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Developing Procedures to Improve Therapist–Child Rapport in Early Intervention

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Abstract

Rapport is a primary component in the development of a therapeutic relationship between health-service professionals and clients. Presession pairing is a procedure often recommended in behavior analytic practice to build rapport with clients. However, many service providers may not exhibit presession pairing skills correctly or at a sufficient rate. The current study aimed to operationally define therapist behaviors that are indicative of presession pairing and to train direct care staff to implement said skills.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Saint Louis University, 3550 Lindell Boulevard, St Louis, MO, 63103, USA

    Ashley M. Lugo

  2. Southeast Missouri State University, University Autism Center; 611 N Fountain St, Cape Girardeau, MO, 63701, USA

    Melissa L. King

  3. Little Leaves Behavioral Services, 9545 Georgia Ave, Silver Spring, MD, 20910, USA

    John C. Lamphere

  4. University of Nebraska Medical Center, Munroe-Meyer Institute, 985450 Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, 68198-5450, USA

    Paige E. McArdle

Authors
  1. Ashley M. Lugo
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  2. Melissa L. King
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  3. John C. Lamphere
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  4. Paige E. McArdle
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ashley M. Lugo.

Ethics declarations

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Conflict of Interest

All authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Implications for Practice

• Behavior analytic resources referencing rapport building as a treatment component have little empirical support.

• Literature on rapport building and a rationale for its use in early intervention are reviewed.

• Technological descriptions of presession pairing skills and methods to measure presession pairing are introduced as a resource for practitioners in early intervention.

• Behavioral skills training and performance feedback are effective methods to teach staff presession pairing skills.

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Lugo, A.M., King, M.L., Lamphere, J.C. et al. Developing Procedures to Improve Therapist–Child Rapport in Early Intervention. Behav Analysis Practice 10, 395–401 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40617-016-0165-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40617-016-0165-5

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