Counselor works to change parents' responses to child through thoughts and actions, changing child's behavior

Has the initial task of identifying a specific problem behavior, then monitoring the behavior

Parental and child variables are considered equally as important

Assessment: focuses on the function that behavioral sequences serve - do they promote closeness, create distances, or help achieve a task?

Change: purposes to help the family become more functional through clarifying relationship dynamics, relabeling behavior to alleviate blame, and more

Maintenance: focuses on educating and training in skills that will help the family deal with future difficulties

Emphasizes teaching families to think for themselves and think differently when helpful

Focuses on problem solving skills, negotiation and behavior change skills, and more

Heavy emphasis on modifying personal or collective core beliefs (schemas)