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Acting out their Age, or Something Worse? (continued)
If you find the behaviour persists after using a range of positive
strategies, it’s time to introduce consequences. A continuum
of consequences start with the least obtrusive strategies and
incrementally increase in severity.
Redirect behaviour by giving choices. For older children, ask
them what would be a better choice of behaviour. For younger
children, give them constrained choices. For example, please
put the lollies back in the bag or give all of the lollies to me.
Remind the child of the behaviour you do want to see.
Let them know they have three warnings and what the
consequence is if they continue. Follow through on this, and don’t
change the number of warnings or consequence. This means
you need to be measured in the timing of your warnings and
match the action to the consequence . Consistency is the key.
Finally, when used well, time-out can be effective. Consider
having an appropriate location for the time-out period. It needs to
be quiet, private with minimal stimulation.
Act quickly after the behaviour occurs, and give a concise
reason for sending them to time-out. Prompt them to think about
what they could have been doing differently. Ignore secondary
behaviours while in the time-out period (like screaming, wriggling
or pleading).
If bad behaviour continues after employing positive behavioural
strategies, it's time to introduce consequences.
Avoid talking to them until the end of the time-out period. Two
to three minutes is usually the amount of time. Before exiting,
ask the child to remind you why they were put in time-out, and
what they could have done differently. Catch them being good
as soon as you can and remind them how much you love them.
First, use prompts such as eye contact or facial expressions to
note disapproval.
This article was first published in ‘The Conversation’ on 31st
January, 2018. SEN and the Science Teachers’ Association of
NSW are most grateful to ‘The Conversation’ for its generous
policy of encouraging the republishing of its many fine articles.
We also thank the author, Katrina Barker, for supplying this article,
thereby agreeing to that policy.
Then, remind them of what behaviour you want to encourage. For
example, “What should you be doing?”
Move closer to the child and use a calm matter-of-fact tone of
voice, or try using a whisper voice.
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