinner

cleanup, doing homework before watching TV, being polite and re-

spectful toward grown-ups, vacuuming or sweeping one or two rooms in

the house every week, taking out the garbage and the like. Group mem-

bers can provide some other examples. Try to assess if there are any gen-

der biases about this issue (e.g., boys should not be asked to do house-

work). Address questions and concerns as needed. Tell parents that they

can discuss expectations with their children in the same way outlined for

behavior rules.

105

For the next weeks, parents should track their children’s adherence to

rules and expectations. Remind parents that over the next weeks, chil-

dren are simply to become accustomed to the new household rules and

expectations. Parents should not use punishment during this period un-

less the child engages in dangerous behavior. If this should occur, par-

ents may use whatever discipline techniques they have used in the past.

Homework

✎ Ask parents to identify three specific behavior rules they would like to

institute in their home this week and to post them someplace where all

family members can see them. Encourage parents to include children

in the development of rules.

✎ Parents should track children’s compliance using the Behavior Rules

Tracking Form in the workbook.

✎ Parents should also establish expectations and track compliance using

the Expectations Tracking Form in the workbook.

✎ Ask parents to bring completed tracking forms to the next session.

106

Materials Needed

■ Flip chart and markers

Session Outline

■ Set agenda

■ Review previous session and homework

■ Discuss effective discipline and punishment techniques (other than

physical punishment)

■ Introduce the time-out technique

■ Assign homework

Set Agenda

Begin the session by welcoming all the parents to group and checking in

with them on any reactions or questions that they may have to the last

meeting. On the flip chart, write down the agenda for today’s session. Refer

back to the agenda throughout the session to keep the session on track.

Review of Previous Session and Homework

Review parents’ completed Behavior Rules and Expectations tracking

forms. For those who did not bring their tracking sheets, ask them if

107

Chapter 11 Session : Discipline and Punishment—Part I

(Corresponds to chapter of the workbook)

they practiced the activities and, if they did, to report how they felt it

worked in their family.

Some possible questions for follow-up include:

■ Where were the rules and expectations posted?

■ Did parents notice when their child violated the rules?

■ Did parents notice when their child followed the expectations for

appropriate behavior?

■ Did parents inform their child that they noticed these behaviors?

If so, how did the child react?

■ What kind of consequences (if any) did they apply to behavior

rule violations?

Look for opportunities to reinforce parents for continuing to work on

ALL the previous homework assignments (e.g., ignoring, tracking be-

haviors, special family time, etc.) in addition to providing those covered

during this session. Praise all parents who at least tried to do the home-

work assignment and be sure to ask parents whether or not they are con-

tinuing to spend special time with their children. As mentioned previ-

ously, this is a very important part of improving and maintaining a

strong parent–child relationship and leaders should be sure to reinforce

its implementation on a regular basis.

Discipline and Punishment

Discuss with parents additional ways to manage their children’s beha-

vior. The group has already talked about establishing rules and expecta-

tions, giving good instructions, and reinforcing good behavior. Today,

you will talk specifically about punishment. As discussed, punishment is

something that acts to decrease the likelihood of a behavior occurring in

the future.

Ask parents to give examples of methods of punishment and write them

on the flip chart. Once they are written down, make sure that the tech-

nical terms are placed beside each item as indicated. For example, if

someone says that they take away their child’s radio, write beside it “privi-

108

lege removal.” Do this at the end of the brainstorming session so that

parents do not feel as though they are being corrected or chastised in any

way. If parents talk about spankings, beatings, or hitting, write that

down. Do not be judgmental about physical punishments unless they

are clearly abusive (e.g., beatings that leave marks), in which case you

cannot condone abuse. Once again, mention that nonphysical punish-

ments are often more effective in stopping the patterns of misbehavior.

Punishment

Refer parents to the section Punishment Concepts in Chapter of the

workbook. Remind parents that the focus of group for the next weeks

is establishing behavior rules and expectations for their children. They

should not implement any of the punishment strategies discussed until

their children have been given some time to get used to the idea of hav-

ing new rules and expectations.

Many parents may have already seen improvement in their children’s be-

havior; however, most children will not improve enough by using only

positive strategies and, as a result, other strategies are needed. For be-

haviors that are nonresponsive to positive strategies or cannot be dealt

with by ignoring them, parents need to use punishment procedures.

Define punishment as the occurrence of a negative or unpleasant event

following a particular behavior. When effective, implementing a nega-

tive event decreases the frequency of the behavior in the future. In con-

trast, positive reinforcement, in which a positive (pleasant) event follows

a behavior, results in an increase in the frequency of that behavior in the

future.

Provide some examples of effective punishment (and non-punishment)

in everyday life.

■ Jeremy fights with his little brother and is grounded for the week-

end—no TV, no phone calls, and no games. Jeremy does not fight

with his little brother again or the frequency of fighting decreases.

■ Paul is late for football practice and the coach keeps him out of

the game for the first quarter. Paul is never late for football prac-

tice again.

109

Provide some examples of ineffective punishment as well.

■ Jason hits his little brother. His mother yells at him and tells him

never to do this again. Jason hits his brother again the next day

and every day after that for the next week. His mother yells at him

every time he hits his brother. Jason stops hitting his brother at the

moment his mother yells at him, but he does it again every day.

Explain to parents that according to the definition given earlier, this last

example is not an example of punishment because the behavior is actu-

ally increasing. With punishment, the desired outcome is a decrease in

the future frequency of the behavior.

Make the point that sometimes parents think that something they do is

punishment because it stops the child’s behavior at that moment. This

includes yelling, screaming, or otherwise verbally reprimanding the

child. If the child continues to practice the behavior day after day, then

what the parent is doing is not really punishment—it is not working to

teach the child to stop doing the behavior in the long run.

Ask the group to think of examples of punishment and things that are

not really punishment and list them on the flip chart. Make sure that

you identify examples that are not really punishment, meaning that the

“punishment” did not actually decrease the future probability of the

child’s misbehavior.

Devaluing Physical Punishment

Some parents may regularly use spankings and other physical strategies

as a way to discipline their children. If you feel that the following dis-

cussion will be perceived as too critical or that parents will think you are

being judgmental of them, skip this section. However, you should try

your best to include it, even if you can provide only a cursory statement.

As you may have already noticed, this program does not advocate the

use of physical punishment. The program advocates the use of positive-

reinforcement strategies for encouraging good behavior and, as you

will see next session, the use of punishment techniques that are not

physical but are very effective. When there is a good plan in place for

110

creating a warm, family environment and for reinforcing children for

their good behavior, nonphysical forms of punishment can be very

effective in the reduction of a child’s misbehavior. For example, some

of the punishment procedures that we will be talking about next time

are not physical but are unpleasant enough for children that they will

choose to stop engaging in negative behaviors. If you currently use

physical punishment as a disciplinary procedure, ask yourself if the

behavior you have been trying to decrease has stopped occurring. In

most families the answer to this question is no, and in some families

the fact that it doesn’t work leads to an escalation in the child’s poor

behavior and a chance that use of physical punishment can reach the

point of abuse.

Though one of the most important reasons to not use physical punish-

ment is that it simply doesn’t work, there are other reasons for not

using physical punishment. Possible reasons include the following:

■ Physical punishment is often guided by the parent’s level of anger

rather than by the child’s actual behavior. This does not create a

good learning experience for the child.

■ Physical punishment often makes children want to avoid the

people who administer the physical punishment. If parents use

physical punishment exclusively or excessively, the child may learn

to avoid the parent.

■ Physical punishment does not teach prosocial behavior; rather, it

models hitting and aggression, so that children may think it is ac-

ceptable to hit others.

■ Physical punishment also can have negative effects on a child’s

self-esteem.

■ When physical punishment is used, there is always the chance

that it will get out of hand and cross the line into physical abuse.

No parent wants or plans to be abusive to their child, but some-

times things can escalate out of control when physical punish-

ment is used, especially if the parent is very angry. It is better to

avoid that possibility altogether by learning to use very effective,

but nonphysical, punishment procedures.

111

Time-Out

Many of the parents in the group will probably have heard of time-out,

and some may have experience using it with their children. A time-out

means taking time out from positive reinforcement. The procedure re-

quires quickly removing the child from anything that is positive (e.g.,

TV, a nice view, books, other people) whenever a particular misbehavior

occurs. When removing the child from positive stimuli the parent must

be silent, because talking is considered something positive to the child

and will actually act to reinforce or increase the likelihood that the child

will engage in the same behavior in the future. In brief, the sequence of

events is as follows:

Instruction . . . Wait seconds . . . Noncompliance . . . Warning . . .

Wait seconds . . . Noncompliance . . . Time-Out

Write these steps on the flip chart as you discuss them with the group.

. Use a “Since . . . ” statement (e.g., “Jason, since you didn’t do X,

you need to go to time-out now.”).

. Monitor the child as she goes to time-out, or accompany the child

to time-out [the parent should begin the period of silence].

. The child stays in the time-out place for – minutes (for this age).

. The parent completely ignores the child while she is in the time-

out place. This means no talking to the child, no matter what she

may say that is annoying to the parent or that “pushes the parent’s

buttons.”

. At the end of the designated time, the parent allows the child to

come out of time-out and brings her back to the original situa-

tion. Give the original instruction again.

. Repeat the sequence until the child eventually complies with the

instruction.

It is important to emphasize that Steps and are crucial to the effec-

tiveness of the time-out procedure. The skipping of these steps is the

main reason why time-out does not work in many families. Often, while

the child goes to time-out, the parent does the task that she had asked

112

the child to do. This conveys to the child that time-out is a way to es-

cape from her responsibilities. This, of course, is not punishment. In ad-

dition, it is important to cycle the child back through time-out as many

times as necessary until she finally complies. Eventually the child will get

tired of being in time-out and will comply with the instruction.

For fourth, fifth, and sixth graders, the best place to conduct a time-out

is in the bathroom, laundry room, or any other room of the house de-

void of entertainment. Time-out should never take place in the child’s

room or in any other room where there are interesting or fun things to

do (e.g., watch TV, play games, etc.). If necessary, parents may remove

all positive or interesting items from the environment that the child is in

rather than remove the child from the environment to a time-out place.

This procedure would involve giving the following “Since” statement:

“Since you did not do X when I told you to, I am taking away your privi-

leges now.” The parent would then remove all privileges from the room

where the child is (e.g., unplug the computer, videogames, TV and tele-

phone; remove the iPod or MP player). This may not be practical for

some families who cannot quickly remove all the reinforcers from a

room or who do not want to deprive siblings or other family members

of the privileges because of the child’s misbehavior.

Remind parents to use the technique of ignoring if their child starts to

whine or cry during time-out. Let parents know that if they have con-

cerns, it is reasonable to check on the welfare of their child, but it is

likely that this behavior is the child’s way of trying to get attention or to

get out of time-out. If parents are successful at ignoring the child, then

they have been successful at not reinforcing this behavior.

Time-Out for Behavior Rule Violations

Let parents know that time-out can also be used for behavior rule viola-

tions. Remind the group, however, that behavior rule violations never

get a warning. Instead, the parent should label the rule violation (e.g.,

“Jason, you just hit your brother and that is against our rules, so you

need to go to time-out now”) and send the child immediately to the

identified time-out place. Parents should not give warnings or chances.

