What is the importance of Cognitive Behavioral Consultation in learning institutions?
How Conjoint Behavioral Consultation improve parent-teacher relationship?
Why is it important for parents to be involved in their children’s education process?
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″As human beings, we are responsible for our own lives, and our behavior is a function of our decisions, not our conditions,” is a quote by Stephen R. Covey. According to Sheridan et al. (2017), “Conjoint Behavioral Consultation is defined as “a strength-based, cross system problem-solving and decision-making model wherein parents, teachers, and other caregivers or service providers work as partners and share responsibility for promoting positive and consistent outcomes related to a child’s academic, behavioral, and social-emotional development” (p.7). According to Witte et al. (2020), “Conjoint Behavioral Consultation (CBC) is an indirect intervention delivered by a consultant, wherein parents and teachers engage in collaborative problem-solving” (p.1). According to Sheridan et al. (2017), “Conjoint Behavioral Consultation is a collaborative consultation approach in which parents and teachers work together to address a child’s problem behaviors across home and school, and it is grounded in ecological systems theory in that it assumes children’s behavior is shaped directly by interactions in the environments in which they learn and develop (e.g., home and school) and the interconnections between adults in these environments (e.g., parent-teacher relationship; Bronfenbrenner, 1979)” (p.4). Sheridan et al. (2017) also stated that “consistent with this theory, parents, teachers and the quality of their interactions and relationships (i.e., the mesosystem) are considered key agents for promoting children’s prosocial skills and reducing their disruptive behavior” (p.4). “As a result, CBC works to build parents’ and teachers’ skills to create environments that promote positive behavior at home and school, as well as strengthen connections between these environments to develop continuity and consistency across the settings” (Sheridan et al., 2017, p.4). “Using a strengths-based approach, a CBC consultant guides parents and teachers through stages involving Needs (Problem) Identification, Needs (Problem) Analysis, Plan Development and Implementation, and Plan Evaluation” (Sheridan et al., 2017, p.4). “As part of the process, parents and teachers collaboratively identify and analyze a target behavior, create an intervention plan that addresses its function, implement the intervention plan with fidelity across home and school, and use data to evaluate plan effectiveness, and these steps are achieved over the course of three collaborative meetings in a manner that emphasizes child strengths, shared goals, bi-directional communication, perspective-taking, skill building, and relationship building” (Sheridan et al., 2017, p.4). Cognitive Behavioral Consultation is essential in learning institutions and improves the relationship between parents and teachers.
Cognitive Behavioral Consultation is essential in the education sector. According to Garbacz et al. (2020), “parents, teachers, and students viewed aspects of CBC as relevant and useful” (p.1). “CBC has shown to be effective for elementary-aged children in urban settings as previous research has demonstrated that children who participate in CBC show decreased levels of externalizing behaviors (arguing, temper tantrums, noncompliance) and increased levels of positive social and adaptive behaviors in the home and school settings” (Sheridan et al., 2017, p.4). “The significance of the home-school relationship, and hence CBC, seems particularly relevant in rural schools that are geographically isolated from urban communities, and it may work to ameliorate issues associated with heightened behavior problems and limited access to community resources by providing local, cost-effective services” (Sheridan et al., 2017, p.4). “The collaborative, problem-solving nature of CBC imparts skills to participants, allowing them to address similar problems on their own in the future, whether in the home or school environment and the individualized, strength-based responsive nature of CBC, as well as its focus on homeschool partnerships, may address issues of distrust and fear of stigma that often preclude rural families from engaging in support services” (Sheridan et al., 2017, p.4). “Based on its theory of change, CBC is expected to ameliorate problematic behaviors through a positive relationship between parents and teachers who work as partners in a structured, collaborative, data-based problem-solving process” (Sheridan et al., 2017, p.7). “In CBC, parents and teachers serve as joint consultees who mutually identify, define, analyze, and address student concerns with the support of a consultant (e.g., behavioral specialist, school psychologist)” (Sheridan et al., 2017, p.7). Thus, Cognitive Behavioral Consultation is essential in the education sector as children who participate in CBC show decreased externalizing behaviors and increased positive social and adaptive behaviors in the home and school settings.
