Child time-out

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A 'time-out' is an educational (mainly parenting) technique recommended by many pediatrists and developmental psychologists as an alternative to spanking and other traditional forms of discipline. The concept was invented, named and used by Arthur Staats in his extended work with his daughter (and later son), part of a long-term program of behavioral analysis (beginning in 1958)that treated various aspects of child development (see his books dating from 1963). In that work he introduced various elements that later composed foundations for applied behavior analysis and behavior therapy(the token reward system was another invention). Montrose Wolf, a graduate student assistant of Staats on several studies dealing with reading learning in preschoolers (see, for example, Staats A.W, Staats C.K, Schultz R.E, Wolf M.M. The conditioning of textual responses using “extrinsic” reinforcers.), used that background when he went to the University of Washington where he began his creative program of research see Wolf, PhD. Wolf first used Staats' time-out procedure in a 1964 published study dealing with the behavioral treatment of a child.^[1]

Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior 1962;5:33–40.). Staats used the the term in his 1968 book, Learning, Language and Cognition^[2] Staats described the discipline of his 2-year old daughter in 1962: "I would put her in her crib and indicate that she had to stay there until she stopped crying. If we were in a public place [where her behavior was inapproprate], I would pick her up and go outside [until she indicated she would stop the offending behavior]." In brief, I (Arthur Staats) "intended time-out to constitute a very mild punishment, the removal from a more reinforcing situation. That has the effect of weakening the offending behavior so that it occurs less frequently, pretty quickly disappearing unless the behavior has been well learned. The procedure substitutes for the corporal punishments used by some parents and the practices of other parents that actually train the child to misbehave. It is useful for parents for providing a means of training the child not to perform behaviors that can lead to deeper problems, and for providing an alternative to poor parental practices of discipline. Some with a less behavioral analytic interpretation have considered time-out" to be designed to keep the child isolated for a limited period of time, in order to allow the child to calm down, to learn coping skills as well as to discourage inappropriate behavior. In addition, the procedure has been recommended as a time for parents to separate feelings of anger toward the child for their behavior and to develop a plan for discipline.

Contents 1 Applying the technique 2 In parent training 3 Counting to Three 4 References 5 Notes 6 See also

[edit] Applying the technique

The technique is recommended mostly for toddlers and upwards. For an older child, the parent is advised to explain what kind of misbehavior will result in a time-out and also write down those rules. When implementing the time-out, it is suggested that no arguing should be allowed as this may inadvertently reinforce the unwanted behavior. Time-outs are not recommended for frequent use (if it works, improved behavior should make it less necessary), but since they are considered a mild form of discipline they are not always used as a last resort.

The following is a set of guidelines often given for time-outs:

1. Decide what type of behavior warrants a time-out (such as fighting, arguing or throwing tantrums), and try to enforce this fairly and consistently. All adults involved with the child should follow similar guidelines when using a time-out.
2. Designate a corner (hence the common term corner time) or similar space where the child is to stand during time-outs. Never use their bed.
3. Use an age appropriate time length for the time-out. For a short time-out, approximately one minute per year of age is reasonable; that time may be doubled if necessary if the child pushes their limits during the time-out.
4. Have an incentive for completing the time-out without arguing. This may for instance be a loss of a privilege until the time-out has been completed.
5. The time-out should always have verbal warnings before the discipline to allow the child to make appropriate choices. If their bad behavior continues, they should have an explanation for the time-out as they are being escorted to that area. Even one-year olds understand when they have reached their parental limit, but the explanations should be age appropriate.
6. Afterwards both the parent and the child should try to leave the incident behind.

Here is an alternate set of guidelines which are said to be more suitable to the classroom:

1. Announce the guidelines to the children periodically. Explain what a timeout is, and demonstrate how it begins and ends.
2. When a child misbehaves, approach it saying, "Time out for X" (where X is the forbidden act, e.g., teasing).
3. Send or bring the child to the time-out place. (Within earshot of the teacher is best.)
4. When time's up, go over to the child and say, "Why did you have time-out?" The ideal answer is, "For X" (e.g., "Because I teased Sally.") If they don't seem to know why they got time out, remind them (briefly).
5. After they are let out of the area, they are to apologize to the victim if there is one.

While some proponents of time-outs insist on silence and stillness from the child during the time-out, it is easier to use a "release-contingency," such that the requirement is only that the child is sitting quietly at the end of the time-out period. Those who use time-out for children to get anger and frustration "out of their system" or for children to think about their behavior, are using time-out in a way that is different than those basing it on operant behavioral principles (that time-out/away from reinforcement may reduce recurrences of the unwanted target behavior).

Some of those in favor of spanking have argued that time-out is ineffective. Others argue that it should be seen as a complement rather than as an alternative to spanking; a brief spanking is used as a penalty if the child refuses to serve the time-out. However, other back-up penalties could be used, such as privilege withdrawal substantial enough to encourage serving time-outs instead. Obviously, alternatives to both time-out and spanking exist as well, such as ignoring, differentially reinforcing other behaviors, and use of a variety of penalties.

[edit] In parent training

Time out is often taught as a disciplinary practice in behavioral parent training programs such as Parent-Child Interaction Therapy or Parent Management Training Programs. The programs usually take a social learning or applied behavior analysis focus. In general they teach the use of rewards alternative behavior prior to the use of punishment procedures and sometmes time out with older children is replaced with response cost^[3][4][5][6]

[edit] Counting to Three

A technique referred to as prompting is counting to three as a way to get children to listen the first time. When a child is doing something wrong, one should say, "That's One", then wait five seconds. If the child is still behaving unacceptably, one should say, "That's Two", wait five more seconds and say "That's Three, Time Out", then proceed to put the child in time out.

Research does not support the use of prompting when using time out ^[7]

[edit] References

[edit] Notes

• This time-out is also used in schools and should not be confused with a time-out as awarded in team sports (where it is often considered a calculated risk).

[edit] See also

• Punishment
• Naughty chair
• Behavior management