Benefits may include:

✚ Improvements in cognition, language and communication, social skills, play skills, and adaptive functioning;

✚ Improved management of child problem behaviors, for example, generalization of parenting strategies across situations, settings, and over time;

✚ Decreases in child problem behaviors;

✚ Improved and effective caregiver coping skills;

✚ Improved teaching skills; and,

✚ Overall improvements in family well-being and cohesion.

Possible negative side effects:

✚ Recommended parent-implemented strategies may temporarily increase child problem behaviors, and undesirable emotional side effects (e.g., child tantrums). If implementation is consistent, side effects dissipate as new/replacement behaviors are learned.

✚ Typically, behavior change is not immediate. Recommended strategies require data-informed, fine-tuning across settings, persons, and situations. As your child develops and/or new circumstances occur, changes may not maintain, or may reoccur over time.

✚ Caregivers may find implementing new strategies, “waiting” for behavior change, managing side effects, and dealing with new behavior problems stressful.

✚ Many caregivers experience feelings such as frustration, anxiety, anger, guilt, helplessness, hopelessness, and defeat when their implementation does not result in steady and stable progress in short time. Sharing these feelings is key to addressing family coping skills. Recommending strategies to reduce family stress is a critical component of consultation sessions.

✚ Data collection may be inconvenient, frustrating, and feel intrusive for families.

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