Purpose: Behavior disorders in early childhood are linked to a variety of negative outcomes for both children and families. Parent–Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT), an evidence-based parent-training program, demonstrates large effect sizes in reducing child problem behavior for dyads who complete treatment; however, a high number of families seeking treatment in community-based settings terminate from PCIT prior to meeting the protocol’s strict graduation criteria. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of PCIT on child behavior problems for families who received at least a small dose of PCIT but not enough to meet the strict mastery criteria required for graduation. Patients and methods: This study employed one of the largest community research samples conducted with PCIT (2,787 children and their families across the state of Oregon, 1,318 with usable data) to determine how PCIT impacts both graduates and early terminators. Results: While families who graduated from PCIT (17.7% of the sample) demonstrated a very large effect size in problem behavior intensity improvements (d=1.65), families who terminated treatment early, but after attending at least four treatment sessions (51.7% of the sample), still showed significant improvements in behavior problems with a medium-to-large effect size (d=0.70). In contrast, very early terminators (those attending fewer than four treatment sessions, 0.3% of the sample), demonstrated little improvement at the time of dropout from services (d=0.12). Conclusion: Though early terminators in PCIT have previously been identified as treatment failures, the present study discusses the reconceptualization of “dropouts” in relation to some positive evidence of treatment outcomes, the implications for community-based service delivery, and possible future directions.

Objective: To discuss issues relevant to treating young African American children with disruptive behavior disorders. Method: We treat behavior disorders, correlates of behavior disorders, and special differences between African American and Caucasian children that could lead to or explain behavior problems. Discussion: The majority of the information on young children diagnosed with disruptive behavior disorders has been obtained primarily from Caucasian children and families. Unfortunately, this reliance on Caucasian data neglects the unique needs of minorities and may lessen the quality of the services that they receive. Omission of ethnic concerns becomes even more salient with the increasing ethnic diversity among children and families in the United States. Conclusions: We suggest future research and clinical directions that will ultimately assist clinicians to provide high-quality mental health services to African American children.

Although there is a growing body of evidence that Parent–Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) is an efficacious treatment for disruptive behaviors among children with autism spectrum disorder, further study is warranted to determine its effectiveness for this clinical population. This study examined the effectiveness of PCIT on child disruptive behavior, child compliance, and parenting behaviors among a propensity-score matched sample of 22 children with and without an autism diagnosis in a private practice behavioral health clinic. A combination of parent report and behavioral coding was used to assess changes in treatment outcomes for both groups at pre-, mid-, and post-treatment. Repeated measures analyses of variance (ANOVAs) demonstrated significant and large improvements in child disruptive behavior and parenting skills for both groups over the course of treatment. A significant and large interaction effect was found in correct parent follow-through of a discipline sequence, such that parents of children without ASD had significantly greater improvement upon completion of PCIT than did parents of children with ASD. The current study expands upon the extant literature by demonstrating the effectiveness of PCIT for children with autism spectrum disorder in a private practice setting.