Practical Behavior

Management:
Classroom & Parent-
based Procedures
Sheridan
Ed Psy 896
February 17-24, 1999
Characteristics of Behavioral
Disorders (“Tough Kids”)
 Argumentative
 Defiant
 Aggressive
 Tantrum behaviors
 Rule breaking behaviors
The problem with these behaviors
is one of degree; they are behavioral excesses
Characteristics of Behavioral
Disorders (“Tough Kids”)
King pin behaviors (see Rhode, Jenson, &
Reavis):
 something that is central to the behavioral
constellation
 “the axle around which the other behavioral
excesses revolve”
For children with BD, what is the “kingpin?”
 King Pin Behavior:
Noncompliance
Defined as:
 Not following a direction within a reasonable time
frame
 According to Rhode et al., arguing, tantrums, etc. are
secondary to avoiding requests or required tasks
 Arguing or tantrums get the adult to rescind or
withdraw the request >>> arguing, tantrum stops
Coercive cycle: An aversive behavior forces/controls the
adult to withdraw a request
 Coercive Hypothesis
(Patterson)
 Postulates that children learn to “get their own way” and escape
or avoid parental criticism by escalating their negative
behaviors, which in turn leads to increasingly aversive parent
interactions
 As this continues over time, the rate and intensity of parent and
child aggressive behaviors are increased
 Coercive patterns are thought to promote children’s antisocial
behavioral development because they provide
 reinforcement for oppositional, noncompliant behaviors, and
 models of hostile and punitive interpersonal styles
Contrast this to...
 Noncompliance
 Most students comply to approximately 80% of adult requests
 Tough kids comply to 40% or less
 By-product of coercive cycle/noncompliance:
 deficits in academic achievement, social skills, and self-
management
Discussion Questions:
 How does this relate to your work as consultants?
 What does this suggest regarding target behaviors?
 How can noncompliance be defined & measured?
 Positive Parenting
 Parenting styles that are responsive, affectionate, and
proactive (“positive involvement”)
 associated with lower levels of externalizing behavior
problems (see Pettit, Bates, & Dodge, 1993)
 Includes
 proactive teaching (noncontrolling parent-initiated
instructional exchanges and anticipatory guidance via these
exchanges)
 affectionate positivity (emotional warmth)
 inductive control (reasoning and respecting the child’s point of
view in disciplinary encounters)
 responsiveness (sensitivity and appropriateness of parental
actions)
 Positive Parenting
 Provides a context
 in which children’s social-emotional needs are met in emotionally
supportive ways
 whereby opportunities for misbehavior are minimized (via
environmental engineering) and opportunities for compliance are
maximized (via well-timed, situation-specific control)
 that facilitates the learning of social skills that can be employed during
peer interactions to prevent conflicts; and
 that facilitates the development of harmonious, affectively positive
bond between parent and child, such that when control (discipline) is
used by a parent, it is more effective
 Negative-Coercive vs.
Positive-Proactive Styles
 Findings of Pettit et al. suggest that
 the parenting constellation of high negative control and low parent
involvement may provide a socializing context for the development of
externalizing problems
 absence of positive parenting may contribute to the onset of externalizing
problems, but it does not forecast subsequent increases in these behaviors
 negative-coercive control, on the other hand, predicted initially high levels
of externalizing problems, and continued increases in problems over time
 teachers’ and peers’ reactions help maintain or exacerbate externalizing
problems such that children reared in coercive homes may become tracked
into a pattern of increasingly aggressive interpersonal encounters at school
 Negative-Coercive vs.
Positive-Proactive Styles
 Implications suggested by Pettit et al:
 Control episodes make up only a minority of all parent-
child interactions
 It may be insufficient simply to help parents learn how
to better control their children’s behavior
 Parents must acquire more proactive skills and learn to
anticipate their childrens’ social needs, to understand
their frustrations, and to engage them in more enjoyable
joint play
 Practical Strategies for
Dealing with
Noncompliance
Maximize the chance that children
will be successful:
Be positive and proactive
Prevent noncompliance whenever
possible
Be very clear about expectations
Proactive (Antecedent) Strategies
Classroom & Home Rules
Characteristics of Good Rules:
 Keep them to a minimum
 Keep the wording simple
 Represent basic expectations
 Keep the wording positive
 Make rules specific
 Make them observable & measurable
 Post the rules in a public place
 Tie rules to consequences
 Always include a compliance rule
What are Some Examples of
Good
Classroom Rules??
What are Some Examples of
Good
Household/Home Rules??
 Proactive (Antecedent)
Strategies
Increase Academic Engaged (Learning) Time
 Three basic components:
 the percentage of the day scheduled for academics (should be
at least 70%)
 on-task time of the student (should be at least 85%)
 success of the student once (s)he is academically engaged
(should be at least 80%)
 Why is ALT important, especially for “Tough Kids”?
 How can ALT be identified and incorporated into CBC?
Proactive (Antecedent) Strategies
Structure the Physical Space
 Seating arrangements
 Examples?

Use Proximity Control

 Anticipate problems
 The “wandering reinforcer”
 Examples?

