| Course | PAC 405 Child Psychology |
|---|---|
| Module | Module 7 |
| Paper type | Therapy approach comparison |
| Length | About 1,009 words, 6 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Aspen University |
| Program | Psychology and Addiction Studies |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for PAC 405 Module 7
Rules, Skills and the Family System: Matching Behavioral, Cognitive-Behavioral and Family Approaches to One Boy's Problems
Student Name
Psychology and Addiction Studies Program, Aspen University
PAC 405: Child Psychology
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
Rules, Skills and the Family System: Matching Behavioral, Cognitive-Behavioral and Family Approaches to One Boy's Problems
Jaylen's case has run through every module of this course. Earlier modules explored the drivers of his early drinking, the adults around him, his development and culture and two approaches, psychodynamic and child-centered, for his grief and his need for a trusted relationship. Several problems remain that those approaches do not address well. He drinks with older cousins at family gatherings and sometimes after school. He defies his mother's rules and explodes in anger when she corrects him. And he has learned to play his mother against his grandmother, who disagree about how strict to be. This paper applies behavioral, cognitive-behavioral and family systems approaches to these problems. Jaylen, his family and Bayview are invented for teaching, and the cited trials are real.
Behavioral Approaches
Behavioral approaches with children focus on observable behavior and the consequences that maintain it. Parent management training teaches parents to give clear instructions, praise and reward desired behavior, ignore minor misbehavior and apply consistent, mild consequences such as loss of privileges. Eyberg et al. (2008) reviewed evidence-based treatments for children and adolescents with disruptive behavior. Parent management training programs had the strongest support, and several other treatments, including individual skills training and family approaches, were probably efficacious. Most effective treatments for younger children worked through parents, while treatments for adolescents more often involved the youth directly and the family together.
For Jaylen's defiance at home, parent management training fits well. Keisha, his mother, is newly back in a parenting role after her recovery, and she alternates between harsh punishment and giving in out of guilt.
Cognitive-Behavioral Approaches
Cognitive-behavioral therapy teaches children to recognize the thoughts and feelings that lead to problem behavior and to use coping skills. Kendall (1994) tested a sixteen-session cognitive-behavioral program for children aged nine to thirteen with anxiety disorders, teaching them to recognize anxious feelings, identify anxious thoughts, develop coping plans and evaluate and reward their own efforts, with gradual practice in feared situations. Most children who received the program no longer met criteria for their anxiety disorder after treatment, compared with very few in a waiting-list group, and the gains were maintained at one year.
Jaylen does not have an anxiety disorder, but the program's structure, recognizing feelings, catching thoughts, planning a coping response and rewarding oneself, adapts directly to his anger and to the moment when his cousins offer him beer. Applying it to anger and refusal goes beyond the population Kendall studied, so his progress will need to be watched closely.
Family Systems Approaches
Family systems approaches see a child's problem as part of patterns in the family as a whole. Structural ideas, such as hierarchy, boundaries and alliances, describe who holds authority, who is close and who is excluded. Henggeler et al. (1992) tested multisystemic therapy, an intensive approach that works with the family and the systems around a young person, such as school, peers and neighborhood, with serious juvenile offenders. Compared with usual services, youths receiving multisystemic therapy had fewer arrests, spent fewer weeks incarcerated and showed improved family cohesion. Jaylen is not an offender, and multisystemic therapy is more intensive than he needs, but its principles, strengthening parents' authority, changing peer associations and working with the school, apply to his situation.
In family systems terms, Jaylen sits in a triangle: when his mother sets a rule, he goes to his grandmother, who sometimes overrides it, and the two women's disagreement becomes the place where his behavior lives.
Matching Approaches to Problems
| Problem | Best-suited approach | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Defiance of his mother's rules | Behavioral: parent management training | Strongest evidence for disruptive behavior, per Eyberg and colleagues |
| Explosive anger when corrected | Cognitive-behavioral: coping skills | Kendall's structure adapts to recognizing and managing anger |
| Drinking when cousins offer | Cognitive-behavioral: refusal skills, plus behavioral supervision | Skills for the moment; supervision to reduce opportunities |
| Mother and grandmother divided | Family systems: realigning the caregiving team | Removes the triangle that sustains his defiance |
| Time with older cousins who drink | Family systems and ecological: working with extended family | Multisystemic principle of changing peer contexts |
Session Outlines
Parent sessions, with Keisha and, when possible, Loretta, would run weekly for eight to ten weeks. They would practice praising Jaylen for specific behavior, giving one clear instruction at a time, choosing a small number of house rules and applying the same mild consequence each time a rule is broken, such as losing phone time for an evening.
Skills sessions with Jaylen, every other week alongside his individual sessions, would teach him to notice his anger rising, catch thoughts such as "she's treating me like a baby," take a break and return to talk. He would also rehearse turning down a beer, with the counselor acting as a cousin who keeps insisting.
Family sessions, monthly, would bring Keisha and Loretta together to agree on rules and consequences, with Jaylen joining for part of each session. The counselor would support Keisha's authority as his mother while honoring Loretta's role, so that Jaylen hears one message from both. A session with Keisha's sister would address the cousins' drinking at gatherings.
