Defiant Teens: A Clinician's Manual for Assessment and Family Intervention (First Edition)

Second Edition
This authoritative manual presents an 18-step program designed both to teach parents the skills they need to manage difficult adolescent behavior and to improve family relationships overall. The first nine steps of the program modify the approach presented in Russell A. Barkley's Defiant Children, Second Edition, to focus on developmental concerns of adolescence. The authors delineate clear procedures for assessing defiance in teens and working with parents, alone or in groups, to reverse problem behavior. Steps 10 through 18 are conducted with parents and teenagers together, utilizing a proven family therapy model developed by Arthur L. Robin and Sharon Foster. Clinicians are shown how to help all family members learn to negotiate, communicate, and problem-solve more effectively, while facilitating adolescents' individuation and autonomy. The manual's utility is greatly enhanced by ready-to-photocopy forms that enable clinicians to gauge the nature, diversity, and severity of parent adolescent conflicts; assess for oppositional defiant disorder (ODD); and evaluate parental psychological adjustment. Also included are reproducible handouts for families that reinforce crucial ideas and skills imparted in-session.

Reviews

"Barkley, Edwards, and Robin provide an extremely practical and practitioner-friendly guide for working with teens who are noncompliant and defiant toward their parents. Importantly, the intervention manual synthesizes best practices that are developmentally sound and empirically based. Though not intended for 'deep-end' clinical cases and families, the guidelines presented in this manual are highly applicable for clinicians working with families in private, public, and managed care settings."
-Scott W. Henggeler, PhD

Contents

Introduction

1. Prerequisite Information for Using the Program
   1. The Rationale for the Program
   2. Clinical Assessment of Defiant Adolescents
   3. An Overview of the Family Training Program
2. Session Instructions
Step 1: Discussion of ADHD and ODD
Step 2: Principles of Behavior Management
Step 3: Developing Positive Attention
Step 4: Developing Parental Attending Skills
Step 5: Establishing a Behavioral Contract
Step 6: Use of Response Cost
Step 7: Completion of Contracts/Point System
Step 8: Grounding
Step 9: School Advocacy
Step 10: Introduction to Problem-Solving Communication Training
Step 11: Practicing Problem Solving
Step 12: Practicing Problem Solving, Continued
Step 13: Introduction to Communication Skills
Step 14: Practicing Communication Skills
Step 15: Dealing with Unreasonable Beliefs and Expectations
Step 16: Practicing Problem-Solving and Communication Skills: Catching Unreasonable Beliefs
Step 17: More Family Practice
Step 18: Concluding Treatment

3. Assessment Materials
General Instruction Sheet (Form 1)
Child and Family Information Form (Form 2)
Developmental and Medical History Form (Form 3)
Disruptive Behavior Disorders Rating Scale--Parent Form (Form 4)
Disruptive Behavior Disorders Rating Scale--Teacher Form (Form 5)
Clinical Interview--Parent Report Form (Form 6)
Adult Behavior Rating Scale--Self-Report of Current Behavior (Form 7)
Adult Behavior Rating Scale--Self-Report of Childhood Behavior (Form 8)
Issues Checklist (Form 9)

4. Family Handouts for Steps 1-18