Raven's Guide to Special Education: Discipline

Discipline - 3

Take care of yourself | Discipline | How to discipline | Methods

Specific discipline methods

Behavior modification. One of the core principles of behavior modification is that behavior that is positively reinforced increases in frequency. Giving positive consequences for appropriate behavior and ignoring inappropriate behavior is the basic technique. Here are a few fundamental rules:

Be consistent day after day. Do not expect to immediately change behaviors that have developed over years.
Reinforce only appropriate behavior. If you give attention to students when they misbehave, you will reinforce them to continue behaving that way. When you see a student misbehaving, publicly reward other students who are behaving appropriately.
Praise students' efforts to control impulses, solve social conflicts, and attend to their academic work.
"Shape" behavior by successively rewarding behaviors that approximate the ones you want students to acquire. Lower your expectations at first to ensure that the students will be successful.
Withdraw privileges only when absolutely necessary and be sure to specify a way students can earn them back.
Use unexpected rewards. Reinforcers of good behavior work best when used off and on. So periodically, and without any warning, schedule a reward for the entire class. Make sure, however, that the students know it is because of their good behavior.

Problem solving. Encourage students to think of alternative solutions for problems and the possible effects of taking those alternatives. Through problem solving, they can become more responsible for what they do, begin to understand different points of view, and improve their decision-making skills. Problem-solving involves four basic steps:

Identify the problem.
Brainstorm possible solutions.
Evaluate alternatives and select the most appropriate one.
Use the selected alternative.

Redirection. At times you can redirect students from misbehavior to an acceptable substitute without having to use negative consequences. For instance, if two students are fighting for a ball on the playground, have them take turns using the ball, provide another ball so that both of them have what they want, or have them do something else that does not require a ball. State the reasons for changing the circumstances so that the students can learn to redirect themselves.

Time out. Time out is a short period of social isolation during which a student cannot receive attention or earn rewards. This method often is misunderstood and misused. When used correctly, however, it can be an effective way to help students who have lost control and are unable to reason. When a student loses control or becomes overly aggressive, temporarily remove him from the situation so he can calm down. Readmit him to the social group as soon as possible and give him a constructive activity. Isolating a student in a time out room is not recommended because of the high potential for negative effects on the student and parental objection. You should observe the following principles for time out to be effective:

Do not use time out to threaten, humiliate, or punish students.
Do not use time out for students who want to be socially isolated.
Allow students to stay in time out until they calm down. If students underestimate the time they need, ask them to return to time out to calm down.
After students have returned from time out and have calmed down, talk with them about their feelings, then give them a constructive activity or schoolwork.

Behavior contracts. A behavior contract is a two-way agreement that states the consequences a student will receive for specified behaviors. The student agrees to behave in a certain way or to do a certain task at or within a certain time. The teacher (or parent) agrees to deliver specific kinds of support during the contract period and then provide a particular reward when the student fulfills the contract. Use the following procedure:

Meet with the student and explain the reason for the contract.
Work together to describe the behaviors the student needs to develop or reduce.
Agree on what you or the student's parents will do to help the student achieve the goals of the contract.
Agree on the positive consequences the student will receive for fulfilling the contract.
Agree on the negative consequences for not fulfilling the contract.
Write the contract with the student and have everyone involved sign it to indicate agreement and support.

Classroom discussion groups. These groups help students understand themselves and others, learn to listen, express themselves in healthy ways, and learn to help each other. Schedule groups on a regular basis with set time limits for each session (e.g., 30 minutes). Lead the group to keep students from interrupting, being rude, arguing, or digressing. Structure what is discussed. Appropriate topics might include good things that happened today at school, problems that bother you, how we can help each other, and our plans for the future. You also can use the meetings to review and discuss classroom rules.

When students make negative comments in the group, deal with what was said briefly and only in a constructive way. Do not let any student be picked on or dominate the meetings. Allow inhibited students to attend without speaking; they often will benefit from listening to what others say. End each meeting in a positive way, e.g., thanking students who shared something important to them or something hard to say.

Social skills training. Social skills training is a systematic way to teach adaptive social behavior. Three basic strategies are involved:

Skill assessment. For each student, select social skills that would help the student be more successful at school. Define the steps needed to learn each skill. For example, the steps involved to resolve an argument might be:

State your opinion,
State the other person's opinion,
Ask if what you said about the other person's opinion was correct, and
Offer a solution.

Modeling. Model the steps needed to learn each selected skill. Ensure that the student not only pays attention to and remembers the modeled actions, but also performs the actions.

Role playing. After modeling the desired behaviors, encourage the student to role play several possible situations in which the behaviors could be used. Then provide classroom situations in which each student can practice the selected social skills at least twice a week. Immediately correct the student for either missing an opportunity to use the skill or using the skill incorrectly. Take the following steps to make role playing effective:

Allow the student to choose whether or not to participate in the role playing.
Make sure that the role play behaviors are relevant to the student's needs. For example, have a shy student role play starting a conversation.
Improvise so the activity does not become mechanical or boring.
Reward the student for performing the behaviors both during the role playing and in other situations.

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