Informal Construction of Contingencies in Family-Based Interventions for Oppositional Defiant Behavior‪.‬

Clinical Behavior Analysis (CBA) and Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) are distinguished by target-population and technology. Two brief case-reports illustrate how CBA can be relevant for a problem-category that is typically associated with ABA, and to document the fluid borders between the two approaches. In both cases improved parental behavior was shaped and maintained through sources of reinforcement under control of the child in the family's natural environment. A concern with the pitfalls of instructional control and functional implications of interpersonal relations are highlighted as well as the reliance on naturalistic observation of the family and its interaction with the therapist (therapeutic relationship) during the sessions as a unit of analysis. Analog functional analysis guided the construction of treatment in the first case, while the parent's discussions with the therapist guided the second. Both therapies produced parental mediator behavior parallel to improvement of the child's target-behavior. In both cases changes in parental behavior and in child-behavior interlocked in the construction of new interpersonal contingencies at home. Key words: Clinical Behavior Analysis; Instructional Control; Naturalistic Environment; Interpersonal Contingencies.