Behavioural and emotional disorders in childhood: A brief overview for paediatricians

Table 5 Summary of common behavioural modification strategies for management of childhood emotional and behavioural disorder

Method	Description	Ref.
ABA	Uses principles of learning theory to bring about meaningful and positive change in behaviour, to help individuals build a variety of skills (e.g., communication, social skills, self-control, and self-monitoring) and help generalize these skills to other situations	[122,123]
Discrete trial training	A one-to-one instructional approach based on ABA to teach skills in small, incremental steps in a systematic, controlled fashion, documenting stepwise clearly identified antecedent and consequence (e.g., reinforcement in the form of praise or tangible rewards) for desired behaviours	[40]
Functional communication training	Combines ABA procedures with communicative functions of maladaptive behaviour to teach alternative responses and eliminate problem behaviours	[124]
Pivotal response treatment	A play-based, child-initiated behavioural treatment, designed to teach language, decrease disruptive behaviours, and increase social, communication and academic skills, building on a child’s initiative and interests	[125]
Positive behaviour support	Uses ABA principles with person-centred values to foster skills that replace challenging behaviours with positive reinforcement of appropriate words and actions. PBS can be used to support children and adults with autism and problem behaviours	[126]
Self-management	Uses interventions to help individuals learn to independently regulate, monitor and record their behaviours in a variety of contexts, and reward themselves for using appropriate behaviours. It’s been found effective for ADHD and ASD children	[127]
Time delay	It gradually decreases the use of prompts during instruction over time. It can be used with individuals regardless of cognitive level or expressive communication abilities	[40]
Incidental teaching	Utilizes naturally occurring teaching opportunities to reinforce desirable communication behaviour	[128]
Anger management	Various strategies can be used to teach children how to recognise the signs of their growing frustration and learn a range of coping skills designed to defuse their anger and aggressive behaviour, teach them alternative ways to express anger, including relaxation techniques and stress management skills

ABA: Applied behaviour analysis; ADHD: Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder; ASD: Autistic spectrum disorder.