If you’re interested in a model for how to change children’s behavior in a home-like setting, there are several that have strong evidentiary bases. One of these is the the Teaching Family Project, affiliated with folks at the University of Kansas. Under the title “Family-Like Environment Better for Troubled Children and Teens,” the American Psychological Association has an appropriately lauditory review of it.
The Teaching-Family Model is one of the few evidence-based residential treatment programs for troubled children. In the past, many treatment programs viewed delinquency as an illness, and therefore placed children in institutions for medical treatment. The Teaching-Family Model, in contrast, views children’s behavior problems as stemming from their lack of essential interpersonal relationships and skills. Accordingly, the Teaching-Family Model provides children with these relationships and teaches them these skills, using empirically validated methods.
In 1970 Pat and I served as house parents for four children who had, until then, been residents of a state hospital for children with emotional, behavioral, and intellectual disabilities. I read about and admired the work of the Teaching Family folks and then later, while in graduate school, watched over his shoulder as Dick Jones helped conduct an external evaluation of the T-F model. Now, I’m glad to see that the model’s still going strongly.
Link to the APA article.
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