Errorless compliance training with physically abusive mothers: a single-case approach

"Errorless compliance training" is a recently developed, success-based approach for teaching children to comply with parental requests without the use of coercive consequences. Two mothers were trained to use this intervention to reduce severe child defiance that was precipitating mother/child confrontations and physical abuse.

To determine probability of child compliance to specific requests, we observed mothers delivering requests to their child. We then developed a hierarchy of compliance probabilities for each child. Mothers were trained to deliver a high density of Level 1 requests (those that typically yielded compliance), and provide praise for child compliance. Lower probability request levels were introduced gradually, at a slow enough pace to preclude noncompliant responses, reducing the need for mothers to respond aversively to child behavior.

At treatment completion and follow-up, both children demonstrated substantial improvements in compliance.

The errorless approach may be well suited to managing parenting deficits and child opposition commonly associated with family violence.