113

In this way children learn that they have to instruct themselves not to hit

people.

What to Do if the Child Is Destructive on the Way to the Time-Out Place

If the child engages in some behavior that results in destruction of prop-

erty or inflicting pain on a person, (e.g., she turns over a table in anger

or punches her brother as she is walking to time-out), tell parents to try

to ignore it and proceed with the time-out for the original misbehavior.

Once the time-out is completed, the child should be taken back to the

place of destruction and told to fix it or apologize. It is important that

the child not get out of punishment for the original misbehavior, nor

does the child get away with the angry destructive behavior.

Summary

Ask parents for their reactions to the recommendations you’ve discussed.

Make sure to specifically address the concerns of parents who have used

time-out in the past and have found it to be ineffective. Ask these par-

ents if they would be willing to try it again using the strategy discussed

during this meeting. Help parents to problem solve any anticipated ob-

stacles to implementation of the time-out procedure.

Homework

✎ Instruct parents to complete the Time-out Worksheet in the workbook

and bring it to the next session.

114

Materials Needed

■ Flip chart and markers

Session Outline

■ Set agenda

■ Review previous session and homework

■ Introduce privilege removal, work chores, and total reward shutdown

■ Discuss ways to deal with major misbehavior

■ Prepare for end-of-year celebration (optional)

■ Assign homework

Set Agenda

Begin the session by welcoming all the parents to group and checking in

with them on any reactions or questions that they may have to the last

meeting. On the flip chart, write down the agenda for today’s session.

Refer back to the agenda throughout the session to keep the session on

track.

115

Chapter 12 Session : Discipline and Punishment—Part II

(Corresponds to chapter of the workbook)

Review of Previous Session and Homework

Ask parents to share their completed Time-out Worksheets with the

group. Ask the following questions:

■ What are the behaviors that will lead to a time-out?

■ What kinds of rules do you have while your child is in time-out?

■ How long does time-out last?

■ Where does time-out take place?

■ What happens after the time-out? What are the consequences if the

child does not follow through with expectations following a time-out?

Ask parents to share if they actually implemented time-out with their

child since the last session. Ask them to explain how time-out went and

how it compared with other approaches to punishment that they had

used in the past.

Privilege Removal

Today you will introduce the group to another approach to effective

punishment called “privilege removal.” This involves quickly taking

away a privilege when the child breaks a rule or doesn’t follow instruc-

tions. For example, if a child does not complete his homework, he can-

not have the privilege of watching TV. If a child does not remove his

dirty dishes from the table, the child cannot have any dessert or evening

snacks. If a child hits another child, he is not allowed to go outside and

play with the other children for one day. It is important to note that

these punishments should be administered as soon as possible after the

misbehavior and should be time limited. The time limit should be

clearly articulated to the child at the time that the punishment is im-

posed (e.g., no TV until the homework is done, no snacks for one

night).

Ask parents to give other examples and write them on the flip chart. Be

sure to state that some of these punishments may seem too small to be

116

effective, but the principle is that small and frequent punishment is

more effective than the use of large and infrequent punishment. Em-

phasize the importance of implementing this strategy in a clear and di-

rect manner without negotiation after the decision has been made.

Role-Play Exercise

Conduct a role-play of a parent removing a privilege for a rule violation.

Role-play a child protesting about the removal of a privilege and dem-

onstrate how not to get caught up in the child’s protests and arguing.

Refer parents to Chapter of the workbook, which provides additional

information about privilege removal.

Work Chores

As an alternative to the removal of privileges, assigning a work chore can

also be used as an effective approach to punishment. This means that the

child has to do an unpleasant chore as a consequence of his negative be-

havior. Examples of work chores are numerous but include things like

cutting the grass, picking weeds, cleaning a bathroom, and the like. Let

parents know that it is important that the work chore not be a job that

the child is expected to do anyway. If one of the household expectations

is that the child keeps his bathroom clean, parents should not make

cleaning the bathroom a punishment for negative behavior. Work chores

used for punishment purposes are extra work chores that the child would

not ordinarily have to do.

In addition, it is best if a work chore is given immediately after a child

does not follow parental instruction or breaks a minor rule. The parent

simply assigns a - to -minute work chore that is to be completed im-

mediately. If the child refuses to do that work chore, another work chore

is assigned. If the child refuses to do the second work chore, parents

should remove all of the child’s privileges until the child does both of the

work chores and the original task that he was instructed to do. This is

called “total reward shutdown.”

117

Total Reward Shutdown

Removing all of the child’s privileges means the child cannot listen to his

radio or iPod, cannot play videogames, watch TV, go out and play or

hang out with other children, or go on any special outings; in general,

the child cannot have any of the privileges that he is used to having. The

child can easily get all of these privileges back by doing the work chores

that he refused to do, as well as the original task that the parent asked

the child to do. In this way, total reward shutdown is different from the

usual way that grounding is done. By submitting to the parents’ control

and doing the things that the child was asked to do, the child can get off

total reward shutdown. Unlike grounding, this procedure places the

child in control of when he will have privileges reinstated.

Some parents may object to giving children so many chances. If they do

object, it is acceptable for them to implement total reward shutdown

after only one work chore has been refused.

Provide parents with an example of a sequence involving work chores

and total reward shutdown. This sequence also can be role-played.

Parent: “Curtis, go wash your dishes.”

Child: Curtis ignores the instruction.

Parent: “Curtis, if you don’t go wash those dishes, you will also have to scrub

the bathroom toilets and sinks for minutes.”

Child: “I’ll do it later.”

Parent: “Curtis, since you didn’t do what I said, you now have to scrub the

bathroom. If you don’t go do it right now, you’ll also have to sweep the

house for minutes.”

Child: “You can’t make me do that.”

Parent: “Curtis, since you haven’t done anything that I just told you to do, you

have lost all of your privileges.” Parent turns off the TV and removes

all privileges, such as radio, CD player, telephone, video game, etc.

“You can have all your privileges back when you do the three things I

told you to do.”

118

It is very important for parents to follow through with total reward shut-

down, with no exceptions. The child must do the original task and the

work chores before getting his privileges back.

Discipline for Major Misbehavior

Have an open-ended discussion with parents about the use of these pun-

ishment techniques and address issues as they arise. For example, some

parents may object to what they may view as these “mild” punishment

procedures. They may think that these punishments are not severe

enough for really dangerous or disrespectful behavior (e.g., cursing at the

parent, stealing, threatening others). Agree with parents that the more

serious misbehaviors should be handled with more severe forms of pun-

ishment. This does not mean, however, that a person must use physical

punishment. Parents may choose to assign longer or more difficult work

chores (e.g., cleaning the whole garage, raking the entire yard and bag-

ging all the leaves, scrubbing down all the walls in several rooms in the

house), or children may be formally grounded for a prescribed (but not

too lengthy) period of time. The use of lengthy or unspecified periods

of grounding is not recommended because the child may feel that he has

dug himself into such a deep hole that there is no motivation to change

the behavior.

Prepare for Group Celebration (Optional)

The next session is the last group meeting before the summer break. If

you wish, you may discuss with parents the idea of celebrating the end

of Year of the Coping Power Program with a potluck. Before suggest-

ing that parents prepare food dishes for the party, it is important to take

into account the financial status of group members. Some parents may

not be able to afford to contribute to a potluck. In this case, you may

wish to order a pizza or supply refreshments yourself. Use your best

judgment when suggesting the party.

119

Homework

✎ Instruct parents to complete the Privilege Removal Worksheet in the

workbook and post it some place where all family members can view it.

✎ Ask parents to also complete the Work Chores Worksheet in the work-

book and post it for all family members to see.

✎ If parents state that imposing both privilege removal and work chores

is too much or too complicated for their family, they may complete

only one of the assignments.

120

Materials Needed

■ Flip chart and markers

■ Refreshments for end-of-year celebration

Session Outline

■ Set agenda

■ Review previous session and homework

■ Help parents prepare for the upcoming summer break

■ Celebrate the successful completion of Year of the Coping Power

Program

■ Assign homework

Set Agenda

Begin the session by welcoming all the parents to group and checking in

with them on any reactions or questions that they may have to the last

meeting. On the flip chart, write down the agenda for today’s session.

Refer back to the agenda throughout the session to keep the session on

track.

121

Chapter 13 Session : Getting Ready for Summer

(Corresponds to chapter of the workbook)

Review of Previous Session and Homework

Ask each parent about their impressions of the use of the punishment

procedures, including successes and failures and the reactions that fam-

ily members had to the change. It is very important to emphasize that

parents follow the steps of each technique without getting pulled into an

argument or debate with their child. Remind parents that they can use

ignoring as a technique for the minor disruptive behaviors. Help parents

fine-tune the application of these procedures within their families.

Review each of the parent’s homework and discuss. Lead the group in a

problem-solving discussion of any obstacles that parents may have en-

countered in doing the homework.

Remember to look for opportunities to support parents for their efforts

at continuing to implement the various assignments (e.g., using the

praising and ignoring techniques, tracking their children’s behaviors,

giving good instructions, etc.) in addition to offering encouragement to

those covered during this session. Praise all parents who at least tried to

do the homework assignment.

Setting Up Structures and Activities for the Summer

Talk to parents about the summer months and how it is likely that their

children will become bored by the middle of vacation and will need more

productive things to do to keep busy, occupied, and out of trouble. You

may use the following sample dialogue:

Many children like to have unstructured time, to sleep late, and basi-

cally do “whatever comes up” during the summer months. However,

by the middle of the summer, it is often the case that children are

bored and need more productive things to do to keep them busy, occu-

pied, and out of trouble. The more occupied children are with con-

structive activities, the more likely they are to not get into trouble, not

cause problems with brothers and sisters, and so forth. In addition,

most teachers and schools encourage children to not completely forget

122

about learning over the summer, but to continue to be involved in

some kind of academically oriented activity. Children who stay in-

volved in activities related to learning academic or vocational skills

(e.g., reading, writing, drama, music) over the summer tend to do

better in class when school resumes in the fall.

Refer parents to the section Planning for Summer in Chapter of the

workbook and discuss ideas of things that children can do and be in-

volved in over the summer, as well as things parents can do with their

children during the summer months.

Discuss the following issues from the workbook, using the sample dia-

logue provided.

Daily Structure

After the first couple of weeks of no schedule and watching TV, most

children profit from some kind of daily structure in their summer

schedules. Parents will vary with regard to how much structure they

wish to introduce. For some parents and children, a daily calendar that

lists activities for the day in the relevant time slots as well as any chores

or expectations that the parent has for the child may be useful. Activi-

ties and chores can be written in on an hour-by-hour basis. For other

parents, enough structure is provided by writing the day’s activity on a

blackboard, as well as what chores the child must complete before the

outing or activity can be done. Regardless of the method you choose,

some sort of communication with the child on a daily basis about the

plan for the day is a good idea for virtually all children this age.

Activities for Parents and Children Together

For parents who are able to be home with their children during the

day or for at least part of the day, doing something together can be one

way to enjoy the summer and break up long days.

123

Community-Based Activities and Events

As you are all aware, there are many community events available to

children and families at no cost or relatively low cost over the summer

months. Look at the local paper or contact agencies such as the YMCA

or YWCA for information regarding upcoming events.

