Training parents as behavior modifiers: self-recording of contingent attention.
A cheap wrist counter lets parents instantly see and raise their own praise, and the child's good behavior can stick for months.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Waite et al. (1972) asked three moms to wear a small wrist counter. Each click recorded one time they praised or attended to their child's good behavior. The team never watched the parents. Moms counted on their own at home.
Kids had mixed diagnoses. The study ran in the families' homes. No staff visited during the counting phase.
What they found
Two of the three mothers quickly gave more attention to appropriate behavior. Their kids showed more prosocial acts. Gains lasted five months with no extra coaching.
The third mom saw little change. The paper does not say why.
How this fits with other research
Silverman et al. (1994) built a full parent-training class on this idea. They moved from simple wrist clicks to professional-level observation. All six parents reached mastery. The 1994 work shows the wrist-counter seed grew into a curriculum.
Bruder (1986) added more tools. Parents learned four teaching skills plus data sheets. Child correct responding rose for five of nine kids. The 1972 focus on attention became part of a bigger teaching package.
Sobsey et al. (1983) warned that most parent studies ignore follow-up. The 1972 five-month maintenance was rare for its time. Their review puts this study ahead of later work that forgot to check long-term use.
Why it matters
You can give a parent a $3 tally counter and a clear definition of 'good behavior.' In one evening they start tracking their own attention. Two-thirds of parents in this study got better without you in the room. Try it as a first step before longer parent-education courses.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Two mothers of deviant young children were instructed to count their episodes of attention to appropriate child behavior in their homes, using wrist counters. Attention and appropriate child behavior were defined before counting began. Independent observations of parent-child interactions showed that, for each mother-child pair, the percentage of maternal attention given following appropriate child behavior increased, as did the child's appropriate behavior. Removal of the counters did not produce a reversal of the behaviors; instead the increased level stabilized. One mother was then instructed to count her attention to inappropriate child behavior and to decrease it. This instruction had little effect on her attention, and her child's behavior did not change. When both parents were again instructed to count their episodes of attention to appropriate behavior, further improvements in both mothers, and in their children resulted. These results were obtained despite inaccurate parent self-recording. Follow-up observations made over the next five months showed these behavioral gains to be durable. A third parent and his child were unaffected by this training procedure. Thus, there are instances in which self-recording may function as an effective and economical parent-training technique for effecting improvements in child behavior.
Journal of applied behavior analysis, 1972 · doi:10.1901/jaba.1972.5-139