Progressing through the Discipline Program

Abstract

Helping families progress from the first discipline coaching session to the end of the treatment program involves the successive mastery of steps. On average, each of the discipline steps in Table 7-1 takes a week to master, and in two-parent families, approximately half of each session is devoted to coaching each of the parents. Some families progress faster than average while others require additional time. Both child and parental factors contribute to the amount of time needed for each step. For example, extremely defiant children may need more than a week for minding exercises, while children who are very active and disorganized may require extra work on house rules (i. e., rules for disruptive behavior). Parents who do not do their homework or who are inconsistent regarding the program will require additional sessions to master the steps. Other parental factors influencing the pace of the program include intelligence and their own parental role models. Parents with intellectual limitations and those who were raised by inconsistent, negativistic, or abusive parents tend to have more difficulty assimilating the skills. Thus, whereas most families spend a week on each of the discipline steps, this time line is reduced or extended to fit the needs of particular families.