Interruption Behavior Research Articles

Modification of a mother's verbal abuse

In this study an abusive parent was instructed in techniques of behavior modification. It was hypothesized that the parent-child interactions would improve as the mother, Mrs. X, began modifying her daughter Jan's behavior. An A-B - A-B reversal design was implemented. Baseline data was collected to determine the frequency with which Jan interrupted Mrs. X. During the treatment phase, Mrs. X was to ignore Jan's interruptions and positively reinforce Jan when she spoke to Mrs. X without interrupting. However, Mrs. X did not apply the treatment consistently and the frequency of Jan's interruptions did not change significantly. Thus a return to baseline and reimplementation of the treatment was not necessary. In order to ascertain whether the parent-child interactions chanqed, two thirty-minute tapes of the baseline sessions were made and two thirty-minute tapes of the treatment sessions were made. The tapes were transcribed and assessed according to the Kasprin-Burrelli, Egolf, and Shames Parent-Child Interaction Scale (Kasprin-Burrelli, et al., 1972). The quality of the parent-child interactions, as measured by the Kasprin-Burrelli, et al., Parent-Child Interaction Scale, improved throughout the study. Thus, it is impossible to state that the treatment was responsible for the improvement. It is hypothesized that the presence of the examiner resulted in the improvement. Mrs. X is a college-educated woman and appears to need adult stimulation. When Mrs. X's need for adult stimulation was met, then her interactions with Jan improved. Thus, although Mrs. X did not modify Jan's interruption behavior, her interactions with Jan did improve throughout the experiment.

Parent-child interactions as the therapy target

This report concerns some immediate and long-term results of an experimental language therapy program for a severely retarded Hindu child and her parents. The treatment target was the parent-child interactions. Immediate results show changes in the desired direction in these interactions, with some of these changes being documented over 3 months. Immediate improvement was seen in nonverbal child behaviors such as positively responding to parents and engaging in independent play. Parents viewed the child as more competent. They were able to support independent play and reduce their physical contact and interruptive behavior. Improvement in the child's verbal behavior was reported in follow-ups at 3 months and again at 1 year. It is argued that the parent-child interaction constitutes the child's language environment, and that it is the quality of this environment that will most affect the verbal behavior of the slowly developing child.

Speech interruption behavior during interviews.

Speech interruption behavior during interviews.