Parent Training for Families of Children with ADHD

Abstract:

Parent training is often recommended as a treatment for children with ADHD. This review outlines and discusses three well-known programs from the current clinical literature, those formulated by Barkley, Patterson, and Forehand. All three programs rely heavily on social learning principles such as coercive interaction and coercion escalation to explain children's behavior problems. Training in a wide variety of positive social reinforcement and specifically defined punishment methods is emphasized. Differences among the programs are highlighted, including issues such as the balance between informal social reinforcement versus formal behavior reward systems, and the exact procedures for implementation of time-out. Selected outcome research is summarized and general guidelines for clinical implementation are suggested.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Robert F. Newby

Robert F. Newby, PhD, received his doctorate from the University of Kansas and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in neuropsychology at the University of Wisconsin. He is currently an Associate Professor of Neurology and Child Neuropsychologist at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. His research interests include attention deficit disorder and dyslexia.

Mariellen Fischer

Mariellen Fischer, PhD, received her doctorate from the University of Vermont and is currently an Associate Professor of Neurology and Child Neuropsychologist at the Medical College of Wisconsin. She has published in the area of developmental psychopathology and is a co-investigator in a large-scale follow-up study of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

Michael A. Roman

Michael A. Roman, PhD, obtained his doctorate from the Illinois Institute of Technology and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in neuropsychology at the Medical College of Wisconsin. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Child Neuropsychologist at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. His research interests include ecological validity and behavioral interventions for cognitively impaired children.