How to stop talking and start communicating with Motivational Interviewing:
A behavior therapist's guide on how to effectively collaborate with caregivers

How to stop talking and start communicating with Motivational Interviewing: A behavior therapist’s guide on how to effectively collaborate with caregivers. Is the first manual ever created directly from a clinician to clinicians working in the behavior field, that addresses communication barriers between clinicians and caregivers and shares scenarios, examples, and exercises to facilitate a collaborative relationship between clinicians and parents? This manual connects two empirically validated practices (ABA and MI) to aid both psychology and behavioral science clinicians who work with challenging families.

The primary goal of this manual is to enhance the quality of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) interventions for children by teaching clinicians Motivational Interviewing (MI) strategies that can encourage greater parental involvement. A major concept in these chapters is ambivalence and resistance. Resistance is understood as a direct byproduct of maladaptive parent-clinician communication styles that leads to parental disengagement, and ambivalence is the middle point between disengagement and action. To address resistance and ambivalence, we reveal a program focused on increasing clinicians’ awareness of their communication style with caregivers (and other professionals) and explain ways to modify current interactions to decrease noncooperation and increase parents’ motivation in the treatment process.