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Updated: Aug 7, 2026
Behavioral Assessment of Hearing in 2 to 4 Year-old Children: A Two-interval, Observer-based Procedure Using Conditioned Play-based Responses
Published on: January 23, 2017
Evaluation of family intervention through unobtrusive audio recordings: experiences in "bugging" children
S M Johnson1, A Christensen, G T Bellamy
1University of Oregon.
Insights
This study shows that a child-family intervention program effectively reduced problematic child and parent behaviors during parent-selected times. Home recordings confirmed significant improvements after the intervention.
Area of Science:
- Child Psychology
- Family Therapy
- Behavioral Science
Background:
- Assessing child and parent behaviors in naturalistic settings is crucial for intervention effectiveness.
- Distinguishing between spontaneous and problematic situations is key to understanding behavioral dynamics.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the impact of a child-family intervention program on specific child and parent behaviors.
- To compare behavioral changes recorded during parent-selected 'picked' times versus randomly scheduled 'random' times.
Main Methods:
- Five children in a child-family intervention program were monitored using home radio transmitters.
- Recordings were made at predetermined 'random' intervals and parent-selected 'picked' times (e.g., bedtime).
- Observed behaviors included child-deviant, parent-negative, and parent-commanding actions.
Main Results:
- Child-deviant, parent-negative, and parent-commanding behaviors were significantly higher at 'picked' times during pre-intervention compared to 'random' times.
- Post-intervention, these behaviors substantially decreased at 'picked' times but showed no significant change at 'random' times.
- Individual data indicated behavioral reductions in at least two categories for three out of five cases during 'random' time assessments.
Conclusions:
- The child-family intervention program demonstrated effectiveness in reducing problematic behaviors during specific, challenging situations identified by parents.
- Home-based behavioral recording, differentiating between situational contexts, provides valuable outcome data for family interventions.
- Intervention gains appear most pronounced in contexts targeted by parents, suggesting the program's relevance to daily family challenges.
Abstract:
Five children referred to a child-family intervention program wore a radio transmitter in the home during pre-intervention and termination assessments. The transmitter broadcast to a receiver-recording apparatus in the home (either activated by an interval timer at predetermined "random" times or by parents at predetermined "picked" times). "Picked" times were parent-selected situations during which problems typically occurred (e.g., bedtime). Parents activated the recorder regularly whether or not problems occurred. Child-deviant, parent-negative, and parent-commanding behaviors were significantly higher at the picked times during pretest than at random times. At posttest, behaviors in all three classes were substantially reduced at picked times, but not at random times. For individual subject data, reductions occurred in at least two of the three dependent variables for three of the five cases during random time assessments. In general, the behavioral outcome data corresponded to parent-attitude reports and parent-collected observation data.