How the Approaches Fit Together
These approaches complement the work already planned. Psychodynamic sessions give Jaylen a place for his grief about his father, and child-centered methods build the trusting relationship that makes skills practice possible. Behavioral and family work, meanwhile, change the conditions at home that sustain his defiance and drinking. To avoid overwhelming the family, sessions will be combined where possible, such as a single visit with time for Jaylen alone and time with his mother.
Conclusion
Jaylen's remaining problems call for approaches that address behavior, skills and family patterns. Eyberg, Nelson and Boggs show that parent management training is the best-supported treatment for defiance, Kendall shows that cognitive-behavioral skills training helps children manage difficult feelings and Henggeler, Melton and Smith show that working with the family and its surroundings can change serious behavior. Matched to his specific problems, these approaches give Jaylen's plan the structure that the relationship-focused work cannot provide alone.
References
Eyberg, S. M., Nelson, M. M., & Boggs, S. R. (2008). Evidence-based psychosocial treatments for children and adolescents with disruptive behavior. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 37(1), 215-237. https://doi.org/10.1080/15374410701820117
Henggeler, S. W., Melton, G. B., & Smith, L. A. (1992). Family preservation using multisystemic therapy: An effective alternative to incarcerating serious juvenile offenders. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 60(6), 953-961. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-006X.60.6.953
Kendall, P. C. (1994). Treating anxiety disorders in children: Results of a randomized clinical trial. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 62(1), 100-110. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-006X.62.1.100
What the PAC 405 Module 7 instructions ask for
The seventh module of PAC 405 brings three approaches together, so a typical assignment asks you to explain behavioral, cognitive-behavioral and family systems therapy, review their evidence and apply them to a child's specific problems. Let the Module 7 page in your Aspen course decide the details; Jaylen is a composite. Describe each approach's theory and techniques. Present outcome evidence for each, noting the problems and ages studied. Match approaches to the child's problems rather than choosing one for everything. Outline what sessions would involve. Explain how the approaches fit with other work in the plan, and give each study an APA 7 reference. Note where you adapt a treatment beyond the population it was tested with.
How this PAC 405 Module 7 example is built
Jaylen's problems are drinking with cousins, defiance at home, anger when corrected and a triangle with his mother and grandmother. Eyberg, Nelson and Boggs's review of treatments for disruptive behavior supports parent management training. Kendall's Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology trial supports cognitive-behavioral skills training for children, here adapted for anger and refusal. Henggeler, Melton and Smith's trial supports an ecological family approach. A five-row table matches approaches to problems. Session outlines cover parent sessions on praise and consistent consequences, skills sessions on refusing beer and calming anger and family sessions that put his mother and grandmother on the same side.
Where the marks sit in the PAC 405 Module 7 rubric
Approach comparison papers earn credit for accurate descriptions, honest evidence and specific matching. This example assigns each approach to the problem it best addresses, which shows the multidimensional reasoning the course teaches. Evidence is reported with its populations: parent training for disruptive behavior, cognitive-behavioral therapy for anxious children adapted to anger and multisystemic therapy for serious offenders, used here for its family systems principles. Session outlines make each approach concrete, down to the consequences and the role-play. The paper explains how the new work fits with the psychodynamic and child-centered sessions already planned, so the plan does not become a list of competing therapies. Adaptations beyond the tested populations are flagged.
PAC 405 Module 7 help: mistakes that cost marks
Students often present one approach as the answer to everything. Match approaches to specific problems, one problem at a time. Describe techniques concretely, such as praise, consistent consequences, coping self-talk and changing family structure. Report evidence with the populations and problems studied, and note when you are adapting a treatment beyond them. Involve parents, since behavioral and family approaches work largely through them. Explain how approaches fit together and with other work in the plan. Avoid overloading a family with too many sessions. Plan how progress will be measured for each problem, and decide which problem the family will work on first if time is short. Combine visits so the family is not overloaded.
Write yours, or have the desk draft it
This paper is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Aspen University document. Read it for the moves, then write your own to the instructions in your classroom. If you want one built to your exact prompt and rubric, the first custom sample is free and arrives in 24 to 48 hours.
More PAC 405 and Psychology and Addiction Studies sample papers
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- PAC 405 Module 6: Child-Centered Therapy
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PAC 405 Module 7 questions, answered
What does PAC 405 Module 7 usually ask for?
Aspen's PAC 405 covers behavioral, cognitive-behavioral and family systems approaches in this module, so explaining and applying them to a child's problems is typical. Read the Module 7 prompt.
What is the best-supported treatment for children's disruptive behavior?
Eyberg, Nelson and Boggs found parent management training had the strongest evidence among treatments for disruptive behavior.
Does cognitive-behavioral therapy help children?
Kendall found that most anxious children treated with cognitive-behavioral therapy no longer met criteria for their disorder, with gains maintained a year later.
Where can I find a free PAC 405 Module 7 sample paper?
This page has the full paper: behavioral, cognitive-behavioral and family systems approaches matched to one boy's problems, with session outlines.
What is multisystemic therapy?
An intensive family and community approach; Henggeler, Melton and Smith found it reduced arrests and incarceration among serious juvenile offenders.