ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines fundamental steps in the Parent Education Program (PEP) intervention and assessment process. Changing dysfunctional interactions between parents and their children should be the highest priority in family mental health. Using information from telephone contact, paper and pencil checklists, and the clinical interview, parents specify troublesome behaviors or those needing improvement. Major Child management techniques discussed with the parents are differential attention, shaping, time out, and overcorrection. Decisions regarding the selection of target behavior for home intervention are based on baseline data. Termination for PEP families occurs when they have achieved stable behavior changes for three weeks, and when children have been removed from the home point system. The observer's data, compared before and after treatment, demonstrates whether or not it reflects behavioral changes similar to those found in the parent-recorded data. Points for positive behavior at school were also added to the home point-system.
