Critical issues in self-instruction training with children

The present paper examines unresolved substantive, methodological, and developmental issues in the research on self-instruction training with children. Substantive issues pertain to the lack of research on the components of self-instruction training that contribute to or are responsible for therapeutic change. Assessment issues include the absence of rigorous screening criteria to identify clinical populations, the narrow range of outcome measures that have been used, and the absence of information about the clinical significance of changes achieved with treatment. Several findings from developmental psychology remain to be incorporated into self-instruction training research within child behavior therapy. Developmental research suggests that self-instructions are likely to be differentially effective as a function of child age, cognitive stage, and task complexity. The present paper emphasizes the need to analyze the self-instruction training package, to assess the use of self-instructions and treatment outcome more comprehensively, and to draw upon the child development literature for leads about therapeutic applications of treatment.