Conjoint Behavioral Consultation improves the relationship between parents and teachers. According to Garbacz et al. (2020), “CBC is a family–school partnership indirect service delivery model developed to meet children’s needs across both home and school environments and to strengthen relationships between parents and teachers” (p.8). “For children with significant cross-setting needs (i.e., behavior difficulties in both the home and school settings), family–school partnership interventions can address the ecological factors that are influencing behavior problems, such as parenting practices, teacher behavior management strategies, and the relationship between educators and families (Garbacz et al., 2018). “Parent educational involvement is one way in which interventions have attempted to bridge gaps between home and school settings, and the involvement includes multiple dimensions, which include school-based involvement, home-based involvement, and home–school communication” (Garbacz et al., 2018). “Home-based involvement refers to activity’s families engage in with their children at home or in the community that promote learning opportunities, such as visiting the library or helping with homework. School-based involvement refers to activities in the school context (e.g., volunteering in the classroom and participating in parent–teacher organizations)” (Garbacz et al., 2018). “Results from longitudinal studies suggest parent educational involvement is associated with improvements in adolescents’ positive peer affiliations (e.g., associations with peers who are well-behaved, school behavior, and academic achievement (Garbacz et al., 2018). Thus, Conjoint Behavioral Consultation is developed to meet children’s needs across home and school environments and strengthen relationships between parents and teachers.
It is important for parents to get involved in their children’s education process. “Parent educational involvement is important, but to maximize social behavior outcomes during middle school, coordination and collaboration across multiple settings is crucial” (Garbacz et al., 2018). “In contrast to interventions focused solely on increasing parent educational involvement, family– school partnership interventions emphasize strengthening family–school connections and implementing evidence-based practices within and across settings” (Garbacz et al., 2018). In a study “of 18 family–school partnership programs conducted between 1980 and 2002 with students aged 4 to 16 years, findings indicated programs that involved both a two-way exchange of information and strategies to promote home–school communication were the most effective at improving academic performance and school-related behavior” (Garbacz et al., 2018). “More recently, a meta-analysis of 117 studies investigating family–school interventions identified several components of such interventions that were related to positive outcomes for children; these included relational elements such as home–school communication and the parent_ teacher relationship, as well as structural elements such as behavioral support” (Sheridan et al., 2019). According to Sheridan et al. (2017), “Furthermore, parents who participate in the CBC process have reported more bi-directional communication with teachers and more positive, high-quality relationships with their child’s teacher and most importantly, the parent-teacher relationship has been found to be partially responsible as a mechanism of change that drives student success in urban settings” (p.1). Thus, parents need to get involved in their children’s education process as it brings positive outcomes for children, such as behavioral support for the children.
In conclusion, CBC is essential in the education system. Conjoint Behavioral Consultation involves all stakeholders in the education system, including the parents, teachers, students and all other parties involved in running the school. CBC encourages the child by recognizing their strengths which also motivates them. Conjoint Behavioral Consultation is developed to meet children’s needs across both home and school environments and to strengthen relationships between parents and teachers. It is important for parents to get involved in their children’s education process as it brings positive outcomes for children such as behavioral support for the children. By involving all stakeholders in the education system, CBC builds and improves communication between students and their teachers and parents.
Garbacz, S. A., Jordan, P., Novotnak, T., Young, K., Zahn, M., & Markham, M. A. (2022). Parent, teacher, and student perceptions of conjoint behavioral consultation for middle school students. Journal of Educational and Psychological Consultation, 32(4), 454-485.
Sheridan, S. M., Witte, A. L., Holmes, S. R., Coutts, M. J., Dent, A. L., Kunz, G. M., & Wu, C. (2017). A randomized trial examining the effects of Conjoint Behavioral Consultation in rural schools: Student outcomes and the mediating role of the teacher–parent relationship. Journal of School Psychology, 61, 33-53.
Sheridan, S. M., Witte, A. L., Holmes, S. R., Wu, C., Bhatia, S. A., & Angell, S. R. (2017). The efficacy of conjoint behavioral consultation in the home setting: Outcomes and mechanisms in rural communities. Journal of school psychology, 62, 81-101.
Sheridan, S. M., Witte, A. L., Kunz, G. M., Wheeler, L. A., Angell, S. R., & Lester, H. F. (2018). Rural teacher practices and partnerships to address behavioral challenges: The efficacy and mechanisms of conjoint behavioral consultation. The Elementary School Journal, 119(1), 99-121.
Witte, A. L., Schumacher, R. E., & Sheridan, S. M. (2022). The Effectiveness of Technology-Delivered Conjoint Behavioral Consultation: Addressing Rural Student and Family Needs. Journal of Educational and Psychological Consultation, 1-26.