After doing this for some time, I've learned that for our kids to gain anything from behavior therapy it is
imperative that parents and therapists work together. This is something that no one ever tells you - it may be implied - but it needs to be written down and handed out in pamphlets or something. So here's my attempt to tell parents all of the things I notice from the outside looking in ... and I encourage parents to tell their therapists they see also.
You may read this and it may seem like I'm attacking parents ... just the opposite. I'm trying to bring to light all of the things I see over and over again at multiple houses. Things, you as a parent, may not see unless someone from the outside brings your attention to it.
1. Not Following Through.
I cannot tell you how often I see this. And, at the same time, I believe it is completely unintentional/subconscious on the end of the parents.
If and ABA therapist, home-based therapy worker, teacher, SLP, OT,PT, or ANYONE else providing services to your child shows you or suggests a method to you that is working for them ... we are telling you because we want you to USE IT! The kids I see generalize their skills the fastest, are the kids who are expected to use those skills in multiple settings in their lives.
The time I see this the most is dealing with negative behaviors. If I've learned anything from the kids I work with, it's that they thrive off of consistency. I can't tell you how often parents say to me "well, little Billy will do that for you but he would never do that for me". That's because he knows I expect him to do it and has learned over time that I'll accept nothing less. I realize that it's easy for me to come into your house for a few hours everyday and stand my ground with your child and accept nothing less than what I know your child is capable of - I get to go at 5 o'clock. I realize that parents live in this reality 24/7. But I cannot stress enough that if you can develop consistency with your child (and don't get me wrong, the first few weeks will be tough), your daily interactions with negative behaviors will get easier over time.
This brings me to my next point ....
2. Coddling at Inappropriate Times
If your child has hurt themselves, by ALL MEANS, pick him up, hug him, kiss him, tell him you love him. If your child is crying because I just told him he couldn't
eat a fourth cookie, DO NOT pick him up, hug him, kiss him, or any combination of those. If you do, you've just taught your child that if he doesn't get his way and begins crying, mom or dad comes in and saves the day. Your child is now going to cry more often and may begin throwing tantrums if he doesn't already.
We know it's hard for you to listen to your child cry during therapy and I always invite parents to discreetly watch (so your child doesn't know he gained attention) if you do hear your child crying. Remember, any attention is good attention. And we're not trying to torture your kids, we're trying to help them work through negative behaviors.
I had a child's father tell me once "well when he cries we redirect him". I praised the dad for this and asked "but he's done crying when you redirect him, right?" He replied with, "No. When he starts crying we open up a new toy that we keep in the closet". WHAT?!? So I asked the dad if he thought the crying episodes were increasing in frequency and the thought for a minute and said, "Now that you mention it ..." If your child is crying because he wants another cookie, ignore it. When he's quiet (even for 2 seconds) say "Little Billy, how about we (insert activity here" ... that's appropriate redirecting. But if Little Billy keeps crying, you need to ignore it.
3. Not Praising
As often as we ignore negative behaviors, we also need to praise positive behaviors. I think sometimes we (therapists and parents) are so busy attending to negative behaviors that we don't even notice the positive ones.
If your child is prone to tantrums, praise them when they are having a particularly quiet moment or when Little Billy appropriately handles being told he can't have a fourth cookie.
Remember ANY attention is good attention and just like attending to negative behavior can increase the frequency of negative behavior ... attending to positive behavior will increase the frequency of positive behavior.
4. Not Pushing your Child
Education courses in college taught me over and over again that the teachers who expected the most of their students, resulted with higher performing students.
Sometimes we become complacent with our kids and accept what we've always been accepting ... keep pushing your kids (obviously to the point you know they can handle). Expect more from your kids! They can do it ... but they won't if there's no one believing in them and expecting them to do it!!
There's a story in Jenny McCarthy's book Louder Than Words, she describes a day when she decided she'd push her (mostly nonverbal) son to start using functional language. He wanted her to open the door to the toy room (which she knew) and she sat in front of him for 45 mins prompting him to say something functional. She never gave in! (and she describes how awful this made her feel). After some time, her son game and found her in the house and gave her his approximation of "door"!! Push your kids!
As I mentioned before, I know some parents won't like this post. But please just think it over. We are ALL (therapists included), guilty of one or some to these at some points. If it was a professionally accepted, I'd keep a roll of newspaper with me and swat parents on the nose whenever I saw any of these ... instead, I write a blog :)