A controlled evaluation of behavior modification with conduct problem children.

Abstract

A behavioral intervention program for conduct problem children with both behavioral and academic difficulties in elementary school was evaluated. Subjects were randomly assigned to treatment (n -16) and a "no-contact" control group (n -16). A standardized 20-hour treatment program involving the child, his parents, and his teacher was provided by PhD clinical psychologists. Both observational recordings and teacher ratings of social and academic behavior demonstrated that significantly greater behavioral improvement had occurred for treated than for control children. However, at a 9-month follow-up, the control group had improved sufficiently that these differences in social behavior were no longer significant. Although no differences existed between treated and untreated children in achievement test performance or grades at termination, follow-up revealed that the treated subjects had significantly better achievement scores and grades 9 months after termination. Ratings of therapists by teachers and parents were uniformly positive, and there were no dropouts during the 3-4-month course of treatment.Recent reviews have unequivocally documented the efficacy of behavior modification procedures with a variety of child problems in the home (Patterson, 1969;Wahler, 1976) and classroom (O'Leary & O'Leary, 1976). The effects of such interventions are substantial and replicable, providing strong support for the efficacy of a behavioral approach to child treatment. However, the context of most behavioral treatment investigations may have contributed substantially to the positive outcomes reported. In general, the effects of specific behavioral intervention

Marital discord and children: Problems, strategies, methodologies, and results

“…Ron Kent, Lisa Serbin, I, and a number of others who were therapists on the project showed that behavioral interventions with aggressive second-, third-, and fourth-grade boys were effective (Kent andOLeary, 1976, 1977). Further, we showed some maintenance of behavior nine months after the intervention and after there was no longer any contact with the therapist.…”

Cognitive Training Interventions in Children: Review of a New Approach

“…The reported maintenance of on-task behavior at a five-month follow-up, though equally dramatic, is less convincing. Kent and O'Leary (1976) reported substantial behavioral improvement in an untreated group of children with conduct problems over a nine-month period. This documented improvement in the behavior of disruptive children over time illustrates the need for using untreated control groups when assessing maintenance effects.…”

Pills or Skills for Hyperactive Children

“…There is a critical need for replication and extensions of behavioral treatments for periods of at least 6 to 12 months so that we can decide if such programs can effect academic changes on standardized achievement tests. However, given that daily and weekly assignment-completion have increased with behavioral programs for hyperactive children, given that improvements on standardized achievement tests have occurred with self-instructional training, and given that we have found changes on standardized tests with children labeled Conduct Disorder (Kent & O'Leary, 1976), it seems very likely that a behavioral treatment program for hyperactive children could lead to long-range academic and social changes. Pills or Skills: Is It an Either-Or Question? In the last few years, it has become apparent that psychostimulant treatment is not a cure for hyperactivity (Conners, Denhoff, Millichap, & S. G. O'Leary, 1978).…”

“…Furthermore, psychostimulant treatment has physical side effects such as increased heart and blood pressure rates and, in some instances-though clearly not all -it appears that growth rates have been suppressed (Roche, Lipman, Overall, & Hung, in press;Safer, Allen, & Barr, 1972;Weiss et al, 1975 Behavior therapy has shown salutary changes on both academic and social behavior in studies of 1 to 4 months, but no long-term treatment studies have been conducted with hyperactive children. However, based on the longterm treatment research with conduct problem children (Kent & O'Leary, 1976), the successful transfer of hyperactive children from pharmacological to behavioral treatment (S. G. O'Leary & Pelham, 1978), the academic gains with hyperactive children in behavioral programs (Ayllon et al, 1975;Douglas et al, 1976), there is ample reason to be optimistic about the viability of a behavioral approach. This optimism must be tempered by the fact that Kent and O'Leary did not work with children specifically diagnosed as hyperactive, although as noted earlier, the overlap between hyperactivity and conduct problems/aggression is very great.…”