Reading Program for the Summer

Most teachers recommend that children continue to read on a daily

basis throughout the summer. This is especially important for elemen-

tary and early middle school students, who are still consolidating their

reading skills. Some libraries have charts and ideas for reward pro-

grams to help motivate children to read over the summer. Many li-

braries also have summer read-aloud programs in which librarians

read aloud to groups of children.

Summer Chores

We mentioned the idea of chores earlier in the program when we were

talking about household rules and expectations. If children have some

daily chores to do over the summer, they have an opportunity to prac-

tice the kind of daily responsibility that is so important at home and

in school. Children who have daily chores built into their summer

schedules generally make a better transition back into the responsibili-

ties of school and homework in the fall.

Ask parents what kinds of daily chore expectations they have for their

children. If needed, provide examples of age-appropriate chores for

these children.

Children at Home (Unsupervised)

Many children have to spend some time at home alone or in the

charge of older siblings during the day in the summer months. For

124

these children, the need for pre-planned daily structure may be even

greater, since parents are not available in person to provide structure

on a minute-to-minute basis.

Ask parents who work during the day to talk about monitoring strate-

gies they implement and how these structures work for them.

Family Vacations

Ask parents if they are planning on taking summer vacations with their

children. If yes, discuss with parents what they are planning to do.

Have group members relate their plans to the group. Help parents an-

ticipate, as well as problem solve, potential difficulties that may be en-

countered on their trips. For example, if they are traveling by car they

should bring books, games, and other things to entertain the children.

Books on tape or CD are a great idea. Most libraries now have children’s

books on tape or CD that can be played in the car cassette or CD player

or in the child’s portable tape or CD player. One children’s writer has

recommended that each child have his or her own portable tape or CD

player so that they can each listen to their own books. This way, each

child is occupied with a developmentally appropriate and interesting ac-

tivity, and parents are free to have an adult conversation or listen to their

own music or book on tape. In addition, parents should make sure that

there are predetermined rest stops along the way that are known to all

family members. This provides a way for children to anticipate being

able to stretch and expend some energy, and it may reduce the number

of times they ask “are we there yet?”

Staying with Noncustodial Parents over the Summer

In some families where the parents live separately, children may be

spending significant amounts of time with a noncustodial parent over

the summer months. If this applies to your family, there are several is-

sues you may want to consider. For example, it is important to try to

maintain the structure that has been put in place for your child in

your home across both households. Your child will also benefit from

125

consistency across both households with regard to rules, chores, expec-

tations, and the like. To these issues there will need to be open and

responsive communication, if at all possible, between both parents (and

any step-parents, if applicable). Does anybody have this situation?

If there are divorced or separated parents in the group, lead a discussion

on the topic and help parents brainstorm methods of communication

with their ex-partner and how to best have the child’s needs met.

Dealing with Increased Levels of Stress

Talk to parents about the possibility that they will experience higher

stress levels during the summer months as their work and personal lives

continue while the structure and routines of the school year come to an

abrupt end. In addition to the stresses they normally experience, parents

will have the added stress of providing structure, supervision, and mon-

itoring for their children during the daytime hours, as well as dealing

with increases of troublesome behavior that can occur for children when

structure decreases.

Encourage parents to take some time for themselves over the summer to

cope with stress. You may use the following sample dialogue:

Despite the perception that summer is a time for fun and relaxation,

being a parent can actually be more difficult and stressful during the

summer. In order to deal with summer stress, we would suggest that

taking care of yourself is one of the most important things you can do.

Taking some individual time for yourself and getting away from

work, parenting, and household problems (even if it is just for

minutes a day) is a good place to start. If you can take a few days of

“adult vacation” by yourself or with a spouse, companion, or friend

(without children), this may also be helpful. All adults can benefit

from getting away from the daily demands placed on them in the var-

ious roles in their lives (remind parents of the pie chart activity

from Session ). Making time for yourself can actually reduce your

overall stress level, enabling you to have more energy to deal with your

other roles when you come back.

126

Ask parents to share ways in which they plan to take care of themselves

over the summer.

Group Celebration

The goals for this session are to continue building a sense of group co-

hesion and to commemorate the end of the first year of the program. A

celebratory function such as a potluck is one suggestion for meeting this

objective. However, if this optional activity was not planned in the pre-

vious session, some other way of celebrating the end of the first year

should be done, such as leaders providing a pizza or simply offering ver-

bal congratulations.

Homework

✎ Remind parents about the earlier sessions on stress management and

encourage them to review Chapters and of the workbook.

127

This page intentionally left blank

Coping Power Parent ProgramYear 2

This page intentionally left blank

Materials Needed

■ Flip chart and markers

■ Information on how to set up a good homework system (see Sessions

and )

Session Outline

■ Welcome parents back to the group

■ Provide brief overview of the Coping Power Program

■ Discuss summer issues and concerns

■ Review concepts and techniques of academic support in the home

■ Assign homework

Welcome Back

Begin this session by welcoming the parents back to group after the sum-

mer break. If new parents or group leaders are present, do introductions

at this time. Attend to any business that needs to be discussed about

group meetings—e.g., monthly schedule, time, day of week, location of

group meetings, etc. Give parents a brief overview of what will be cov-

ered in the group over the remainder of the program.

131

Chapter 14 Session : Academic Support in the Home:Review Session

(Corresponds to chapter of the workbook)

Review Summer

Ask parents about their summer. Ask also about any new issues that

came up for their child or family over the break. Discuss how behavior

management issues went over the summer.

Transition to Middle School

Lead a group discussion on how the start of school went and if parents

used some of the suggestions talked about in last year’s parent group

meetings to help prepare their child for the transition to middle school.

Possible questions include the following:

■ How is the transition going so far?

■ Have you or your child been experiencing any stress in the process?

■ What’s it been like for your child to have multiple teachers?

■ Have you or your child noticed any changes regarding increased level

of expectations?

■ How about homework—is more time needed to complete assignments?

■ Are you aware of any increase in peer pressure?

Continue the discussion, using the information and sample dialogue

provided in Chapter as a reference.

Review of Academic Support in the Home

Let the group know that the focus of today’s session is on things that par-

ents can do in the home to support their children’s academic success, es-

pecially completion of homework assignments. The group will review

different parenting skills to accomplish this objective, some of which

will be familiar to parents because they were introduced last year. This

review is important, now that children are starting a new school year and

entering middle school, because the emphasis on homework increases

significantly as students move from elementary to secondary school. Es-

132

tablishing good homework and study habits early in the year can help

prevent students from getting so far behind in their homework that they

become discouraged or give up entirely.

In order for parents to support their children’s completion of home-

work, they have to be aware of what is happening at school. Parents need

to have a method for tracking homework assignments and monitoring

their child’s progress effectively. Sometimes children mislead parents by

telling them that they do not have homework or that they did it in

school, when they actually did not. If there is an effective homework-

monitoring system in place some academic problems can be avoided.

For instance, it may be beneficial for parents to set up a system with the

teacher and enlist his or help in establishing a method for monitoring

homework. Simple techniques such as having a folder or notebook that

includes the homework along with a note written by the teacher at the

end of each day may be all that is required. In this notebook would be a

page on which the child writes down his assignment for every subject.

At the end of the class period or the end of the day, the teacher puts ini-

tials each assignment to indicate if the item is listed correctly. The

teacher should be asked to add anything that the child has left out and

to let the parents know if the child has completed any of the homework

during class time. In addition, the folder or notebook should have a par-

ent signature page on which parents can write comments or concerns

and indicate whether or not the child completed the assignments. It is

the child’s job to get home with the assignment book. Excuses for not

having the assignment book are not acceptable.

Some schools have moved to a Web-based system in which teachers post

daily homework assignments and parents can check the postings to find

out exactly what the homework is for each class. If the children’s school

has such as system, encourage parents to check on their child’s home-

work postings each night as a way of accurately monitoring their child’s

assignments.

Parent–Teacher Meetings

Ask parents if they have had a meeting with their child’s teacher this

year. If they have, ask parents to inform the group about the content of

133

the meeting and report on the teacher’s willingness to communicate

with the parents about homework.

For those parents who have not had a meeting, ask if they think it would

be useful to set one up in the near future. Be aware that some parents

may have issues with or concerns about school personnel, so be sure to

be sensitive to these issues during the discussion.

Refer parents to the questions for parent–teacher conference in Chapter

of the workbook.

Setting up a Homework System

Review with parents how to set up a homework system for their chil-

dren. Refer parents back to Chapter of the workbook and the infor-

mation on setting up a good homework system at home. Use the related

information in Chapter of this book to guide the discussion. Remem-

ber, this is a review. Unless there are many new parents in this year’s pro-

gram, you do not have to go into too much detail; you may simply refer

parents to Chapter of their workbooks.

Monitoring Homework

As discussed last year, children will differ in terms of the amount and in-

tensity of monitoring they need to progress through their homework.

For example, children who have learning disabilities or difficulty sus-

taining attention need more monitoring than other children. Each par-

ent will have to decide the appropriate level of monitoring for their

child.

Remind parents to monitor their child’s progress on a regular basis and

to praise the child for appropriate work behavior. It may be necessary to

offer praise every minutes; this period of time could be extended as

the child gets used to the new structure. Parents can offer help during

these check-in times, but assistance should be kept to a minimum so that

the child remains focused on completing their work independently. If

the child requires help, parents can offer assistance after the child has at-

tempted all of his assignments.

134

An alternative to the parent monitoring the child doing homework at

specified time intervals is to have the parent help the child break daily

homework assignments down into manageable pieces. For example, the

parent can instruct the child as follows: “Do your math homework first

and then bring it to me.” The parent can then check each piece and

praise the child for correct answers. Incorrect items should be identified

and folded into the next subunit so the child can try them again. Some

homework assignments are long term. The parent must assist the child

in setting and meeting interim goals for the completion of these proj-

ects. Long-term tasks may be broken down into manageable pieces, and

the parent can monitor the completion of each piece by the specified

time deadline.

If the parent does not understand the homework, they can simply check

to see that all the problems have at least been attempted. The teacher can

check for accuracy later.

Summary

Discuss parents’ reactions to the preceding material. There will un-

doubtedly be complaints about the amount of time and work for the

parents in implementing a homework system. Empathize with this com-

plaint and ask parents how much time and energy they currently spend

worrying about their child’s academic performance, meeting with teach-

ers, and arguing with their child about doing his homework. Point out

the relationship between homework completion and school success and

failure. Help parents figure out how a system like the one described can

be implemented in their family. Emphasize to parents that they should

work closely with their child in developing the homework structure.

They should ask for their child’s input on how the structure should be

designed so that it is easy for everybody involved (child, teacher, parent).

By allowing the child to give input into developing the program, the par-

ent provides the child with a sense of “ownership” of the plan while at

the same time having their own input. Some items about which children

could be asked include the following:

■ Exact time for homework

■ Exact place for homework

135

■ How frequently they would like parents to check their homework

■ Color of notebook

■ Whether or not the teacher should initial each entry or if they

would like to do it on their own and see how it goes

Ask the parents to identify areas of negotiation before they meet with

their child. Parents may choose to give their child two or three choices

in a particular area, and the child could choose one.