Motivation and Encouragement

 Tell them what you want, what will happen, and give them
immediate positive feedback when you get it
 Examples?
 Proactive (Antecedent)
Strategies
Hype
 Make a big deal out of desired behaviors and
anticipated reinforcers
 Examples?
Pre-correction Strategies
 Anticipate problem situations and provide
instructions for behavior; link to anticipated
reinforcers and reward immediately
 Examples?
 Proactive (Antecedent)
Strategies
Discussion Questions:
 How does the information presented in “The
Tough Kid Book” relate to the TIES materials?
 What does Gettinger say about proactive
classroom procedures? What examples does
she provide?
 How can these be assessed and incorporated
into consultation?
 Increasing Compliance:
Rules of Thumb
 Use a statement, rather than a question
 Use proximity -- get close to child (within 3 feet) when giving
a directive
 Use a quiet, calm voice
 Use eye contact -- look ‘em in the eyes
 Give the child time to comply (5-10 secs)
 Issue a command only twice, then follow through with a
consequence
 Make one request at a time
 Describe the behavior you want
 Remain calm
 Make more “start” (“do”) requests than “stop” requests
 Verbally reinforce compliance
 Practical Uses of Positive
Reinforcement
Consider important principles concerning schedules of
reinforcement:
 Continuous R+ --- reinforcing each occurrence of a
desired behavior has what effect?
 Variable R+ --- reinforcing every other, or every third
(etc.) occurrence of a desired behavior has what
effect?
 Intermittent R+ --- reinforcing occurrences on a
random schedule has what effect?
 Practical Uses of Positive
Reinforcement
 When behaviors do not increase in relation to contingent delivery
of assumed reinforcers, reinforcement has not occurred
 What are some possible reasons that a reinforcement program may
be ineffective?
 What was provided was not reinforcing to the child
 Lack of integrity (e.g., noncontingent delivery; inconsistent use)
 How can consultants increase the efficacy of positive
reinforcement? What systems can be used to increase the
reinforcing nature of the reinforcers, and the integrity of delivery?
Practical Uses of Positive
Reinforcement
IFEED-AV Rules:
Immediate
Frequent
Enthusiastic
Eye contact
Descriptive
Anticipation
Variety
 Practical Uses of Positive
Reinforcement
Shaping (“Baby Steps”)
 When child does not have the requisite skill to
perform a target behavior (e.g., completing
homework or chores), “shaping” the behavior is
appropriate
 Start where the child is now!
 Break the task down into small steps and reinforce
each step upon appropriate completion
 Examples at home and school??
 Practical Uses of Positive
Reinforcement
Selective (Differential) Attention
 Remember that attention increases the behavior it follows!!
 So… attention to negative behaviors, particularly to the
exclusion of attention to positive behaviors, will increase the
negative behaviors…
 Examples and Implications??
 Emphasize the importance of reinforcing desired behavior!
(Differentially attending to, or reinforcing, desired behaviors!)
 Practical Uses of Positive
Reinforcement
Selective (Differential) Attention
 Entails the reinforcement of alternative behaviors that are
incompatible with the inappropriate behavior
 To use, always reinforce positive behaviors,
particularly those that occur in place of or are
incompatible with, undesired behaviors
 If target is noncompliance, “Sure I Will!” is
incompatible (see pp. 80-83; Rhode et al.)
 Other examples??
 Practical Uses of Positive
Reinforcement
Selective (Differential) Attention
 Also requires Ignoring inappropriate,
undesirable behavior(s)
 Consistency is the key!
 Expect an extinction burst
• examples?
 Reward at least 5 times for every ignore
• examples?
Practical Uses of Positive
Reinforcement
Unique & Practical Systems of
Reinforcement:
Mystery Motivators
Spinners
Chart moves
Lotteries
Grab bags
In general, these increase the “incentive power” by enhancing
anticipation, variety, intermittent schedule of reinforcement
 Practical Uses of Positive
Reinforcement
Other Systems:
Public Posting (Advertising for Success)
Contracting/Goal Setting (very useful in BC)
Home-Notes (extremely useful in CBC)
Self-Management/Beeper Tapes (always useful)
 Practical Uses of Positive
Reinforcement
Enhancing the Use of Incentive Systems:
 Limit target behaviors to 3 or 4
 Start where you are
 Use back up reinforcers for noncompliance
 Consider reinforcer sampling (“taste success”)
 Explain the system; allow the child’s input
 Be consistent
 Remember the IFEED-AV rules
 Emphasize the good; positively reinforce efforts toward the
final goal (shaping)
 Practical Uses of Positive
Reinforcement
Enhancing the Use of Incentive Systems:
 Build in fading reinforcers by pairing with praise,
natural reinforcers, behavioral “traps”
 Vary the rewards; use a reinforcement menu,
consider using high frequency behaviors as
reinforcers
 Fine tune the program as necessary; remain in
contact with consultees throughout plan
implementation!
 What to Do If (When)
They Don’t Comply
 Plan consequences in advance
 Remember that consequences can be positive
too (always positively reinforce compliance)
 Effective consequences are well-designed,
realistic, objective, and have time limits &
reasonable expectations (see p. 63)
 Use precision requests
Precision Requests

* see p. 62 of
Rhode et al. (1992)
 What to Do If (When) They
Don’t Comply
 Other procedures:
 response cost
 time out
 Considerations when using aversive techniques:
 learn them well; ensure consultees know how to use them
appropriately
 use secondarily to positive procedures
 make efforts to keep student engaged in classroom or academic
activities whenever possible (e.g., “Bumpy Bunny Time Out;”
“Sit and Watch Time Out;” “Interclass Time Out”)