MMI docs’ book to help parents of noncompliant children

MMI psychology professors, Keith Allen, Ph.D., and Mark Shriver, Ph.D., co-authored the recently released book, “Working with Parents of Noncompliant Children: A Guide to Evidence-Based Parent Training for Practitioners and Students.” The book is being widely promoted by the American Psychological Association.

If you haven’t seen it on the hit TV show “Supernanny,” you’ve may have seen it in the supermarket: children who won’t comply with their parents. They back-talk, name-call or just won’t and don’t cooperate in general.

Refusals to go to bed, pick up their toys or do their homework are other common behaviors associated with noncompliance, said Mark Shriver, Ph.D., associate professor of psychology and pediatrics at UNMC’s Munroe-Meyer Institute, but become problematic when they happen too frequently, interfere with school work or lead to other issues such as aggression, tantrums and property destruction.

“Noncompliance or behavior problems happen when a child does not follow adult directions at least 70 percent of the time,” he said, “but it also depends on intensity.”

Such problems can best be solved by parents trained by practitioners, said MMI psychology and pediatrics professor, Keith Allen, Ph.D., since mom and dad are often the most influential people in a child’s life.

With a lack of comprehensive literature on parent training available to practitioners, Drs. Allen and Shriver decided to co-author a book, “Working with Parents of Noncompliant Children: A guide to evidence-based parent training for practitioners and students.” The 304-page book was released in May.

An expert comments “This book on parent training has many virtues, ranging from the high-quality writing and reasoning to the broad practicality of the principles and practices described. But the virtue that appealed to me most was that in addition to discussing empirically supported practices, it also discusses empirically supported principles, which leads to creatively expanding practices.” — Patrick C. Friman, Ph.D., clinical professor of pediatrics at UNMC and director of clinical services at Boys Town on “Working with Parents of Noncompliant Children.”

The book identifies what to teach parents by explaining the strategies and principles behind four major parent training programs: Parent Child Interaction Therapy, Helping the Noncompliant Child, The Incredible Years and Living with Children. It then tells of how to teach parents using instruction, modeling, practice and feedback.

“There is some major empirical support for training programs out there and we compare and contrast them in the book,” Dr. Shriver said. “The goal is to help practitioners narrow their focus without scouring the literature; we hope the book will do that for them by summing up 30 to 40 years of research into one source.”

“The programs are ‘how-to’s’ but our book is more of a ‘why-to’ book,” Dr. Allen added. “Professionals who understand the core principles of parent training programs — like negative reinforcement and stimulus control — are more effective in practice.”

He considers the book a “research-based guide for implementing programs and theories.”

More about “Supernanny” In each episode, Supernanny Jo Frost observes how parents handle day-to-day obstacles with their children and then works with the parents to instill her methods for transforming unwanted behavior. Her methods stress consistency, communication and reasonable consequences for bad behavior, all delivered with loving firmness.

“There is a lot of research done in a controlled environment,” he said. “We want to help take that research into practice because what you read in journals and what you see in practice don’t always match up.

“The book gives very specific examples for translating programs and principles into practice.”

The book is being widely promoted by the American Psychological Association. It is currently available in university bookstores and online at Amazon.com. Dr. Shriver would like to see it on the shelf of every practitioner in the nation.

“It is a hot topic right now, especially with shows like ‘Supernanny,'” he said. “It can be difficult to manage kids’ behavior and parents are looking for help.”