Refer parents to the sample homework system forms in Chapter of the

workbook. They can use these forms or create other forms that they feel

are more appropriate for their child; these are just examples. Remind

parents that they may want to set up a meeting with their child’s teacher

before establishing the new homework structure.

Involving Spouses and Significant Others in the Program

Before closing the session, encourage parents to bring a spouse or signif-

icant other to next week’s meeting. The topic of the session will be how

to build family cohesion and improve family functioning.

Homework

✎ Instruct parents to reestablish or fine-tune a homework system with

their children.

✎ Remind parents to invite a guest to next week’s meeting.

136

Materials Needed

■ Flip chart and markers

■ Resource list or booklet of family activities available in your community

Session Outline

■ Welcome and engage any newcomers to the group

■ Introduce topic of family cohesion building

■ Discuss and explore family-building activities

■ Assign homework

Group Leader Note

■ Prior to this session, parents should have been asked to bring their

spouse, significant other, or other important mentor figure in their child’s

life to today’s meeting. ■

Welcome Back

Begin the session by welcoming all returning parents to the group as well

as any spouses, significant others, or mentors in attendance. Ask parents

to provide a brief introduction of their spouse or family member and

have the group members introduce themselves as well. Express your ap-

137

Chapter 15 Session : Building Family Cohesion

(Corresponds to chapter of the workbook)

preciation to the individuals in attendance. It is important to note that

the term father will be used throughout the remainder of this session to

refer to whomever mothers have brought with them today, although it

is recognized that not all attending will be fathers.

It is important to note that if no significant others attend this session, the

material in the session can still be covered with the attending parents.

On the flip chart, write down the agenda for today’s session. Refer back

to the agenda throughout the session to keep the session on track.

Group Leader Note

■ Usually sessions start with a review of last week and a discussion of

homework. Because there are guests in attendance this week, however, the

review session will be conducted at the next meeting. Inform parents who

regularly attend group meetings about this change. Also, offer to meet sepa-

rately with any parent who wishes to discuss the homework assignment

from last week or has specific questions that are not appropriate for this

group meeting. ■

Engagement of Fathers and Mentor Figures

Engage fathers by asking them about their understanding of what occurs

in both the parent and child groups. Provide fathers with information

about the content and goals of the Coping Power Program. Clarify that

while fathers have been and will continue to be welcome to all the

groups, today’s meeting is designed specifically with them in mind.

Family Cohesion Building

Let parents know that today’s discussion will focus on the future and

how to handle their children’s behaviors over the next several years. Over

this period of time, as children age and mature, they will enter new de-

velopmental phases and struggle with new issues. Ask parents to talk

about some of the hopes they have for their children in the future. Ask

138

parents what their fears are and what types of things they worry about

in watching their children grow up over the next – years.

Encourage each parent to talk about these issues within the context of

the group. Try to elicit the worries and concerns of both mothers and fa-

thers in this discussion. Be sure to discuss the possibility of alcohol or

drug use and aggressive or violent behavior that children may be exposed

to or be involved in. The epidemiological data on the prevalence of sub-

stance use in children in middle school and high school years could be

mentioned (e.g., many children have used alcohol and mood-altering

substances by the middle school and high school years, and some of

these children will go on to have real problems with alcohol and sub-

stance abuse, such as alcoholism and addiction).

Ask parents to think about what their roles will be as their children face

these issues. Remind them that although there are many influences on

their children’s long-term development (e.g., school, peers, etc.), they, as

parents, continue to be very important. There are things that parents can

do to help prevent negative influences on their children. Refer parents to

the Improving Family Functioning section in Chapter of the work-

book and discuss using the information that follows. Make sure to state

that the variables listed have been identified as being associated with

lower risk of problems as children develop and mature.

Improving Family Functioning

There are many things that a parent can do to improve the cohesiveness

and overall functioning of their family. Provided here is just a small sam-

pling of practices that are found to work.

■ Get involved with your kids! Go to sporting events and all ex-

tracurricular activities with them.

■ Talk to your kids in a nonjudgmental and open manner.

■ Nurture your relationship with your child. Don’t forget to spend

time alone with them on a regular basis.

■ Establish clear expectations and rules.

139

■ Make consequences for misbehavior known to everyone, and fol-

low through with them on a consistent basis.

■ Keep conflict to a minimum by creating a positive environment.

This means “catching your children being good,” or noticing and

praising their good behavior at least as often as you catch them

being disruptive.

■ Teach your kids to problem solve with words and not violence.

■ Negotiate with your children when you can.

■ Do not abuse alcohol or substances.

■ Talk to your children about their future and help them to plan.

Rationale for Family Cohesion Building

You may use the following sample dialogue to provide parents with a ra-

tionale for building family cohesion:

One of the most important things we have said throughout is that

there must be a fundamentally good relationship between parents and

children for any parenting technique to work well in the long run.

This is not to say that there are not times in families when people get

angry with one another and may need to get away from one another

for a while. For parents and children to be their happiest and to re-

spect each other, it is important that the family have a “savings ac-

count” of positive feelings about each other and positive times together

to draw on to help get them through the difficult periods. Without this

positive savings account, parents often do not have the energy or the

motivation to do the hard work of parenting, and children may not

be as willing to please their parents by following their parents’ rules

and expectations. As your child gets older, the relationship will become

even more important. In the final analysis, a large adolescent boy, who

is usually bigger and stronger than his mother and father, has to

choose to follow his parent’s rules and expectations since they can no

longer make him do so. Your child will be much more likely to make

this choice if she has a positive bank account of good feelings and ex-

periences with her family.

140

In addition to shared family activities, it may be important for develop-

ing boys to have special one-on-one time with their fathers (or other sig-

nificant adult male figures). Ask parents (fathers and mothers) what they

think about this concept. Ask fathers if they think spending time with

their sons is important, especially now that their sons are getting older.

Elicit from fathers some of the ways they are currently spending time

with their sons.

Procedures for Building Family Cohesion

Building family cohesion means to build a warm and supportive home

atmosphere where family members can plan positive activities and have

positive experiences with one another.

Family Cohesion Inside the Home

Ask the group for ideas of activities inside the home that create fun or

pleasant experiences for the entire family. Be sure to stress the impor-

tance of making these events fun for the children, not just the parents.

It is critical that the child take an active role in determining the events

the family participates in and express an interest in doing so. If there is

a lot of discrepancy between family members’ interests, a method of tak-

ing turns should be implemented. If not already discussed, ask parents

to describe the nature of their current family encounters and the fre-

quency with which their family engages in positive time together. It is

perfectly normal for families to have some difficulty enjoying each

other’s company and having planned events turn out to be unpleasant

experiences (e.g., sibling conflict, someone doesn’t want to take part).

Normalize these experiences for parents and encourage group members

to be persistent in planning and carrying out family outings or in-home

activities.

One example of a planned family event is a “family night,” when fami-

lies stay at home and engage in an activity together, such as playing card

or board games, reading stories or a novel, praying together, or doing

something outdoors like playing a game of catch, going on a family bike

ride, barbecuing dinner, etc.

141

Alternatively, instead of establishing a family night, some families try to

spend small amounts of time together over the course of the week and

on weekends. For example, some families may sit down together at the

kitchen table for minutes, four times a week, and talk or play a game

together.

It is not uncommon for family members to interact in smaller groups

much of the time—this is fine and should be encouraged. In some fam-

ilies it may make sense for the whole family to play a board game to-

gether. In other families it may make sense for the mother or father to

each have a separate time for doing something with their child, just the

two of them. If possible, however, it is important to interact as a family

some of the time.

Explain to the group that in families with older or more mature children,

time spent with peers may be as important or more important to the

child than time spent with the family. Assure parents that this is a natu-

ral developmental stage for children to go through and that kids need

parental support in choosing friendships and being able to be more in-

dependent. However, parents should maintain the importance of hav-

ing family time on a regular and scheduled basis while allowing their

children to interact with peers. One does not have to occur to the ex-

clusion of the other.

Family Cohesion Outside of the Home

If available, distribute to parents a list of resources and activities avail-

able in the community.

Group Leader Note

■ The resource guide is something you will need to create and fill out ac-

cording to the available resources in your community. When creating the

guide, be sure to take into account the financial status of families. Do not

recommend expensive or costly outings or activities if families in your

group cannot afford them. ■

Let parents know that in addition to positive family experiences at

home, it is also possible to have positive family experiences outside of

142

the home. Some of these require resources (e.g., taking the family to the

circus, to a movie, to play miniature golf, etc.) while others are relatively

inexpensive experiences that families can share (e.g., going to the mall,

having a fast-food lunch together, walking around together on a Satur-

day afternoon, going to a local park and playing some ball together as a

family). Of course, each family has to decide how much of the family re-

sources can be devoted to family activities. Some families in the group

may feel that they cannot devote any resources to such activities. Address

this issue carefully, as there may very well be families in the group with

limited financial resources. You may wish to say something like the

following:

Before making the decision not to engage in family activities because

of cost, you may want to think about prevention and carefully con-

sider both sides of the problem. For example, if you devote some fam-

ily resources to promote positive family experiences each month, you

may head off costly problems in the future when your child is an ado-

lescent. The money you spend now on activities is money invested in

your family and in the future.

Conduct a discussion focused on activities outside of the home. Be sure

to include activities that do not cost money as well as activities that range

in expense from relatively inexpensive (e.g., going to the mall and buy-

ing an ice cream cone together) to very expensive (e.g., taking the family

to the circus).

In groups with fathers and in which issues of father–son relationships

have been highlighted, a discussion among the fathers in the group

could be led in addition to or instead of the above discussion. The dis-

cussion would revolve around activities that fathers and sons can do to-

gether to promote a positive father–son relationship.

Homework

✎ Ask parents to commit to family cohesion-building activities both in-

side and outside the home and to complete the Family Cohesion

Worksheet in the workbook.

143

This page intentionally left blank

Materials Needed

■ Flip chart and markers

■ Problem-Solving Worksheets from child group, completed by the chil-

dren (if there is a child group)

■ Videotape or DVD player and videotape or DVD (if showing a video-

tape or DVD from the child group)

Session Outline

■ Set agenda

■ Review previous session and homework

■ Introduce the topic of family problem solving

■ Discuss steps of family problem solving using the PICC model

■ Present children’s problem-solving video or DVD and/or completed

PICC forms (if there is a child group)

■ Assign homework

Set Agenda

Begin the session by welcoming all the parents to group and checking in

with them on any reactions or questions that they may have to the last

meeting. If the last session included any fathers or significant others, ask

145

Chapter 16 Session : Family Problem Solving

(Corresponds to chapter of the workbook)

about their reactions to the meeting. On the flip chart, write down the

agenda for today’s session. Refer back to the agenda throughout the ses-

sion to keep the session on track.

Review of Previous Session and Homework

Go around the group and ask each parent how the setting up or modi-

fying of homework rules and structures went. Remember, this was as-

signed as homework in Session , but was not reviewed last week be-

cause of the presence of fathers or mentors.

Address the following during the review:

■ Did any of the parents institute new rules or structures?

■ How were they able to do this?

■ What were children’s reactions?

■ What about monitoring or checking?

■ What strategy did some or all parents use for this? How did it go?

Support parents who tried something in the way of rules and monitor-

ing and encourage those who did not, to try some of the successful

strategies that other parents have spoken about.

