e., discriminative stimuli) and consequences—particularly positive and negative reinforcers—that may be maintaining the problem behavior. Relatively little emphasis is placed on gathering a full history in order to determine the origins of the

problem behavior. Questions the BHC may ask while identifying antecedents and discriminative stimuli may include: Can you describe for me the typical things that are happening right before the problem behavior occurs? Does the behavior occur in all contexts or only during certain times or places? Does it occur with all caregivers or only some caregivers? Have you noticed any patterns when the problem behavior happens? Are there times when the problem behavior does not happen, and what is different about those times? Questions the selleck chemicals BHC may ask to identify consequences include: Selleck Alpelisib What typically happens after the child does the problematic behavior? How do you typically respond when he or she behaves this way? What does he or she do after? What happens next? After the therapist has developed an initial functional analysis, sharing it with the parent can be helpful, particularly so the parent can correct any errors of assessment or provide additional

information regarding the event sequence. The final task for the BHC in the assessment phase involves inquiring about any previous attempts to address the problem behavior to this point. In our experience, many parents have only attempted one or two strategies, so this portion of the assessment typically does not last a great

deal of time. Chlormezanone In some cases, no attempts have yet been made because the parent is only beginning to notice a newly emerging problem behavior. Understanding prior strategies the parent has used to manage the problem can be helpful in two important ways. First, these strategies can inform the therapist about the parents’ beliefs about why the behavior problem is occurring or being maintained. For instance, parents who attend carefully to their child during tantrums—parents who, for example, say things such as, “Honey, what is wrong? Tell me so I can help you”—may believe their child tantrums because of an acute need and the parent must help identify and meet that need as quickly as possible. Second, by first suggesting modified versions of previously used strategies (i.e., strategies with which the parent is already familiar), rather than entirely new strategies, PMT interventions can be made more effective and efficient by already fitting into parents’ beliefs about the problem behavior and its management. It also suggests to parents that their strategies are indeed effective, with a few minor adjustments, thereby enhancing parental self-efficacy in delivering these strategies.