Caregiver Training: Increasing Generalization of Parenting Skills Through Teaching Caregivers to Recognize Child Behavior

Previous research has demonstrated the efficacy of a behavioral parent training program for increasing the accuracy of trained skills; however, few studies have examined the extent to which those skills generalize to the natural environment (i.e., the home) and are used with the target individual (i.e., the child). In addition, little is known about the direct effect that caregiver implementation of the skills has on child behavior. A multiple baseline across participants design was used to (a) assess caregiver accuracy with implementation of three parenting skills, and (b) assess subsequent effects of the parenting skills on child behavior. Results demonstrated that three caregiver participants successfully generalized parenting skills taught during behavioral skills training (BST) to naturally occurring routines by recognizing appropriate and inappropriate child behaviors as opportunities to implement the trained skills. In addition, the behavior of each caregiver\u27s child improved following BST, suggesting that the parenting skills were effective in addressing challenging child behavior. All caregivers rated the training and skills to be highly socially valid. Limitations and suggestions for future research are discussed