Orientação de pais e seu efeito sobre os comportamentos sociais dos filhos.

Abstract

The present study came out of the premise that Parent Orientation has an effect on inadequate social behaviors of their children. Several researches have confirmed the efficient use of the Applied Analysis of the Behavior in the modification of parents’ behavior to change the behavior of their children. In the period of childhood, parental practices that are poor in terms of discipline and monitoring of children propitiate the initial conditions to the development of problem behaviors. The goal of the present study was to use Parent Orientation to change parental practice, teaching them how to reduce inadequate social behaviors. A Multiple Baseline Design between Subjects was used to demonstrate the efficacy of the procedures used. The meetings with the parents of each child happened for 1 hour once a week and emphasized the need of the use of positive reinforcers contingent on appropriate behaviors and the use of non-coercive strategies in relation to their children’s discipline. Teaching materials with texts and pictures were used during the orientation meetings with parents. It could be observed that the adequate parental practice led to alterations in the frequency of inadequate behaviors observed in the home environment, demonstrating the influence of the orientation given to the mothers in the frequency of the children’s behavior. Observations of the children’s inappropriate social behavior were conducted also in the classroom of the school they attended. These observations were carried out during 4 days before and 4 days after the intervention and it was found that their frequency remained about the same, showing that there was no generalization of the effects observed in the home environment. Future studies should program for generalization.