Review also the family cohesion homework from last week (Session )

and ask parents to share any cohesion-building activities they partici-

pated in as a family (both inside and outside of home). Praise parents

who tried to do some component of the homework. Lead the group in

a discussion about barriers that are currently getting in the way of im-

plementing the homework (if indicated).

Family Problem Solving

You may use the following sample dialogue to begin the discussion of

family problem solving:

So far, we have talked about skills that parents can use to teach their

children to follow parental instructions. There are times in families,

146

however, when two or more people have a conflict or a difference of

opinion about something and they need to find a way to resolve the

conflict so that the problems do not worsen. These conflicts do not nec-

essarily revolve around a broken rule or any defiance on the part of

the people involved; rather, they have to do with problems or conflicts

for which there is no standing rule and each person has a different

opinion. Such conflicts could involve two siblings or they could involve

a parent and a child or even two parents.

Ask the group members to identify some problems they may be seeing

at home (e.g., sibling–sibling, parent–child, and parent–parent). Do not

push the issue of conflict between parents if it does not come up spon-

taneously during the discussion.

Ask parents what they are currently doing to manage sibling conflict.

Gently point out the difference between punishing children for causing

a disruption and teaching them some skills for managing the conflict.

Steps of Family Problem Solving

Explain to parents that problem solving is being discussed in the chil-

dren’s group (if children are participating in the program). Define prob-

lem solving as a process or series of steps that people can follow when

they are trying to resolve a conflict or solve a problem. Introduce them

to the problem-solving model that has been presented to their children.

This model is called the “PICC model” and it involves the following

four steps. Write them on the flip chart.

■ Problem identification

■ Identify all choices

■ Think about Consequences of each choice

■ Choose a solution

Refer parents to the PICC model in the workbook and review each of

the steps, using the sample dialogue provided.

147

Step 1: Problem Identification

Perspective Taking

In problem identification, children are taught to identify what the

problem is based on each person’s perspective of the situation (not just

their own perspective). The children are taught to be as objective as

possible in labeling what the problem is and to not use blaming,

name-calling, or put-downs when stating the problem.

For example, in a situation in which two children are fighting over

who gets to play with cards, an example of appropriate problem iden-

tification would be “You want to play with the cards now, and I also

want to the play with the cards now.” An example of inappropriate

problem identification would be “You are selfish and you always get

your way.”

Another example would be a mother and child disagreeing about

when a chore needs to be completed. An example of appropriate prob-

lem identification would be “You want to go to the mall with your

friends right now, and I want you to do your chores.” An example of

inappropriate problem identification would be “You are a lazy kid

who never does anything to help around the house.”

Individual Goals

Another aspect of problem identification is that children are taught to

think in terms of identifying their goal in the situation. For example,

if a parent and child are in conflict about the child’s desire to go to a

movie and the parent’s desire for a clean house, each could think in

terms of their goals in the situation.

Thinking in terms of goals may open the door to cooperation or com-

promise so that a way can be found for both people to get what they

want. Mom’s short-term goal is for the chores to be done. The child’s

short-term goal is to be able to go to the movie. A long-term goal for

both mom and child is to preserve their positive relationship. By focus-

148

ing on these goals, mom and child may be able to find a way for all

three goals to be met (e.g., “Do half of your chores now, go to the

movie, and then promise that you will do the other half when you get

home.” Of course, mom has to hold the child to that promise when the

child returns home.)

Step 2: Identifying Choices

In Step , children are taught to brainstorm as many possible solutions

to the problem as they can think of. They are taught to think of all pos-

sible solutions. They are not asked to evaluate them in terms of outcome

but simply to list all possible choices. Evaluation of the choices occurs at

a later stage. During a family problem-solving session, a parent or a child

could write the solutions down as they are being talked about by the var-

ious family members.

Step 3: Identifying Consequences

In Step , the children are taught to go back through the list of solu-

tions and identify what the consequences would be for each solution.

For example, “Hit your little brother” is one possible solution to a con-

flict with him. However, some consequences associated with that

choice are harming the little brother, being grounded, being hit back,

and losing privileges. Since there are so many negative consequences

and few, if any, positive ones, this solution would be classified as a

bad one. Better solutions include taking turns playing with the cards,

flipping a coin to see who goes first, or playing a card game together.

All of these lead to positive consequences.

Step 4: Choosing a Solution

In the final step, children are taught to choose one of the solutions

based on a review of all the consequences. Then they are taught to im-

plement that solution and see how it goes. They are taught to choose a

149

backup solution in case the first solution does not work and imple-

ment the second solution if necessary.

Present Children’s Problem-Solving Video or DVD and/or Completed PICC Forms

If parents’ children are participating in the Coping Power Program, they

may have created a problem-solving video or DVD that you may wish

to share with parents this week. This video shows the children acting out

a problem and various solutions to that problem. We caution you that

you may only show the video or DVD if all children have given their

consent. Consult with the children’s group leader about this issue.

Alternatively, you may review with parents the Problem-Solving Work-

sheets that children completed in their group (if children are participat-

ing in the program). Emphasize to each parent that, now that they are

aware of the problem-solving model, they can try to help their child use

it whenever a relevant situation comes up.

Homework

✎ Instruct parents to hold a family meeting to discuss the problem-

solving (PICC) model.

✎ Ask parents to commit to using the model to try to resolve one ongoing

conflict in the home with aid of the Problem-Solving Worksheet in the

workbook.

✎ Encourage parents to monitor conflicts within the home and encour-

age them to use the model when a conflict arises. Parents should praise

children for using the model and, perhaps in the future, use a punish-

ment procedure when they do not.

150

Materials Needed

■ Flip chart and markers

Session Outline

■ Set agenda

■ Review previous session and homework

■ Introduce family communication over the long-term

■ Develop a structure for family communication

■ Discuss monitoring child activities outside of the home

■ Assign homework

Set Agenda

Begin the session by welcoming all the parents to group and checking in

with them on any reactions or questions that they may have to the last

meeting. On the flip chart, write down the agenda for today’s session.

Refer back to the agenda throughout the session to keep the session on

track.

151

Chapter 17 Session : Family Communication

(Corresponds to chapter of the workbook)

Review of Previous Session and Homework

Ask parents about their family meeting regarding the problem-solving

(PICC) model. How did their children respond and were they success-

ful at implementing it within the family? Discuss problems and con-

cerns as indicated.

Remember to look for opportunities to support parents in their efforts

at continuing to implement the various assignments (e.g., ignoring,

tracking behaviors, special family time, etc.) in addition to offering en-

couragement for practicing assignments covered during this session.

Praise all parents who at least tried to do the homework assignment, and

be sure to ask parents whether they are continuing to spend special time

with their child. This is a very important part of improving and main-

taining a strong parent–child relationship, and leaders should be sure to

reinforce this practice on a regular basis.

Family Communication Over the Long Term

Discuss with the group the concept of parenting over the long term until

children grow up and leave home. Up until this point, the group has

been talking about skills that parents can use right now with their

fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-grade children, as well as the importance of

parental involvement as children progress through the various develop-

mental stages. You may use the following sample dialogue:

We believe that the skills you are being taught now will be helpful in

developing and maintaining a harmonious family environment and

will help you meet the challenges associated with parenting during the

adolescent years.

As your child gets older and enters adolescence, the way you will ac-

complish certain goals will change because your child has new devel-

opmental needs. For example, right now, you may have a rule that

your child has to be in the house by dark on weekends. However, in

the future, as she gets older, your child may want to renegotiate her

curfew. As the parent, you will probably still want to have a rule

about curfew, but you will need to negotiate the actual details. Can

152

you think of other things along this line that will change as your child

gets older?

Encourage parents to think of examples. Following are some that you

can use to supplement parents’ responses.

■ Right now, you may spend family time together playing a board game.

However, the way family time is spent will change as your child gets

older. Let’s talk about your thoughts regarding these changes and how

you can plan, in advance, to accommodate your child’s changing

needs.

■ Right now, you may use time-out as a punishment for noncompliance

and violating rules. However, when your child gets older, time-out

will no longer be appropriate and you will need to shift to a new pun-

ishment technique, such as work chores or privilege removal. In fact,

this may already be true for your child.

Remind group members that parenting is an evolving process that

changes and adapts to meet the needs of developing children. Ask par-

ents how they see their roles changing as their children get older. Allow

parents to discuss their ideas. The following list provides some examples

of probes that can be used to elicit more ideas from each group member:

■ Does your family currently have a way of talking with each other

about problems or concerns?

■ How do you negotiate changing established rules?

■ How does your family currently go about talking with each other?

■ How often does your family sit and talk about family issues?

■ Are you satisfied with the way your family communicates?

Refer parents to the section Family Communication over the Long Term

in Chapter of the workbook. Be sure to talk about the importance of

supervision and monitoring of children with respect to prevention. In

brief, high parent involvement reduces the likelihood of association with

deviant peer groups. After this discussion, refer parents to the form in

the workbook entitled “Four W’s and an H!” and explain that this type

of form can be used as a method of communication among family mem-

153

bers. Parents and children can agree to use a form like this to keep each

other informed of their schedules.

Structuring Family Communication

Ask each parent to select a structure for ongoing family communication.

These can be new structures identified during the brainstorming that has

just taken place, or they can be existing structures that simply need to be

fine-tuned. Encourage parents to talk about how they will elicit their fam-

ily’s cooperation with this new plan for ongoing family communication.

Emphasize again that the purpose of ongoing family communication is to

continue active involvement in the child’s life. It may also serve as a vehicle

for preventing negative problems from occurring in the future. Lastly, it

can result in producing a more pleasant family life.

Developing a Structure for Outings with Peers

Explain to parents that as children get older, one of the ways they will

begin to assert their independence is by requesting to go out with their

friends (without adult supervision). Following are some of the decisions

parents will face:

■ Is my child ready?

■ Where will I allow my child to go?

■ Who will I allow my child to go with?

Ask parents to share their thoughts about this issue with the group. En-

courage them to talk about the factors that influence their decisions.

Once parents decide that their child can go on an outing with peers, they

need a way to monitor the activity even though they won’t be present.

Suggest to parents that they use the W’s and an H sheet in the work-

book and give it to their children before they go on any outing with their

friends. Using this sheet is a way for kids to think about and communi-

cate to their parents (Who, What, Where, When, and How). By telling

their parents who they are going with, what they are going to do, where

154

they will be, when they will leave and when they will be home, and how

they will get to and from the activity, kids are forced to actually make these

plans and communicate them to their parents. In this way, parents can

monitor the people and activities that their children are engaged with.

Ask parents if they can think of any other ideas that may help to facili-

tate this process. Have parents share their ideas and experiences with the

group, asking those parents with older children to discuss what strategies

have worked for them as well as those that have not been so successful.

Prepare for End-of-Year Celebration (Optional)

Next week is the final group meeting of the Coping Power Program. As

was done at the end of the last year, you may wish to discuss with par-

ents the idea of celebrating the end of the program with a potluck. Be-

fore suggesting that parents prepare food dishes for the party, it is

important to take into account the financial status of group members.

Some parents may not be able to afford to contribute to a potluck. In

this case, you may wish to order a pizza or supply refreshments yourself.

Use your best judgment when suggesting the party.

