Professional and Program Development

This chapter provides a brief overview of professional resources for practitioners. It encourages practitioner involvement in consolation and research efforts to further improve upon knowledge on juvenile firesetting and results for future clients. The professional development section includes the subject of education and training, encouraging practitioners to make use of new educational material and advances made in the various technologies available to combat the misuse of fire. Practitioners are urged to consider being involved in some form of peer or professional consultation, as well as providing consultation to local programs as an important community resource. Program development is addressed, citing the importance of screening and assessment, intervention services, and evaluation and research.

Update and Review of Home Management Plan/Program

This chapter describes the final treatment topic of constructing a home management program and contingency plan targeting the child’s behavior. It introduces and elaborates on various management structures. It includes a review and extension of material already discussed on the use of consequences (i.e., contingencies) to manage and support the child’s behavior at home. Emphasis is put on working with the parent(s) to ensure the home management plan is both feasible and effective, through discussion of current plans, revision of the plan, and final review. The family is advised on preparing for the termination of the sessions.

Basic Parent Management Skills: Using Consequences to Correct Problem Behavior

This chapter reviews parenting techniques and provides and in depth discussion of the parent’s use of consequences to the child’s behavior. It teaches how to identify problem behaviors and desired behaviors, and provides the use of point systems as a way to improve child behavior. Topics covered include ensuring consequences are logical and suitable; removing a reward or privilege; and making restitution to another person after causing that person to suffer a loss or an injury, particularly by misuse of fire. There is a discussion of a home management (consequence) program, including a rationale for combining positive and problem behaviors in one program. Forms and worksheets from the appendix are used for parents to learn and review the concepts discussed. Potential problems to home practice are addressed.

Effective Problem-Solving

This chapter introduces problem-solving skills to children. The content includes an overview of identifying problems, determining options, and making decisions based on goals. Emphasis is placed on reviewing materials from the previous chapter regarding the role of thoughts and interpretations. These skills are generalized to various areas of the child’s life before being applied to fire-related situations. A multi-step process is introduced to help the child learn to, first identify problems and goals, then problem-solve and consider consequences. These skills are then practiced by applying them to a recent problem situation that the child experienced. Worksheets provided in the appendix are used to facilitate the implementation of these activities.

Affect Regulation and Cognitive Control

This chapter introduces emotional and cognitive control skills to children, instructing them to understand their own and others’ emotions, and the role of various types of thoughts. It provides a discussion on approaching others to discuss feelings, automatic thoughts, and muscle relaxation techniques. Activities to help a child learn these skills include: making a list of emotions; identifying clues to how someone feels; and connecting events, thoughts, and feelings. The chapter includes explanations of automatic thoughts, how thoughts are associated with emotions, and how different emotions (negative/positive) lead to different actions. These activities are explained using forms provided in an appendix.

Parent Preparation for Treatment: Goals, Targets, and Initial Plans

Chapter 5 specifically addresses working with the parent(s) concerning their child and fire, by: describing the purpose of the treatment (to reduce the risk of firesetting), discussing the parent’s treatment goals, and providing information about the treatment program. It explores ways to: Identify child and family strengths, Understand child and family stressors; and Learn about the parent’s use of monitoring, supervision, and discipline. The chapter includes discussion of how the parent reacts to stress, and includes encouraging the parent to relax. It discusses some common behaviors associated with firesetting and possible strategies for managing them, and explores the area of consequences to target these behaviors. The chapter makes use of forms (available in appendix c), which help educate the parent and elucidate information for the practioner.

The Significance of the Problem

This introductory chapter describes the elements that will be covered in this book. It introduces child firesetting as a national problem, responsible for significant individual and societal consequences. It elaborates on rates of firesetting in juveniles and describes the characteristics of children who play with fire, as well as family characteristics and correlates. The chapter cites the need for assessment and evaluation tools, emphasizing that assessment should be tailored to the population and the context in which the problem is documented and managed. The current state of interventions and treatment is discussed, including surveys of community-based intervention programs. Recidivism is covered, citing statistics from various surveys. The chapter concludes with an overview of this clinical guide.

Teaching Fire Safety Education: Strategies to Support Safety

This chapter continues the subject of fire safety education with practical information on the dangers of fires and ways to avoid it that includes teaching skills to help the child reduce exposure to fire and prevent injuries or other damages by responding effectively to it. It provides additional materials for families to support children in fire prevention, including a home project. Sections include emphasis on fire as a tool, not a toy; reporting a fire, extinguishers, evacuation, and the stop-drop-roll technique. Also discussed is how to review the child’s fire-safety knowledge and provide suggestions to apply what has been learned. An important addition addresses how to prepare a babysitter or other caregiver with all necessary fire safety information.

Screening and Assessment

This chapter describes the process of determining who is an appropriate client and learning about his/her background as is relevant to treatment. This includes screening for misuse of fire among clinic-referred children and adolescents, and documenting details of a fire. It also provides an in-depth explanation of the children’s firesetting interview and firesetting risk interview assessment tools. The chapter emphasizes the importance of these screening and assessment tools, to allow practitioners to gain a more comprehensive picture of the treatment needs of fire-involved youth. A short case example is provided. The chapter concludes with a discussion on how to get started, using initial assessments to help indicate further useful questions and assessment tools.

Implementation: Feedback and Guidelines

This chapter discusses implementation of the techniques covered in the Guide, their intent, and some of the sources for these techniques. It addresses who the Guide is intended for. The chapter states the importance of including and training mental health practitioners in the assessment and treatment of fire-involved youth, and collaboration with key community resources such as juvenile justice services, schools, child protective services, or fire departments. It provides a series of lessons learned from clinical practice. The chapter stresses integrating the practitioner’s clinical skills and knowledge with the information in the Guide, to best suit each individual case. It concludes with some home practice techniques for clients, and a discussion of how to use this Guide.