this parenting class curriculum indicates that parent satisfaction is extremely high.
The clinician's manual ("Helping the Noncompliant Child: A Clinician's Guide to Parent Training"; Forehand & McMahon, 1981) is available from Guilford Press, $33.50. A revised edition is scheduled for publication in late 2001. A videotape that portrays the intervention procedures employed in the clinic is available from Child Focus (385 Red Fox Run, Athens, GA 30605) for $29.95. The self-help book for parents ("Parenting the Strong-Willed Child"; Forehand & Long, 1996) is published by Contemporary Books ($14.95) and is available in bookstores. Originals of parent handouts are contained in the clinician's manual, and copying costs would be minimal. For more information on the parenting class curriculum you may contact Dr. Nicholas Long at (501) 320-1021

Training Costs for professionals are negotiated on an individual basis.                                              g
Adapted and modified from The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) in collaboration with the  Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service's Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP) has provided the results of the 1999 search for "best practice" family strengthening programs.  Additional information as  well as direct links to individual program websites can be found on the Strengthening America's Families site at :
www.strengtheningfamilies.org.

he "Helping the Noncompliant Child" parent training program by Forehand and McMahon was developed for mental health clinicians. The goals of this parent training program are the prevention of serious conduct problems in preschool and early elementary school-aged children and subsequent juvenile delinquency. Short-term and intermediate objectives include: a) disruption of coercive styles of parent-child interaction and establishment of positive, pro-social interaction patterns, b) improved parenting skills, c) increased child pro-social behaviors and decreased conduct problem behaviors. The program is designed for parents and their 3-8 year old children with noncompliance and/or other conduct problems. It has also been used with other high-risk populations of children and parents.

Sessions are typically conducted in clinics with individual families rather than in groups. Parents and children participate in weekly 60-90 minute sessions; average number of sessions is 10. The program consists of a series of parenting skills designed to help the parent break out of the coercive cycle of interaction with the child by increasing positive attention for appropriate child behavior, ignoring minor inappropriate behaviors, providing clear instructions to the child, and pro-

viding appropriate consequences for compliance (positive attention) and noncompliance (time out). Skills are taught using extensive demonstration, role-plays, and direct practice with the child in the training setting and at home. Progression from one skill to the next is based upon demonstrated proficiency.

Extensive research has demonstrated the effectiveness of this program in helping children and their parents. Short-term effectiveness and setting generalization from the clinic to the home have been demonstrated for both parent and child behaviors as well as parents' perceptions of their children. Child compliance and inappropriate behavior have been shown to improve to within the "normal" range by the end of training. Long-term follow-ups, some done 11-14 years after training support the effectiveness of the program. High parental satisfaction with the program has been documented.

Of special interest to parent educators is the fact that the skills taught in this very effective clinic-based approach are now available for parents to learn in other ways. First, a book was written for parents which offers a 5-week self-guided approach for them to learn the skills (Parenting the Strong-Willed Child by Rex Forehand and Nicholas Long, Contemporary Books, 1996). A 6-week parenting class format has also been recently developed. Piolt testing of