Helping dimish conduct problems

The following information is from Unit 16 of the book Teaching: A Course in Psychology by Wesley C. Becker, Siegfried Engelmann, and Don R. Thomas. 

Note: Science Research Associates published the book in 1971. I am unsure if the publishers reprinted the book or if it is available to buy. I found it through a university inter-library loan program. I suspect that Becker or Engelmann use the book or some form of it in their special education teaching classes at the University of Oregon.

• Conduct problems: intense, unlawful, or abnormal behaviors by students
• The behaviors exist because there is reinforcement for them
• Whatever alternatives exist for the behaviors are ignored

• Tantrums
• What to do: Deny reinforcement and IGNORE
• Tantrums begin with small outbursts that deal with reinforcer loss
• They become big as adults give into the outbursts
• Reinforcing the growing outbursts reinforces the student to engage in worse behavior next time
• At school, a teacher cannot led a tantrum lead to giving into what the student wants
• One way is to ignore the tantrum and to reinforce behavior incompatible with the tantrum
• Example: the student who threw tantrums at school
• When tantrums occurred, the teachers put her in a chair and made her stay there
• The teachers reinforced classmates to ignore her
• The teachers reinforced her by giving her points towards earning a class party
• At home, a parent can put a child in a room by himself or with an adult who will not respond to him
• The child must stay there until he stops his tantrum
• Adults must outlast students at school or children at home in their tantrums
• An unusually long tantrum can last from 30 minutes to 2 hours
• The next tantrum should decrease to 10 to 15 minutes
• The next tantrum should be under 5 minutes
• After that, adults should know warning signs of impending tantrums and redirect the students or children
• Example of extinguishing tantrums of an 11 year-old boy in a residential center
• The tantrums occurred in the hallway as the boy was brought to class
• Many staff members gave him attention by standing around and observing him
• The teacher asked a staff member to put the boy at his desk and leave
• The teacher ignored him until he quieted down
• After two to three minutes, he became quieter and looked up
• The teacher told him she would work with him when he was ready
• He cried for five more minutes and then told her he was ready to work
• He worked with her for the rest of class with no problems

• Negativism: talking back and arguing
• What to do: ignore negative behaviors, reinforce for positive behaviors, and give choices and warnings
• A student either does not want to engage in an activity or does not want to end an activity
• He argues with the teacher about doing what is asked
• By giving into the arguments intermittently, he will continue to disobey
• Suggestions
• Give a warning before asking the student to finish something he likes that he is going to stop soon
• Give the student (or class) two choices of what to do
• Example: “Would you rather stay in an extra five minutes to finish the work, or would you rather go to recess now and finish the work when you come back?”
• Example: “You have a choice,  you can line up quietly the first time or we do it again.
• Avoid being too abrupt, bossy, or negative (punitive) in your approach
• Do not give attention to a student engaging in negativism
• Do not act insulted by the disobedience
• Instead make the interactions more positive (reinforcement)
• Increase reinforcement if needed

• Aggressive behaviors
• Aggressive behaviors persist because the behaviors are reinforced for more intense responses (like with tantrums)
• Do not give attention to aggressive behavior when possible
• Do not let the student get what he wants from aggressive behavior
• If you use punishment, do not model aggression
• Use withdrawal of reinforcement instead
• Allow the student to earn back the reinforcers through appropriate behavior
• Reinforce cooperative behavior
• Use rules and prompts to teach behavior that is incompatible

• Verbal abuse
• Name calling, verbal abuse, and swearing is taught through parent modeling and peer modeling
• It is reinforced by the attention it receives
• Example: when a student says “I hate you,” and you overreact or console to find out what’s wrong, you reinforce the behavior
• Ignore the behavior
• Give attention to appropriate verbal behavior
• Example: a five year old girl verbally insulted others, used swear words, and told stories about violent accidents
• During the baseline period, teachers noted the girl was not cooperative with other students
• They also gave her praise, attention, and desirable tangibles
• She continued her behaviors
• Then the teachers only gave her attention, praise, and play materials when she behaved cooperatively
• They also ignored abuse verbal behavior
• She became cooperative and did not use negative verbal behavior to get attention

• Hyperactivity
• Whether the hyperactivity has a biological basis or not or is a combination of the two, a hyperactive student has not learned how to be persistent at tasks
• He has not learned how to persist and be successful
• So the teacher needs to reinforce persistence and time on task
• Example of how to do this
• A nine year old boy with an abusive past history was hyperactive and doing badly at school
• He was constantly moving, distractible, destructive, aggressive, and did little work
• A behaviorist helped the teacher
• The teacher explained to the class that the boy had trouble learning because he did not pay attention
• So he was going to get  a box to help him pay attention
• If he paid attention for 10 seconds, a light on the box flashed and a counter went up by one
• Each flash meant he earned a candy or some small amount of money to share with the class
• This way the peers did not distract him and supported him
• His classroom performance improved and he made friends

• Stealing, lying, and cheating
• All of these behaviors occur because they give reinforcement and avoid punishment
• Stealing: the student gets what he wants
• He may also get social reinforcement from peers for boldness
• Lying: the student gets out of punishment for doing a misdeed
• The student doesn’t know he can be reinforced in the long run for admitting the misdeed or for doing the right thing in the first place
• Cheating: the student gets out of punishment for failure on schoolwork
• When he hasn’t been taught properly to learn the schoolwork
• Do not let the behaviors pay off
• Reinforce behaviors incompatible with the behaviors