The Autism Society Event and Education Recordings Archive

Research suggests that approximately 50% of families of children with significant behavior problems do not fully participate in parent education programs either because they actively refuse to participate, drop-out of sessions, or do not fully implement the methods they have been taught. This presents a significant obstacle to successful intervention, and may be a predictor of later, more severe behavior problems. A number of recent studies have sought to identify factors that contribute to the escalation of behavior problems and successful implementation of behavior support strategies. While a variety of factors may certainly be relevant, parental optimism (i.e., the degree to which they believe they can anticipate and have a positive impact on the lives of their children) appears to be quite important.

Recognition that perceptions and attitudes may have a critical impact on families’ willingness to try and implement behavior support strategies suggests fundamental changes in our approach to working with parents. We may need to identify parents who are at risk for feeling out of control, especially with respect to their child’s behaviors, and provide them with additional therapeutic supports.

A recent project funded by U.S Department of Education Office of Special Education Programs is addressing this issue via a program that combines “optimism training,” a cognitive-behavioral method for addressing pessimistic thinking, with instruction in positive behavior support. The Positive Family Intervention (PFI) project identifies parents at risk for dropping out of parent education programs through a self-report questionnaire assessing their feelings about their ability to succeed with their child. Two groups of participants (one receiving the PFI package, the other receiving only instruction in PBS) are taking part in the study to compare the results for these families.

Further research is needed into the role parental attitudes play in: a) retention in parent education programs; and b) the success or failure of behavioral interventions. Answers to questions such as, “What are the parents thinking when presented with and addressing behavior problems in their children?” and “How are these thought processes being reinforced for the parent?” are essential if the clinical utility of an intervention such as PBS is to be enhanced.

This poster will present an overview of a study aimed at answering the aforementioned questions. The study identified self-talk themes in 18 parents of children with developmental disabilities by reviewing 72 hours of videotaped therapy sessions with the parents and therapists involved in the PFI condition of the PFI study. Self-talk themes of these parents were extracted via content analysis of the sessions which were designed in part to explore self-talk in the parents. The content analysis was accomplished via keywords. Specifically, the points in the sessions when the therapist inquired, “What were you thinking then?” or “How did that make you feel?” was followed by parental responses which gave insight to self-talk and was the data of interest to this research. These parental responses were extracted along with the situation that prompted the self-talk, and the consequences, or what occurred directly following the self-talk. The self-talk was then categorized into themes derived from analyzing the self-talk and the consequences. Themes include such categories as “My child’s behavior is caused by his/her disability” and “I have no control over my child”. Identifying these recurring self-talk themes will enable researchers and therapists to create more efficient strategies for responding to these parents and tailor responses to the identified themes. Through this process we will be able to remove barriers to treatment and enhance participation in parent education programs.

The poster will present the self-talk themes that were identified. Further, the poster will also present information concerning the resulting consequences of the self-talk.

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