How We Support Parents

There is no doubting the tremendous impact parents have on their child’s development of cognitive, academic, social–emotional, and behavioral skills. One of our missions at Tampa Pediatric Psychology is to support new parents and families in their use of effective, positive parenting practices. Many of our clients come to us expressing anxiety and overwhelm around not feeling equipped to handle their child’s behavior challenges and effectively support their child’s development. We offer two of the most effective methods for supporting parents: parent education and parent management training.

Parent education programs promote the use of effective parenting strategies across all stages of development. Our programs focus on general parenting issues, such as managing tantrums and short attention span, and are geared towards parents who are interested in learning ways to support their child’s overall development and prevent problems from occurring.

Parent management training programs typically address specific concerns or behaviors that are interfering with optimal learning and development. At Tampa Pediatric Psychology in Florida, we offer several evidence-based programs including Parent-Child Interaction Therapy and Parent Management Training.

WHAT IS INVOLVED IN PARENT EDUCATION AND PARENT MANAGEMENT TRAINING?

We teach parents the core elements to effective parenting including (a) helping to understand what certain child behaviors mean, (b) how to use positive parenting strategies to teach, enhance, and shape prosocial behaviors, (c) how to set and manage consequences for behaviors, use limit setting, and provide corrective feedback in a healthy way, and (d) how to improve a child’s behavior at school and other settings. We provide all of our families with a proven framework to effectively manage difficult behavior problems.

Part 1

The first step to addressing behavior concerns is to identify one problematic behavior at a time such as non-compliance and develop a clear, attainable goal (what you want to see instead). We will then determine a clear way to track the behavior over time (e.g., keeping count of noncompliance from 4:00 p.m.–5:00 p.m.). We will also talk about the usefulness of tracking what happens before and after the problematic behavior

Part 2

We will talk about how to teach expectations, providing positive praise and attention for appropriate behavior, effectively use privileges and incentives for appropriate behavior, and how to minimize attention and access to preferred items for inappropriate behavior.

Part 3

After consistent and effective use of positive behavior support strategies, it is appropriate to consider adjusting consequences while introducing limit setting and opportunities for corrective feedback. For example, you may find it useful to create and teach a small number of positively stated house rules which can provide an opportunity to identify, acknowledge, and provide positive attention for following the house rules. When house rules are broken, you may choose a limit setting strategy that all adults in the home agree about and that can be implemented consistently. Consequences should be structured so attention for the misbehavior is minimized while corrective feedback is provided (e.g., “You did not follow my instruction to pick up your ball, so you are going to time out.”) and consequences are implemented immediately and consistently. In addition, actively ignoring minor misbehavior continues to be critical, while waiting for an opportunity to provide positive attention and access to preferred items and privileges.

Part 4

A significant part of our work with families is to generalize your child’s new skills to other behavior problems or settings (such as grocery stores, restaurants, and school) and to encourage your child to exhibit appropriate behavior in other relevant areas of their life. Effective parenting strategies should be linked with school behavior through consistent and meaningful communication among parents and teachers (we love using a daily report card). When families and schools work together, children experience how such collaboration supports consistency.