Reducing Unesirable Behavior: A Case Study

The following are the procedures for decreasing undesirable behaviors: Extinction. This process refers to the purposefully not reinforcing a behavior that has been previously reinforced. Behavior that is not reinforced tends to become less and less frequent. Mather & Goldstein (2011) detailed that this approach has two parts: a) If, in a given situation, somebody emits a previously reinforced response and if is not followed by the usual reinforcing consequence; b) then that person is less likely to perform the same behavior again when she next encounters a similar situation. If a response has been increased in frequency through positive reinforcement, then completely ceasing to reinforce the response will cause it to decrease in frequency.
Smith, Polloway, Palton & Dowday (2012) outlined below considerations in implementing time-out: 1) confirm that the current situation from which the pupil is going to be removed is indeed reinforcing; if not, this technique will not serve as a punisher and rather may be a form of positive reinforcement, 2) ensure that the time-out area is devoid of reinforcing elements. If it is not a neutral setting, this procedure will fail, 3) do not keep students in time-out for long periods of time (i.e. more than ten minutes) or use it frequently (e.g. daily), as students will miss significant amount of instructional time, 4) use a timer to ensure accuracy in the length of time-out. As a rule of the thumb with younger children, never allow time-out periods to exceed beyond one-minute for every year of the child’s age (up to maximum of ten minutes), 5) incorporate this procedure as one of the classroom procedures explained and taught at the beginning of the school year, 6) consider using a time-out system in which students are given one warning before being removed, 7) signal to the student when it is appropriate to return, 8) do not use this technique with certain sensitive students, and 9) keep records on frequency, reason for using, and amount of time placed when using seclusion time-out
This is one of the commonly used punishments in the classroom. This is a type of punishment in which an unpleasant condition (verbal reprimand from the teacher) is presented to the student (Mather & Goldstein, 2011). In this method, students can simply be asked to follow class rules more carefully. As suggested by Walker & Shea (as cited by Mather & Goldstein, 2011), effective reprimands are specific, do not derogate the child, are provided immediately, are given with a firm voice and controlled demeanor, are backed up with loss of privilege, include a statement encouraging more appropriate behavior, and are delivered in a calm way that does not embarrass the child in the presence of others. According to Mastropierri & Scruggs (2012), reprimand are less effective when viewed as punishment, i.e. that criticism and scorn, or a negative, aggressive, or hostile tone of voice are expected to prevent the student from repeating the inappropriate behavior. Delivered in this way, reprimands may sometimes be effective in the short run, but are likely to create resentment and lack of trust in the long