Homework

✎ Ask parents to go home and talk with their families about ways they

can help facilitate ongoing family communication. Have them try to

set up at least one planned meeting before the next session.

155

This page intentionally left blank

Materials Needed

■ Flip chart and markers

■ Refreshments for end-of-program celebration

Session Outline

■ Set agenda

■ Review previous session and homework

■ Discuss long-term planning needs, including available school and

community resources

■ Conclude the process of termination

Group Leader Tip

■ In the final session of the program, it is good to have planned some type

of celebratory event. A potluck meal or providing some special snacks dur-

ing the last group meeting can serve as a way of thanking members for

their participation and involvement and of saying goodbye (see previous

session). Passing out certificates of participation to group members also

helps provide closure to the process and gives parents a tangible reminder of

their participation in the program. ■

157

Chapter 18 Session : Long-Term Planning, Termination

(Corresponds to chapter of the workbook)

Set Agenda

Begin the session by welcoming all the parents to group and checking in

with them on any reactions to or questions about the last meeting. On

the flip chart, write down the agenda for today’s session. Refer back to

the agenda throughout the session to keep the session on track.

Review of Previous Session and Homework

Ask parents if they implemented a family communication structure and

ask them to describe what it is. Discuss the outcome of any family meet-

ings that were held. Ask parents to share their experiences with each

other and to support each other in their efforts to improve their family

functioning.

Look for opportunities to support parents’ efforts at continuing to use

the various strategies and skills taught over the course of the year and en-

courage their continued use even though the program is ending.

Long-Term Planning

Let parents know that since this is the last meeting of the Coping Power

Program, it is a good time to discuss long-term planning for them and

their children. There are many resources available to parents and chil-

dren, both in the school and in the community.

Now that we are at the end of the Coping Power Program, we

thought this would be a good time to discuss long-term planning for

you and your child. We hope your child has benefited from involve-

ment in the Coping Power Program, and we hope you feel that you

have profited from the parent meetings you have attended. We wanted

to be sure that you are aware of some of the many resources available

for you and your child in the school and in the community.

158

159

School

Peer Mediation

Program

After-School

Programs Tutors Sports Programs

School

Counselors

School Social

Workers

School Resources for the Child

Refer parents to the middle school programs chart in Chapter of the

workbook. Work with parents to complete the chart as fully as possible.

Make sure to mention that the programs offered at the various schools

frequently change and that parents should contact their school principal

or counselor for more information. A blank copy of the chart is provided

on page for your use. If you wish, you may photocopy the chart, fill

it in, and distribute it to parents.

Community Resources for the Child and Family

Discuss the general notion that most cities have a selection of private

and government-sponsored services to assist families with a variety of

problems and concerns. You will need to develop a list of local resources

for parents.

Program Review

Conduct a brief review of the Coping Power Program using the cur-

riculum provided in Table ..

Discuss Long-Term Maintenance of Parenting Skills

Group Leader Tip

■ The main point is to instill the notion that being a parent is a lifelong

task and that the skills that parents have learned by their participation in

the Coping Power Program will serve them well in the long run. Also, re-

mind parents that their skill sets should be modified and upgraded as the

needs of their children change. ■

Encourage parents to continue using the skills they’ve learned in this

program throughout the years to come as their children age and mature.

160

Parents can use these skills (or modified versions of them) up until their

children leave home. If they do, things will go more smoothly in the

household and parents may be able to successfully prevent some of the

negative outcomes that befall some adolescents during this period of time.

Reinforce the notion that the rewards for continuing to use these par-

enting skills will come from three main sources: the child (in the form

of better behavior and preventing worrisome outcomes), from other

people (family members, support groups) who provide encouragement,

and from parents themselves (in the form of pride for continuing to

work hard at being a good parent).

161

Table 16.1 Coping Power Program-Parent Group Curriculum

Session Description

Year 1

Introductions, Overview, and Academic Support Academic Support in the Home

– Stress Management Basic Social Learning Theory and Improving the

Parent-Child Relationship Ignoring Minor Disruptive Behavior Giving Effective Instructions to Children Establishing Rules and Expectations

– Discipline and Punishment Getting Ready for Summer

Year 2

Academic Support in the Home-Review Session Family Cohesion Building Family Problem Solving Family Communication The End of the Coping Power Program

Discuss Parents’ Reactions and Feelings about the Program

Open the floor for a general discussion about parents’ impressions of the

program, including both the parent and child components. Some ques-

tions to ask include the following:

■ What improvements have their children made during the course

of this program?

■ What do they think they have done to support their child’s posi-

tive changes?

■ How has the parent intervention helped?

■ What topics were they hoping would be discussed that weren’t?

Advise parents to keep their workbooks and to keep an open mind about

using some of the approaches in the future, even if they do not seem

helpful now.

Celebrate the End of the Program

Share any final observations, regards, and feelings that are appropriate.

Share appreciations and say good-byes. If a potluck has been planned,

parents and leaders can eat together as they share their regards and feel-

ings about the end of the program.

162

American Psychiatric Association. (). Diagnostic and statistical manualof mental disorders (th ed., Text Revision). Washington, DC: Ameri-can Psychiatric Press.

Arseneault, L., Tremblay, R. E., Boulerice, B., & Saucier, J. F. (). Ob-stetric complications and adolescent violent behaviors: Testing two de-velopmental pathways. Child Development, , –.

August, G. J., Hektner, J. M., Egan, E. A., Realmuto, G. M., & Bloom-quist, M. L. (). The early risers longitudinal prevention trial: Ex-amination of -year outcomes in aggressive children with intent-to-treatand as-intended analyses. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, , –.

Baden, A. D., & Howe, G. W. (). Mothers’ attributions and expectan-cies regarding their conduct-disordered children. Journal of AbnormalChild Psychology, , –.

Barry, C. T., Frick, P. J., DeShazo, T. M., McCoy, M., Ellis, M. E., & Loney,B. R. (). The importance of callous-unemotional traits for ex-tending the concept of psychopathy to children. Journal of AbnormalPsychology, , –.

Barry, T. D., Dunlap, S. T., Cotton, S. J., Lochman, J. E., & Wells, K. C.(). The influence of maternal stress and distress on disruptive be-havior problems in children. Journal of the American Academy of Childand Adolescent Psychiatry, , –.

Barry, T. D., Dunlap, S., Lochman, J. E., & Wells, K. C. (). Inconsis-tent discipline as a mediator between maternal distress and aggression

in boys. Child and Family Behavior Therapy.Barry, T. D., Thompson, A., Barry, C. T., Lochman, J. E., Adler, K., & Hill,

K. (). The importance of narcissism in predicting proactive andreactive aggression in moderately to highly aggressive children. Aggres-sive Behavior, , –.

Barth, J. M., Dunlap, S. T., Dane, H., Lochman, J. E., & Wells, K. C.(). Classroom environment influences on aggression, peer rela-tions, and academic focus. Journal of School Psychology, , –.

References

Boxmeyer, C. L., Lochman, J. E., Powell, N., Yaros, A., & Wojnaroski, M.(). A Case study of the Coping Power Program for angry and ag-gressive youth. Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy, , –.

Brennan, P. A., Grekin, E. R., & Mednick, S. A. (). Maternal smokingduring pregnancy and adult male criminal outcomes. Archives of Gen-eral Psychiatry, , –.

Brestan, E. V., & Eyberg, S. M. (). Effective psychosocial treatment ofconduct-disordered children and adolescents: years, studies, and, kids. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, , –.

Brinkmeyer, M. Y., & Eyberg, S. M. (). Parent-Child InteractionTherapy for oppositional children. In A. E. Kazdin & J. R. Weisz(Eds.), Evidence-based psychotherapies for children and adolescents (pp.–). New York: Guilford.

Bry, B. H., Catalano, R. F., Kumpfer, K., Lochman, J. E., & Szapocznik, J.(). Scientific findings from family prevention intervention re-search. In R. Ashery (Ed.), Family-based prevention interventions. (pp.–). Rockville, MD: National Institute of Drug Abuse.

Caspi, A., McClay, J., Moffitt, T., Mill, J., Martin, J., Craig, I. W., Taylor,A., et al. (). Role of genotype in the cycle of violence in maltreatedchildren. Science, , –.

Cillessen, A. H., Van Ijzendoorn, H. W., Van Lieshout, C. F., & Hartup, W. W.(). Heterogeneity among peer-rejected boys: Subtypes and stabili-ties. Child Development, , –.

Cleckley, H. (). The mask of insanity (th ed.). St Louis, MO: Mosby.Colder, C. R., Lochman, J. E., & Wells, K. C. (). The moderating

effects of children’s fear and activity level on relations between parent-ing practices and childhood symptomatology. Journal of AbnormalChild Psychology, , –.

Colder, C. R., Mott, J., Levy, S., & Flay, B. (). The relation of per-ceived neighborhood danger to childhood aggression: A test of medi-ating mechanisms. American Journal of Community Psychology, ,–.

Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group. (). Initial impact of theFast Track prevention trial for conduct problems: I. The high-risksample. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, , –.

Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group. (). Evaluation of thefirst three years of the Fast Track prevention trial with children at highrisk of adolescent conduct problems. Journal of Abnormal Child Psy-chology, , –.

Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group. (a). The effects of theFast Track program on serious problem outcomes at the end of ele-

164

mentary school. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, ,–.

Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group. (b). The Fast Track ex-periment: Translating the developmental model into a prevention de-sign. In J. B. Kupersmidt & K. A. Dodge (eds.), Children’s peer rela-tions: From development to intervention (pp. –). Washington, DC:American Psychological Association.

Coon, H., Carey, G., Corley, R., & Fulker, D. W. (). Identifying chil-dren in the Colorado adoption project at risk for conduct disorder.Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, ,–.

Crick, N. R., & Werner, N. E. (). Response decision processes in rela-tional and overt aggression. Child Development, , –.

Dabbs, J. M., & Morris, R. (). Testosterone, social class, and antisocialbehavior in a sample of , men. Psychological Science, , –.

Dadds, M. R., & Powell, M. B. (). The relationship of interparentalconflict and global marital adjustment to aggression, anxiety, and im-maturity in aggressive and nonclinic children. Journal of AbnormalChild Psychology, , –.

Delaney-Black, V., Covington, C., Templin, T., Ager, J., Nordstrom-Klee, B.,Martier, S., Leddick, L., et al. (). Teacher-assessed behavior ofchildren prenatally exposed to cocaine. Pediatrics, , –.

Dishion, T. J., & Andrews, D. W. (). Preventing escalation in problembehavior with high-risk adolescents: Immediate and -year outcomes.Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, , –.

Dishion, T. J., Andrews, D. W., & Crosby, L. (). Antisocial boys andtheir friends in early adolescence: Relationship characteristics, quality,and interactional process. Child Development, , –.

Dix, T., & Lochman, J. E. (). Social cognition and negative reactions tochildren: A comparison of mothers of aggressive and nonaggressiveboys. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, , –.

Dodge, K. A., Dishion, T. J., & Lansford, J. E. (). Deviant peer influ-ences in programs for youth. New York: Guilford.

Dodge, K. A., Laird, R., Lochman, J. E., Zelli, A., & Conduct ProblemsPrevention Research Group (). Multi-dimensional latent con-struct analysis of children’s social information processing patterns: Cor-relations with aggressive behavior problems. Psychological Assessment,, –.

