Success Story from Marcia
(UNC-Social Work Intern)
on the family she just closed who was served by our program:
After trying multiple other programs, classes, and parenting books, Ms. R contacted the Family Support Program seeking help. She desperately wanted assistance with managing her five year old son's behavior. She felt like despite her best efforts, her son was defiant and constantly destroying the house. She was overwhelmed by having to pay constant attention to him so he would not climb on the kitchen counters, break household items, or harm the family dogs. He was also struggling in preschool and had been hitting teachers when he didn't get his way. Ms. R felt that her son's behavior seemed to change daily with little warning.
After working with the family for several months, we achieved drastic improvements in her son's behavior. Then, as we were nearing the end of the program, Ms. R began experiencing a great deal of stress in her life, both with her work and her extended family, and had to cancel several sessions. Her son's behavior quickly escalated back to the levels it had reached prior to beginning our work together. Ms. R was at her wit's end and ready to give up on the program as one more thing she had tried that just would not work, but agreed to meet for another session. She sent me an email summarizing all of the problems she had been having, which concluded with "still drowning in more ways than one".
At our next session, we discussed the amazing progress we had seen previously in her son's behavior as a result of her using positive attention, ignoring, and time-out so effectively, as well as other aspects of their lives that may be affecting his behavior. She recognized the dramatic differences in his behavior based on her use of the skills and the stress in her life. We reviewed the PCIT skills, and she began using them for all of her son's behavior issues.
A few days later I received another email from Ms. R:
"Thursday we began full steam ahead. It was an AWFUL morning that included FOUR time outs. But, the report from school that day was an AWESOME one. And he was SO pleasant to be with last night! VERY LITTLE arguing, VERY anxious to please, and LOTS of ASKING before DOING. I know it's only been a little over 24 hours, but…WOO HOO!!! I am SO THRILLED that I can finally do ALL of the techniques in their proper order and in their completeness!
"It is SO MUCH more FUN, less stressful, and ENJOYABLE to be around him when he's like this! It makes me so much more HAPPY to allow him to do things, or more happy to help him with others or just want to do things WITH him. I REALLY hope things continue like this, but this morning was a pretty good indicator that it just might… only one time out. And although I had to do that, he still was VERY pleasant to be around and not nearly as argumentative… I am making extra sure I'm finding things to praise him on when he is being compliant."
While her son's behavior continues to cycle through more difficult periods, Ms. R feels confident in her abilities to manage his behavior while remaining calm and in control. She is proud of her accomplishments as a parent, and truly enjoys the time she spends together with her son.