Deliberate Practice in Behavioral Parent Training

Deliberate practice exercises provide trainees and students an opportunity to build competence in essential behavioral parent training skills while developing their own personal therapeutic style.

These exercises present role-playing scenarios in which two trainees act as a client and a clinician, switching back and forth under the guidance of a supervisor. The clinician improvises appropriate and authentic responses to client statements organized into three difficulty levels―beginner, intermediate, and advanced―that reflect common client questions and concerns.

Trainees will learn how to collaborate with parents to help them build positive relationships with their children as a foundation for creating behavioral change. They will learn how to teach parenting skills like praise to encourage positive behaviors, planned ignoring, establishing consequences that are respectful and developmentally appropriate, and strategies for parents to manage their own strong emotions.

Step-by-step instructions guide participants through the exercises, identify criteria for mastering each skill, and explain how to monitor and adjust difficulty. Guidelines to help trainers and trainees get the most out of training are also provided.

Mark D. Terjesen, PhD, is professor of psychology at St. John’s University in Queens, NY, where he also serves as director of clinical training and program director of the school psychology PsyD program. He has studied, published, presented, and trained internationally in assessment and clinical work with children, adolescents, and families. Dr. Terjesen is the coeditor of the Handbook of Behavioral Parent Training. He was president for multiple organizations, including the School Division and the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Division of the New York State Psychological Association and Division 52 (the Society for Global Psychology) of the American Psychological Association.

Hilary B. Vidair, PhD, is associate professor of psychology and former director in the Clinical Psychology Doctoral Program at Long Island University Post. For over 15 years, she has trained and supervised doctoral students in cognitive behavioral therapy and behavioral parent training. Dr. Vidair has published and presented on evidence-based treatments for children and adolescents, behavioral parent training, and methods for training students in clinical work and research. She authored the book Navigating Research Projects in an Applied Graduate Program. She also serves as the director of program development at Cognitive Behavioral Associates in Great Neck, New York.

Phyllis S. Ohr, PhD, is associate professor of psychology at Hofstra University in Long Island, NY, where she serves as assistant director of clinical training for the clinical psychology PhD program. She is also clinical director of the Child and Parent Psychological Services Clinic, a training and research program. She is a certified trainer of parent–child interaction therapy and, with her mentees, has published and presented yearly at conferences on parent–child relationships, selective mutism and social anxiety, and treating disordered eating in young children. In 2010, she received the American Psychological Association’s student-nominated mentorship award.

Olivia A. Walsh, PsyD, is postdoctoral fellow at North Coast Psychological Services. She provides therapy and assessments for children, adolescents, and young adults in private practice and schools. Dr. Walsh’s research focuses on deliberate practice in behavioral parent training (BPT). She has presented at national conferences on cognitive behavioral therapy, BPT, and deliberate practice. Dr. Walsh has also served as an adjunct instructor at St. John’s University, teaching undergraduate psychology courses. In recognition of her contributions to the field, she received the Ted Bernstein Award from the New York Association of School Psychologists in 2022.

Tony Rousmaniere, PsyD, is cofounder and program director of Sentio University and the Sentio Counseling Center. He provides workshops, webinars, and advanced clinical training and supervision to clinicians around the world. Dr. Rousmaniere is the author/coeditor of many books on deliberate practice and psychotherapy training. In 2017, he published the widely cited article in The Atlantic Monthly, “What Your Therapist Doesn’t Know.” Dr. Rousmaniere supports the open-data movement and publishes his aggregated, deidentified clinical outcome data on his website (https://drtonyr.com/). Dr. Rousmaniere is past president of the American Psychological Association’s Division 29 (the Society for the Advancement of Psychotherapy).

Alexandre Vaz, PhD, is cofounder and chief academic officer of Sentio University and the Sentio Counseling Center. He provides workshops, webinars, and advanced clinical training and supervision to clinicians around the world. Dr. Vaz is the author/coeditor of over a dozen books on deliberate practice and psychotherapy training. He has held multiple committee roles for the Society for the Exploration of Psychotherapy Integration (SEPI) and the Society for Psychotherapy Research (SPR). Dr. Vaz is founder and host of Psychotherapy Expert Talks, an acclaimed interview series with distinguished psychotherapists and therapy researchers.