Dodge, K. A., Lochman, J. E., Harnish, J. D., Bates, J. E., & Pettit, G. S.(). Reactive and proactive aggression in school children and psy-

165

chiatrically impaired chronically assaultive youth. Journal of AbnormalPsychology, , –.

Dodge, K. A., Pettit, G. S., & Bates, J. E. (). Socialization mediators ofthe relation between socioeconomic status and child conduct prob-lems. Child Development, , –.

Dodge, K. A., Pettit, G. S., McClaskey, C. L., & Brown, M. M. (). So-cial competence in children. Monographs of the Society for Research inChild Development, , –.

Dunn, S. E., Lochman, J. E., & Colder, C. R. (). Social problem-solvingskills in boys with conduct and oppositional disorders. Aggressive Beha-vior, , –.

Erath, S. A., Bierman, K. L., & Conduct Problems Prevention ResearchGroup. (). Aggressive marital conflict, maternal harsh punish-ment, and child aggressive-disruptive behavior: Evidence for direct andindirect relations. Journal of Family Psychology, , –.

Farrington, D. P. (). Understanding and preventing bullying. In M. Tonry(Ed.), Crime and justice (Vol. , pp. –). Chicago: University ofChicago.

Fisher, P. A., & Chamberlain, P. (). Multidimensional Treatment Fos-ter Care: A program for intensive parenting, family support, and skillbuilding. Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, , –.

Fite, P. J., Colder, C. R., Lochman, J. E., & Wells, K. C. (). The mu-tual influence of parenting and boys’ externalizing behavior problems.Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, , –.

Forehand, R., Sturgis, E. T., McMahon, R.J., Aguar, D., Green, K., Wells,K., & Breiner, J. (). Parent behavioral training to modify childnoncompliance: Treatment generalization across time and from hometo school. Behavior Modification, , –.

Gouze, K. R. (). Attention and social problem solving as correlates ofaggression in preschool males. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, ,–.

Greenberg, M. T., Domitrovich, C., & Bumbarger, B. (). The preven-tion of mental disorders in school-aged children: Current state of thefield. Prevention and Treatment, , Available on the World Wide Web:http://journals.apa.org/prevention/volume/prec.html.

Greenberg, M. T., Lengua, L. J., Coie, J. D., Pinderhughes, E. E., & Con-duct Problems Prevention Research Group. (). Predicting develop-mental outcomes at school entry using a multiple-risk model: FourAmerican communities. Developmental Psychology, , –.

166

Guerra, N. G., Huesmann, L. R., & Spindler, A. (). Community vio-lence exposure, social cognition, and aggression among urban elemen-tary school children. Child Development, , –.

Guerra, N. G., Huesmann, L. R., Tolan, P. H., VanAcker, R., & Eron, L. D.(). Stressful events and individual beliefs as correlates of economicdisadvantage and aggression among urban children. Journal of Con-sulting and Clinical Psychology, , –.

Haapasalo, J., & Tremblay, R. (). Physically aggressive boys from ages to : Family background, parenting behavior, and prediction of delin-quency. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, , –.

Hart, R. D., & Hare, R. D. (). Psychopathy: Assessment and associa-tion with criminal conduct. In D. M. Stoff, J. Breiling, & J. D. Maser(Eds.), Handbook of antisocial behavior (pp. –). New York: Wiley.

Henggler, S. W., Melton, G. B., & Smith, L. A. (). Family preservationusing multisystemic therapy: An effective alternative to incarceratingserious juvenile offenders. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology,, –.

Hill, L. G., Lochman, J. E., Coie, J. D., Greenberg, M. T., & ConductProblems Prevention Research Group (). Effectiveness of earlyscreening for externalizing problems: Issues of screening accuracy andutility. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, , –.

Hinshaw, S. P., Lahey, B. B., & Hart, E. L. (). Issues of taxonomy andcomorbidity in the development of conduct disorder. Development andPsychopathology, , –.

Hinshaw, S. P., & Lee, S. S. (). Conduct and Oppositional Defiant Dis-orders. In E. J. Mash & R. A. Barkley (Eds.), Child Psychopathology(nd Ed., pp. –). New York: Guilford Press.

Ingoldsby, E. M., & Shaw, D. S. (). Neighborhood contextual factorsand early-starting antisocial pathways. Clinical Child and Family Psy-chology Review, , –.

Ireland, J. L., & Archer, J. (). Association between measures of aggres-sion and bullying among juvenile and young offenders. Aggressive Be-havior, , –.

Jackson, M. F., Barth, J. M., Powell. N., & Lochman, J. E. (). Class-room contextual effects of race on children’s peer nominations. ChildDevelopment, , –.

Joffe, R. D., Dobson, K. S., Fine, S., Marriage, K., & Haley, G. (). So-cial problem-solving in depressed, conduct-disordered, and normaladolescents. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology , –.

Kazdin, A. E., Siegel, T., & Bass, D. (). Cognitive problem-solvingskills training and parent management training in the treatment of

167

antisocial behavior in children. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psy-chology, , –.

Kellam, S. G., Ling, X., Mersica, R., Brown, C. H., & Ialongo, N. ().The effect of the level of aggression in the first grade classroom on thecourse of malleability of aggressive behavior into middle school. De-velopment and Psychopathology, , –.

Kelly, J. J., Davis, P. O., & Henschke, P. N. (). The drug epidemic:Effects on newborn infants and health resource consumption at a terti-ary perinatal centre. Pediatric Child Health, , –.

Klein, N. C., Alexander, J. F., Parsons, B. V. (). Impact of family sys-tems intervention on recidivism and sibling delinquency: A model ofprimary prevention and program evaluation. Journal of Consulting andClinical Psychology, , –.

Kupersmidt, J. B., Griesler, P. C., DeRosier, M. E., Patterson, C. J., &Davis, P. W. (). Childhood aggression and peer relations in the con-text of family and neighborhood factors. Child Development, , –.

Leff, S. S., Power, T. J., Manz, P. H., Costigan, T. E., & Nabors, L. A.(). School-based aggression prevention programs for young chil-dren: Current status and implications for violence prevention. SchoolPsychology Review, , –.

Lochman, J. E. (). Cognitive-behavioral interventions with aggressiveboys: Three-year follow-up and preventive effects. Journal of Consult-ing and Clinical Psychology, , –.

Lochman, J. E. (). Contextual factors in risk and prevention research.Merrill Palmer Quarterly, , –.

Lochman, J. E. (). Translation of research into interventions. Interna-tional Journal of Behavioral Development, , –.

Lochman, J. E., Barry, T. D., Powell, N., Boxmeyer, C., & Holmes, K.(). Externalizing conditions. In M. L. Wolraich, P. H. Dworkin,D. D. Drotar, & E. C. Perrin (Eds.), Developmental and behavioral pe-diatrics: Evidence and Practice. Philadelphia: Elsevier.

Lochman, J. E., Boxmeyer, C. L., Powell, N. P., Roth, D., & Windle, M.(). Masked intervention effects: Analytic methods for addressinglow dosage of intervention. New Directions for Evaluation, , –.

Lochman, J. E., Boxmeyer, C., Powell, N., Wojnaroski, M., & Yaros, A.().The use of the Coping Power Program to treat a -year old girlwith disruptive behaviors: A case study. Journal of Clinical Child andAdolescent Psychology.

Lochman, J. E., Burch, P. R., Curry, J. F., & Lampron, L. B. (). Treat-ment and generalization effects of cognitive behavioral and goal setting

168

interventions with aggressive boys. Journal of Consulting and ClinicalPsychology, , –.

Lochman, J. E., Coie, J. D., Underwood, M., & Terry, R. (). Effective-ness of a social relations interventions program for aggressive andnonaggressive rejected children. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psy-chology, , –.

Lochman, J. E., & The Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group(). Screening of child behavior problems for prevention programs atschool entry. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, , –.

Lochman, J. E., & Dodge, K. A. (). Social-cognitive processes of se-verely violent, moderately aggressive, and nonaggressive boys. Journalof Consulting and Clinical Psychology, , –.

Lochman, J. E., & Dodge, K. A. (). Distorted perceptions in dyadic in-teractions of aggressive and nonaggressive boys: Effects of prior expec-tations, context, and boys’ age. Development & Psychopathology, ,–.

Lochman, J. E., FitzGerald, D. P., Gage, S. M., Kannaly, M. K., Whidby, J. M.,Barry, T. D., Pardini, D. A., & McElroy, H. (). Effects of social-cognitive intervention for aggressive deaf children: The Coping PowerProgram. Journal of the American Deafness and Rehabilitation Associa-tion, , –.

Lochman, J. E., & Lampron, L. B. (). Situational social problem-solv-ing skills and self-esteem of aggressive and nonaggressive boys. Journalof Abnormal Child Psychology, , –.

Lochman, J. E., Lampron, L. B., Burch, P. R., & Curry, J. F. (). Clientcharacteristics associated with behavior change for treated and untreatedaggressive boys. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, , –.

Lochman, J. E., Magee, T. N., & Pardini, D. (). Cognitive behavioralinterventions for children with conduct problems. In M. Reinecke &D. Clark (Eds.), Cognitive therapy over the lifespan: Theory, research andpractice (pp. –). Cambridge, England: Cambridge UniversityPress.

Lochman, J. E., Nelson, W. M. III, & Sims, J. P. (). A cognitive behav-ioral program for use with aggressive children. Journal of Clinical ChildPsychology, , –.

Lochman, J. E., Pardini, D. A., Phillips, N. C., & McElroy, H. K. ().Conduct disorder in adolescence. In P. Graham (Ed.), Cognitive be-haviour therapy for children and families (nd ed., pp. –). Cam-bridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

169

Lochman, J. E., Powell, N. R., Jackson, M. F., & Czopp, W. ().Cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy for conduct disorder: The CopingPower Program. In W. M. Nelson III, A. J. Finch & K. J. Hart (Eds.),Comparative treatment of conduct disorder (pp. –). New York:Springer.

Lochman, J. E., Powell, N. R., Whidby, J. M., & FitzGerald, D. P. ().Cognitive-behavioral assessment and treatment with aggressive chil-dren. In P. C. Kendall (Ed.), Child and Adolescent Therapy: Cognitive-Behavioral Procedures (rd ed., pp. –). New York: Guilford.

Lochman, J. E., Qu, L., Chen, L., Roth, D., Barth, J., & Wells, K. C. (,March). Influence of neighborhood characteristics on the CopingPower program’s effects on children’s behavior and parenting processes.Paper presented in a symposium (S. F. Reardon & D. Gorman-Smith,chairs) at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child De-velopment, Boston, Massachusetts.

Lochman, J. E, & Wayland, K. K. (). Aggression, social acceptance, andrace as predictors of negative adolescent outcomes. Journal of the Ameri-can Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, , –.

Lochman, J. E., Wayland, K. K., & White, K. J. (). Social goals: Rela-tionship to adolescent adjustment and to social problem solving. Jour-nal of Abnormal Child Psychology, , –.

Lochman, J. E., & Wells, K. C. (a). Contextual social-cognitive medi-ators and child outcome: A test of the theoretical model in the CopingPower Program. Development and Psychopathology, , –.

