Parent-Implemented Behavioral Interventions for Challenging Behavior of Young Children with Developmental Disabilities: A Review of Effective Approaches

Abstract

Addressing challenging behavior in young children with special needs is an important issue. This study analyzed the results of literature on parent-implemented behavioral interventions designed to manage the challenging behavior of children with developmental disabilities under 8 years of age. Seventeen relevant studies published in peer-reviewed English journals during the last 15 years were selected for review. The literature review showed that adequately trained parents can serve as a competent intervention agent, thereby making significant contributions to mitigating children`s behavior problems. The reviewed studies also demonstrated that parents could play a variety of important roles such as informants and trainers in behavioral interventions. However, the conclusions on parent-implemented behavioral intervention may be tentative rather than conclusive due to previous research limitations including the lack of treatment integrity and social validity data. In addition, this review discussed several implications for practitioners, indicated the limitations of the reviewed studies, and presented suggestions for future research.