Best Benefits of Behavior Therapy!

Let us answer this question in some detail.

Techniques used in Behavior Therapy

Behavior therapy is like an overarching term for various specialized therapies and techniques. Some of them, especially used with children, are –

Cognitive behavioral play therapy – Therapist watch children play in this technique and gain insight regarding what the child is not expressing otherwise. Children are asked to draw a picture or play with dolls or other toys. In this therapy, even parents are taught how to use play as a mean to ameliorate interaction with their child.
Modeling – The therapist here promotes imitation in the child by demonstrating a non-fearful response to a crisis or a negative situation and when the child imitates the same, the anxiety he/she may be experiencing is reduced.
Behavioral rehearsal – Similar to modeling, this technique consists of rehearsing a desired behavior until it is how the child or the parent of the child wishes.

Systematic desensitization – This technique is often used to manage phobias. It involves firstly teaching the child/adolescent relaxation exercises and then, the therapist teaches them to replace the anxious/fear response with a relaxed response. This is done by exposing the child gradually to their fear, starting from low-anxiety producing items. Whenever the anxiety mounts, the child is helped to relax using the exercises taught. Like this, the exposure of fear is heightened and the same procedure of relaxation follows.
ABC Functional analysis – This technique can be used to collect information about what is going on in the child’s environment and how the child is getting affected by it. The “A” stands for ‘Antecedent’ i.e. the event that occurred just before the problematic behaviour. The “B” stands for observed behaviour and the “C” refers to the consequence of that behaviour. This type of analysis will give the therapist more insight into the triggers for problematic behaviour for the child and the reason behind it.
Contingency contracts – There is formal written contract where behaviors that are expected or that are to be changed or discontinued are spelled out and also, when and what rewards or penalties shall be given is mentioned clearly. It has been proved to be very effective.
Token economy – In this strategy, child are given tokens for every desired behavior. These token can be exchanged to get special privileges in return like extra play/TV time or receiving one’s favourite toy/food item, etc. Kids can even lose the tokens for a maladaptive behavior.
Time-out – Here the client is separated from the opportunity to receive a positive reinforcement. Like when the child gets hyperactive in a play set-up, he or she is removed from that setting and made to sit still with no reinforcement. This helps discontinue the unwanted behavior of yelling or running by taking away the reward.

Classroom, Parent and Peer training –The teachers, parents and peers of the child concerned participate in promoting the child’s desired behaviors and replace the negative ones. Rewards like praises, positive attention, etc. are provided for good behavior.

A mini case

Mother helping the child with Behavior Therapy

Kiara, an 8-year-old girl, was diagnosed with borderline (mild) ADHD when she was 6 years old. Her course of treatment included therapy and also teacher and parent interventions.

During the parental training, the therapist taught various behavioral therapy techniques to her mother in order to manage and regulate Kiara’s maladaptive and problematic behaviours. Kiara’s mother, now being better at managing Kiara’s symptoms, used the method of token economy quite a lot with her.

Whenever Kiara used to have difficulty in completing her homework due to her low attention span, her mother used to encourage homework completion using a reward plan. This plan included earning one star each day for homework that is completed.

Parents and Children Participating in Behavior therapy

When the reward plan whiteboard hung in the living room had five stars, it can be traded for a desired privilege like seeing a movie, playing outside, earning a new toy, getting favourite food for meal, etc.

Kiara, at first, did her homework for earning the rewards, but over time, the task of homework completion itself became easier for her. In this way, behavior therapy was beneficial for her.

To sum up the case:

NAME & AGE	Kiara, 8 years old.
DIAGNOSES	Borderline Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
COURSE OF TREATMENT	Therapeutic interventions including teacher and parental training. Mainly behaviour therapy.
STRATEGIES	Token Economy
PROBLEMATIC BEHAVIOUR	Difficulty in homework completion
WHAT WAS DONE?	Stars were given for every time homework was completed. After, she collected 5 stars, she would receive a desired privilege or item.
RESULTS	Kiara started completing her homework for the rewards. Later, this task of completing the homework was no longer difficult for her.