Longer eye contact improves ADHD children’s compliance with parents’ commands

Abstract

This study evaluated the effectiveness of eye contact in reducing ADHD children's problems with compliance. Seventy-six parents of ADHD boys between ages 5 and 10 were randomized into two treatment groups and a control group. Repeated-measures ANOVA revealed that, as hypothesized, eye contact was effective in reducing ADHD children's problems with non-compliance to their parents' commands. In addition, those parents who subsequently used a stare technique for 20 to 30 seconds following the command reported even greater reduction in problems with compliance. It is possible that the additional time following the command allows the child to process the situation and decide whether compliance or non-compliance is the better option. It is a parent that parent - training programs should consider the inclusion of this technique in their treatment paradigms.

Managing students with ADHD in out‐of‐class settings

“…While this procedure has been recommended for parents of children with ADHD, this study, along with another, smaller study (Kapalka 2002), provides initial evidence of the specific effectiveness of this technique with teachers. Moreover, the present findings are significant in that this procedure was found to be effective independently of other components of Barkley's behavior management This finding has important implications for teachers and school professionals (especially school psychologists and counselors).…”

“…Barkley's technique to address outof-home settings can easily be adopted to help teachers (and other school personnel) address the students' problems in out-of-class settings. Indeed, the findings of one small pilot study suggested that the use of Barkley's technique reduced the ADHD students' problems in out-of-class settings (Kapalka 2002). The current, exploratory study investigated the effectiveness of this technique with a larger, more diverse sample.…”

“…These sessions were administered by staff of a community mental health agency, including clinical social workers and Master's level professional counselors with at least 10 years of experience in working with children with ADHD and management problems. During the first session, the teachers received psycho-education about the causes of ADHD and available treatments, including a review of major principles of effective behavior management (for example, the importance of staying calm, minimizing distractions, and using immediate and frequent consequences) and the importance of maintaining eye contact during a command and immediately afterward (as described by Kapalka 2001a). The second session focused on the importance of avoiding repetition loops (Kapalka 2001b(Kapalka , 2003a.…”

“…During the first session, the teachers received psycho-education about the causes of ADHD and available treatments, including a review of major principles of effective behavior management (for example, the importance of staying calm, minimizing distractions, and using immediate and frequent consequences) and the importance of maintaining eye contact during a command and immediately afterward (as described by Kapalka 2001a). The second session focused on the importance of avoiding repetition loops (Kapalka 2001b(Kapalka , 2003a. The third and fourth sessions focused on establishing a behavioral contract with students and addressing problems during transitions.…”

“…Barkley recommends that, if necessary, a command should only be repeated once, followed by a warning (stated only once) and then a consequence. Studies by Kapalka (2001bKapalka ( , 2003a have indeed revealed that this technique is useful to teachers -when teachers reduce repetitions while issuing commands to ADHD students, the non-compliance decreases.…”