Article #1

Time-out 1

        The article I chose came from the website on the Council for Children with Behavior Disorders. The article compared and contrasted the use of time-outs in today’s classrooms. Many teachers today have students with EBD or emotional and behavioral disorders. These disorders can range from very mild to severe and anywhere in-between. The disorders can be multifaceted, including components from one category, or many from both. As we move toward a much more inclusive classroom structure and less exclusive, teachers and support staff are having to implement many different techniques as part of their over all behavior management plans.

            Many teachers use time-outs a part of their over all comprehensive behavioral management plan. Time-out procedures are just one tool in a teachers arsenal and when use correctly they can be effective in reducing manipulative behaviors. Since time-outs are not age, gender, creed, culture or otherwise specific this technique can be used across and with a wide range of students with emotional and behavioral disorders.

            A time-out is defined as a behavior reduction procedure or form of punishment in which students are denied access to all opportunities for reinforcement, contingent upon their displaying inappropriate behavior (Ryan, 2012). However many teachers and support staff think of a time-out as calm down or quite time. By giving the student a few minutes away from other students, the inappropriate behavior, or situation, the student can calm down and appropriately self redirect or with the help support staff or their teacher talk about their behavior and redirect in a positive direction.

Time-out 2

            While there are many variations of this procedure use in classrooms across the country the two most popular forms are inclusion and exclusion. An inclusive time-out occurs when the student continues to observe the classroom but is unable to participate and does not receive positive reinforcement. Exclusive time-outs occur when the student is excluded from all classroom activities and interactions with other students and teachers. 

                 The article stressed that if time-outs were to be uses as a form of punishment or calming down period, it would do no good to put a student in time-out that wanted to be excluded from classroom activities in the first place. Using this form of behavior management for these students would further reinforce that negative behavior and give them what they wanted. To reinforce the desired behaviors the author of the article suggested increasing the positive to negative comments by a 5 to 1 ratio (Ryan, 2012). Focusing on the positive behaviors more then the negative ones will help the student understand what is expected of them and want to try to increase the positive behaviors that receive positive comments.

            This was very beneficial article since I use this behavior method in our behavioral management plans. There were many parts of this article that I agree with, such as I think of time-outs as more of a calming down period and a chance to redirect the inappropriate behavior into something appropriate and positive. Also using time outs for students that want to get out of classroom work and activities can backfire since they are getting just what they want. Teachers and support staff have to be careful to monitor the students that this procedure is used for and weight the positives and negatives before they consider adding it to their management plan.

Time-out 3

Reference:

Ryan, J. (2012). How to Make Classroom Timeouts More Effective. Retrieved from http://www.ccbd.net/?q=node/49