Conduct disorder affects children and adolescents, so it is
important to focus on the particular age of a child when searching for
treatment options. Many teachers and psychologists agree that in order for treatment
to be successful, for both children and adolescents, the child’s family needs
to be closely involved in the process. By having parents involved in the
treatment, they can learn different techniques and strategies to use with their
child to help manage the problem behavior. It has been stated multiple times in
different research articles that the parents actually need some sort of
treatment themselves because they too have been suffering from the disorder and
the chaos it creates amongst a family. Treatment options can be either
medication, therapy, or both. The most successful form of treatment is when
medication is combined with therapy, known as cognitive behavioral therapy. The
medication and type of therapy vary depending on the severity of the disorder
as well as what other underlying disorder a child may have such as ADHD or
depression. Another form of treatment that I came across was Parent Management Training
(PMT). PMT is a source of treatment that actually has the parents BE the
treatment. The parents are trained to modify their children’s behavior in the
home based on what type of symptoms or aggressive tendencies the child has. PMT
concentrates on reinforcement and stays far away from negative reinforcement
which is said to “offset the stimulus contingent upon the emission nor omission
of the target response” and the negative reinforcement suggested in this
statement are ineffective strategies such as nagging, yelling, or requiring adverse
behavior until a child’s behavior improves. The following power point covers
the broad topic of PMT and there is a vast amount of valuable information included
http://www.fordham.edu/images/undergraduate/psychology/all%20overheads/tryon/First%20Year/spring%20cts/Psychosocial%20Treatments%20for%20Conduct%20Disorder-PDF.pdf
PMT is becoming more popular amongst teachers and therapists
because of the proven effectiveness it has on children with conduct disorder. I
found out that many school districts have had webinars and meetings about PMT
and how to relay this information to parents. There is a hotline number parents
and teachers can call 1 (877) 457-5123 and there are
even classes being offered to teachers covering the topic:
I find it very interesting that the parents of children with conduct disorder often have the disorder themselves. I'm assuming that because the parents have the disorder, this was most likely the cause of their child having it as well, as a result of living in a chaotic home caused by their parent's disorder? Very interesting...
ReplyDeleteI had never heard of PMT before. I like the idea of having families involved in their child's treatment, especially since they are with the child the majority of the time and in a variety of contexts. I see that it is a form of treatment that is based on reinforcement - specifically positive reinforcement. Is PMT designed to be used as an alternative to drug therapy, or can it be used along with prescribed medications?
Think about parent conferences if the parent has similar issues.
ReplyDeleteHi Sarah! I'm sorry if my post was a little confusing or worded wrong, but the parents don't often have the disorder themselves, but they often times need some sort of treatment because of their child's behavioral problems. The treatment would most likely be a form of therapy so that they can learn how to cope with their child's problems. Conduct disorder can create an enormous amount of stress, fatigue, and other physical/emotional problems, but these wouldn't need to be treated with medication unless it turned into something more severe such as depression or OCD. PMT could be used with prescribed medications, however the two aren't necessarily related to each other because the parents don't need medication unless they are suffering from a disorder themselves. Also, conduct disorder typically is only used to describe behavioral issues in children and adolescents, so I don't think the parents could be diagnosed with conduct disorder - at least I haven't read anything about that yet. If I find out otherwise
ReplyDeleteI will let you know! Have a :) day!
Thanks for clearing that up for me Megan! I'm not familiar with conduct and behavioral disorders, so I'm learning a lot from your blog!
ReplyDelete