Brief intervention therapy for behaviourally disturbed pre-school children.

A group of children with behavioural difficulties were treated using behavioural techniques and were compared with a group of control children. The treated children had various behavioural difficulties including poor concentration, sleep problems adn non-cooperation with parents. They were treated in the home for periods up to 7 weeks, after a 2-week baseline observation period. Of nine families that started the treatment, two did not cooperate and one improved spontaneously. Videotape recordings of the child at play were made lasting 15 minutes and immediately prior to the psychologist's visits. The matched control children were investigated similarly. The videotapes were analysed to assess attention span, mother-child verbal interaction and cooperation. There was consideration improvement in attention span as the treated children's behavior became similar to the control children in four to five visits. The improvements lasted over the 3- and 6-month follow-up period. It is concluded that brief intervention behavioural treatment has considerable potential and is reasonably economical in terms of staff time.