Faculty Articles

Parent as Coach: Enhancing Sports Participation and Social Behavior for ADHD-Diagnosed Children

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2005

Publication Title

Child and Family Behavior Therapy

Volume

27

Issue/Number

2

First Page

57

ISSN

0731-7107

Last Page

68

Abstract/Excerpt

Many children diagnosed with Attention-Deficit/Hyper-activity Disorder (ADHD) experience difficulties in social relations. While psychosocial approaches based on a combination of skills training and contingency management approaches do appear to improve social behavior, evidence that these benefits generalize and persist following training has been limited. We describe a social skills training program designed to help parents promote the display of appropriate social behavior and better athletic performance in sports settings. The program consists of standard psychological assessment, behavioral parent training, functional assessment, parent-mediated social and sports skills coaching, and generalization and maintenance programming. The goals of this intervention are to promote retention of the child in team sports and facilitate friendship acquisition. Training parents to coach their children effectively in sports-related social skills may prove useful in promoting the maintenance and generalization of skills as well as preventing some of the negative effects of social isolation that frequently accompany an ADHD diagnosis.

DOI

10.1300/J019v27n02_06

Peer Reviewed

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