Lochman, J. E., & Wells, K. C. (b). The Coping Power Program at themiddle school transition: Universal and indicated prevention effects.Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, , S–S.

Lochman, J. E., & Wells, K. C. (). Effectiveness study of Coping Powerand classroom intervention with aggressive children: Outcomes at aone-year follow-up. Behavior Therapy, , –.

Lochman, J. E., & Wells, K. C. (). The Coping Power Program forpreadolescent aggressive boys and their parents: Outcome effects at theone-year follow-up. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, ,–.

Lochman, J. E., Wells, K. C., & Murray, M. (). The Coping Power pro-gram: Preventive intervention at the middle school transition. In P. Tolan,J. Szapocznik, & S. Sambrano (Eds.), Preventing youth substance abuse:Science-based programs for children and adolescents (pp. –). Wash-ington, DC: American Psychological Association.

170

Loeber, R. (). Development and risk factors of juvenile antisocial be-havior and delinquency. Clinical Psychology Review, , –

Loeber, R., Green, S. M., Keenan, K., & Lahey, B. B. (). Which boyswill fare worse?: Early predictors of the onset of conduct disorder in asix-year longitudinal study. Journal of the American Academy of Childand Adolescent Psychiatry, , –.

Loeber, R., & Stouthamer-Loeber, M., (). Development of juvenile ag-gression and violence: Some common misconceptions and controver-sies. American Psychologist, , –.

Luthar, S. S. (). Poverty and children’s adjustment. New York: Sage.Masten, A. S., Best, K. M., & Garmezy, N. (). Resilience and develop-

ment: Contributions from the study of children who overcome adver-sity. Development and Psychopathology, , –.

McCarty, C. A., McMahon, R. J., & Conduct Problems Prevention Re-search Group (). Mediators of the relation between maternal de-pressive symptoms and child internalizing and disruptive behavior Dis-orders. Journal of Family Psychology, , –.

Milich, R., & Dodge, K. A. (). Social information processing in childpsychiatric populations. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, ,–.

Miller-Johnson, S., Coie, J. D., Maumary-Gremaud, A., Bierman, K., &Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group (). Peer rejectionand aggression and early starter models of conduct disorder. Journal ofAbnormal Child Psychology, , –.

Miller-Johnson, S., Coie, J. D., Maumary-Gremaud, A., Lochman, J. E., &Terry, R. (). Relationship between childhood peer rejection and ag-gression and adolescent delinquency severity and type among AfricanAmerican youth. Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, ,–.

Nagin, D., Pogarsky, G., & Farrington, D. (). Adolescent mothers andthe criminal behavior of their children. Law and Society, , –.

Pakasiahti, L., Asplund-Peltola, R., & Keltlkangas-Jarvinen, L. (). Par-ents’ social problem solving strategies in families with aggressive andnonaggressive boys. Aggressive Behavior, , –.

Pardini, D. A., Barry, T. D., Barth, J. M., Lochman, J. E., & Wells, K. C.(). Self-perceived social acceptance and peer social standing inchildren with aggressive-disruptive behaviors. Social Development, ,–.

Pardini, D. A., Lochman, J. E., & Frick, P. J. (). Callous/unemotionaltraits and social cognitive processes in adjudicated youth. Journal of theAmerican Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, , –.

171

Pardini, D. A., Lochman, J. E., & Powell, N. (). Shared or unique de-velopmental pathways to callous-unemotional traits and antisocial be-havior in children? Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology,, –.

Pardini, D., Lochman, J. E., & Wells, K. C. (). Negative emotions andalcohol use initiation in high-risk boys: The moderating effect of goodinhibitory control. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, , –.

Patterson, G. R., Reid, J. B., & Dishion T. J. (). Antisocial boys. Eugene,OR: Castalia.

Patterson, G. R., Reid, J. B., Jones, R. R., & Conger, R. E. (). A sociallearning approach: Vol. . Families with aggressive children. Eugene, OR:Castalia.

Pepler, D. J., Craig, W. M., & Roberts, W. I. (). Observations of ag-gressive and nonaggressive children on the school playground. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, , –.

Pinderhughes, E. E., Nix, R., Foster, E. M., Jones, D., & Conduct ProblemsPrevention Research Group (). Parenting in context: Impact ofneighborhood poverty, residential stability, public services, social net-works and danger on parental behaviors. Journal of Marriage and Fam-ily, , –.

Rabiner, D. L., Lenhart, L., & Lochman, J. E. (). Automatic vs. reflec-tive social problem solving in relation to children’s sociometric status.Developmental Psychology, , –.

Raine, A., Brennan, P., & Mednick, S. A. (). Interactions between birthcomplications and early maternal rejection in predisposing individualsto adult violence: Specificity to serious, early onset violence. AmericanJournal of Psychiatry, , –.

Rasanen, P., Hakko, H., Isobarmi, M., Hodgins, S., Jarvelin, M. R., &Tiihonen, J. (). Maternal smoking during pregnancy and risk ofcriminal behavior among male offspring in the northern Finland

birth cohort. American Journal of Psychiatry, , –.Rigby, K. (). Bullying in schools and what to do about it. London: Jessica

Kingsley.Sampson, J. H., & Laub, R. J. (). Crime in the making: Pathways and

turning points through life. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Scaramella, L. V., & Conger, R. D. (). Intergenerational continuity of

hostile parenting and its consequences: The moderating influence ofchildren’s negative emotional reactivity. Social Development, , –.

172

Scarpa, A., Bowser, F. M., Fikretoglu, D., Romero, N., & Wilson, J. W.(). Effects of community violence II: Interactions with psycho-physiologic functioning. Psychophysiology, (Supplement), .

Scarpa, A., & Raine, A. (). Violence associated with anger and impul-sivity. In J. C. Borod (Ed.), The neuropsychology of emotion (pp.–). London: Oxford University Press.

Schwab-Stone, M. E., Ayers, T. S., Kasprow, W., Voyce, C., Barone, C.,Shriver, T., & Weissberg, R. P. (). No safe haven: A study of vio-lence exposure in an urban community. Journal of the American Acad-emy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, , –.

Shaw, D. S., Keenan, K., & Vondra, J. I. (). The developmental pre-cursors of antisocial behavior: Ages –. Developmental Psychology, ,–.

Shaw, D. S., & Vondra, J. I. (). Infant attachment security and mater-nal predictors of early behavior problems: A longitudinal study of low-income families. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, , –.

Tremblay, R. E., & LeMarquand, D. (). Individual risk and protectivefactors. In R. Loeber & D. P. Farrington (Eds.), Child delinquents: De-velopment, intervention, and service needs (pp. –). ThousandOaks, CA: Sage.

van de Wiel, N. M. H., Matthys, W., Cohen-Kettenis, P. T., Maassen, G. H.,Lochman, J. E., & van Engeland, H. (). The effectiveness of an ex-perimental treatment when compared with care as usual depends onthe type of care as usual. Behavior Modification, , –.

Van de Wiel, N. M. H., Matthys, W., Cohen-Kettenis, P., & van Engeland, H.(). Application of the Utrecht Coping Power program and care asusual to children with Disruptive Behavior Disorders in outpatientclinics: A comparative study of cost and course of treatment. BehaviorTherapy, , –.

Vitaro, F., Brendgen, M., Pagani, L., Tremblay, R. E., & McDuff, P. ().Disruptive behavior, peer association, and conduct disorder: Testingthe developmental links through early intervention. Development andPsychopathology, , –.

Wasserman, G. A., & Seracini, A. M. (). Family risk factors and inter-ventions. In R. Loeber & D. P. Farrington (Eds.), Child delinquents:Development, intervention, and service needs (pp. –). ThousandOaks, CA: Sage.

Webster-Stratton, C. (). Randomized trial of two parent-training pro-grams for families with conduct-disordered children. Journal of Con-sulting & Clinical Psychology, , –.

173

Webster-Stratton, C. (). Advancing videotape parent training: A com-parison study. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, , –.

Webster-Stratton, C., & Hammond, M. (). Treating children withearly-onset conduct problems: A comparison of child and parent train-ing interventions. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, ,–.

Webster-Stratton, C, & Reid, M. J. (). The Incredible Years Parents,Teachers, and Children Training Series. In A. E. Kazdin & J. R. Weisz(Eds.), Evidence-based psychotherapies for children and adolescents (pp.–). New York: Guilford.

Weiss, B., Dodge, K. A., Bates, J. E., & Petit, G. S. (). Some conse-quences of early harsh discipline: Child aggression and maladaptive so-cial information processing style. Child Development, , –.

Williams, S. C., Lochman, J. E., Phillips, N. C., & Barry, T. D. (). Ag-gressive and nonaggressive boys’ physiological and cognitive processesin response to peer provocations. Journal of Clinical Child & AdolescentPsychology, , –.

Zelli, A., Dodge, K. A., Lochman, J. E., Laird, R. D., & Conduct ProblemsPrevention Research Group. (). The distinction between beliefs le-gitimizing aggression and deviant processing of social cues: Testingmeasurement validity and the hypothesis that biased processing medi-ates the effects of beliefs on aggression. Journal of Personality and SocialPsychology, , –.

Zonnevylle-Bender, M. J. S., Matthys, W., van de Wiel, N. M. H., &Lochman, J. (). Preventive effects of treatment of DBD in middlechildhood on substance use and delinquent behavior. Journal of theAmerican Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, , –.

174

Karen C. Wells, PhD, is Associate Professor of Medical Psychology in

the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Duke Univer-

sity Medical Center, where she is the Director of the Family Studies Pro-

gram and Clinic and also the Director of the Psychology Internship for

Duke University Medical Center. Dr. Wells is widely published in the

areas of psychosocial treatments for childhood and adolescent psychi-

atric disorders, including ADHD, oppositional defiant disorder, depres-

sion, and adolescent suicidality, with a special emphasis on family and

parenting factors in etiology and treatment. Dr. Wells has worked with

Dr. Lochman on the development and evaluation of the Coping Power

Program for the last years.

John E. Lochman, PhD, ABPP, is Professor and Doddridge Saxon Chair

in Clinical Psychology at The University of Alabama, where he also di-

rects the Center for Prevention of Youth Behavior Problems. Dr. Loch-

man has over publications on risk factors for children’s aggressive be-

havior, social cognition, and intervention and prevention research with

aggressive children, including outcome research on the Coping Power

intervention. Dr. Lochman is editor-in-chief of the Journal of Abnormal

Child Psychology, serves on the NIH Study Section on Psychosocial De-

velopment, Risk and Prevention, and is president of the American

Board for Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology.

Lisa A. Lenhart, PhD, is the senior psychologist in the Testing and Tu-

toring Service at The Treatment and Learning Centers (TLC) in Mary-

land. She is a child clinical psychologist who has provided diagnostic and

therapeutic services to children and families for over years, using

research-based treatments to help individuals with a variety of difficul-

ties to function more effectively in life. She has extensive supervision ex-

About the Authors

perience, both of professionals and students, and consults with other

professionals on an interdisciplinary team. Dr. Lenhart currently over-

sees the testing department at TLC, ensuring the clinical quality of all

psychological evaluations and treatment conducted at this agency. She

was the project coordinator for the Coping Power Program for years,

and continues to implement the strategies developed in this program in

her work with children and families.

176