Parents as change agents in the management of their developmentally delayed children's noncompliant behaviors: a critical review.

The present paper reviews the behavioral parent training literature that has focused on reducing noncompliance with developmentally delayed children. Several factors are identified which may make parental attempts to reduce developmentally delayed children's noncompliance difficult. The 13 studies reviewed are separated into group and single case approaches, and each study was assessed on a number of methodological factors. The studies generally report success in modifying non-compliance; however, the variability in the experimental rigor of the reviewed studies preclude definitive conclusions from being made at this time about the efficacy of training parents to reduce noncompliance with delayed children. As examples, only a few studies have collected parental data and home observational data. Clinical and training considerations are also discussed, such as the need to identify parental and marital characteristics that may influence training success and identify which specific training techniques are most effective in teaching parents contingency management procedures. Finally, suggestions for training parents of delayed children are offered.