Behaviorally Speaking:
A Guide for Shaping Child Behavior
There is a Function
Stay Positive:
Actions Speak
to this Behavior?
Praise, Praise,
Just as Loud As
Every behavior has a function!
Identifying why a child is
engaging in a behavior will
help inform a plan to eradicate
inappropriate behaviors and
increase appropriate
behaviors!
Praise!
Words: Using
Using observations of the child
and his or her behavior will
help determine the function of
the behavior.
The best way to determine the
function of behavior is using
the ABC method.
A- Antecedent. What is
happening right before the
behavior occurs?
B- The behavior. What is
occurring?
C- Consequences. What is
happening immediately after
the behavior occurs? What is
the child accessing?
Common functions of
behaviors:
 Seeking Attention
 Escape or avoidance of a
demand
 To meet a sensory need
 To access a preferred
activity or item
Altering what happens right
before or after a behavior may
help reduce that behavior.
These changes may be made
based on what function of a
particular behavior is!
Using praise is an excellent
strategy for increasing
appropriate behavior and
decreasing instances of
inappropriate behavior.
This can be done with
siblings, or individual
children. When children see
others in the environment
being praised they will want
to reproduce that behavior to
gain their own praise,
decreasing instances of
negative behavior.
Praise should be specific. It is
also helpful when praise is
paired with non-verbal cues,
such as thumbs up or a smile.
Example: After lunch the
Jonny and Claire are told to
play quietly in the living
room. Johnny does as he is
asked, but Claire is running
around screaming. You then
praise Johnny for his
appropriate behavior by
saying “I like the way Johnny
is playing quietly,” and smiles
at him giving thumbs up.
Using this consistently and
frequently will yield the best
results!
Catch them being good, look
for opportunities to praise
throughout the day!
Non-Verbal Cues
Frequently when we talk as
adults we tend to use hand
gestures, eye contact, and
other forms of non-verbal
communication. It is
important to recognize that
using these with kids is
important too!
When communicating with
children it is important to try
to pair messages with
gestures and use eye contact
to best engage them.
When giving praise, try
pairing a verbal statement
with thumbs up and a smile.
When giving corrective
feedback be sure to make eye
contact and use an
appropriate hand gesture.
The more consistent your
communication is to your
children, the more accurate
their perception of that
communication will be!
Example: Dante is running
down the hallway. You lock
eyes with Dante and firmly
says, “Stop running
Dante,” while raising your
hand showing a stop cue.
An Age Old
Planned Ignoring
Attention Signals
Strategy:
This is a strategy that is used
to reduce inappropriate
behavior. It is especially
effective for kids that engage
in particular behaviors in
order to obtain attention.
Just as we get tired of
reprimanding students and
or/waiting for their full
attention, students get tired
(desensitized) to it as well.
Grandma’s Rule
The rule: If…X…Then…Y…
This is a rule many of us grew
up with and is relatively easy
to use. This can be used for
individual children or groups
of children.
When you have given a task
demand for the child they
often may ask to engage in
another preferred activity. In
order to apply grandma’s
rule, you simply answer the
child. If (you engage in my
task) then you may have a
few minutes for your task.
There is no punishment
involved with this. Every
time the child asks to engage
in a preferred activity you
apply the If…Then…
statement. When you use this
consistently and follow
through on the
reinforcement, the child is
more likely to comply with
your demands.
Example: The parent tells her
children to do their
homework. Daquan asks if he
can play on the computer.
The parent replies “If you do
10 math problems then you
may play on the computer for
5 minutes.” She repeats this
until Daquan has completed
10 problems, and then allows
him his 5 minutes of
playtime.
This strategy requires you to
choose the inappropriate or
problematic behavior ahead
of time. You must plan to
ignore instance of this
behavior and commit to
ignoring it. The only instance
of acknowledging behavior
may be if the child becomes
unsafe.
If you are inconsistent with
ignoring the behavior you
may, unknowingly, be
intermittently reinforcing the
behavior. Intermittent
reinforcement will actually
increase the likelihood the
behavior will continue to
occur in the future.
Over time, this ignoring
should lead to reduced rates
of the specified behavior.
Example: Shania whines and
asks to go to wash her hands
during her nightly reading
time, even though she has
already washed her hands
immediately following dinner
right before she reads. She
continues to ask until her
father lets her go. The father
begins to ignore these
requests until eventually,
Shania stops asking to wash
her hands.
Developing a fun attention
signal early on is a great way
to avoid having to use your
voice, and get children
refocused quickly, positively
and efficiently.
Downtime often leads to
misbehavior. Children should
begin at-home tasks quickly
after directions are given.
Using attention signals can
often help to grab multiple
children’s attention and get
them engaged in a particular
activity.
Signals can be personalized
to the personality of the
parent and children. There
are several options. Some
parents like to use different
ones for different purposes.
Examples:
Echo clap: parent claps a
pattern and students imitate
Teacher: “One two”
Students “Eyes on You”
Teacher: bum bum bum bum
bum
Class: bum bum
Parent: Simon says game
Last instruction leading into a
task such as teeth brushing.
Reinforcement:
Using a Token
Make it Stop!
What Is It?
Economy
Punishment
Negative urs when the
Negative reinforcement
occurs when the removal of a
stimulus increases a child’s
likelihood to engage in a
behavior. Despite the term
“negative” this is NOT
punishment.
Positive reinforcement
occurs when the presentation
of a stimulus increases the
future likelihood that a child
will engage in a behavior.
Either form of reinforcement
can be utilized with
individual or multiple
children.
Reinforcement is most
effective when it begins at a
high rate of consistency and
then is used intermittently.
Examples:
Many parents use behavior
charts as a form of positive
reinforcement. The parent
chooses 2-3 behaviors to
target and provides a mark
on the chart when the child
engages in the specified
behaviors. When the child
has earned a predetermined
amount of marks they receive
a larger reward.
Many parents remove a
preferred activity or object
from a child to increase a
particular behavior. For
example, turning off the
lights at night may increase
the rate of a child getting in
bed and going to sleep.
The use of a token economy is
a form of positive
reinforcement. This system
involves providing the child
with a token of your choosing
when they engage in
appropriate and desirable
behavior. The child can then
“cash in” tokens for
predetermined rewards at
predetermined values.
Examples of tokens may be
play money, computer printed
pictures, pennies, marbles, or
pieces parents may design.
Rewards available to children
should be explicit so that
children have clear
expectations as to what they
can earn.
Behaviors that may result in
the child receiving a token
should also be specific and
explicit so the child
understands what they must
do to earn.
Response Cost: This is a
strategy that can be used with
older children and adolescents.
This entails having the child
return tokens when they
engage in inappropriate and
undesirable behaviors. These
behaviors must be made clear
to the child and the token
amount returned should also
be defined.
Negative punishment occurs
when the removal of a
stimulus causes the
likelihood of a behavior to
occur in the future to
decrease.
Positive Punishment occurs
when the presentation of a
stimulus decreases the future
likelihood that a child will
engage in a behavior.
This can also be used with
individual or group of
children.
The more consistent
punishment is, the more
effective it will be!
Examples:
Using timeout is a common
form of negative punishment,
whereby the child loses the
opportunity to engage in a
desirable activity in order to
decrease a disruptive
behavior.
An example of positive
punishment may be
presenting a loud noise such
as a buzzer when a child
engages in an inappropriate
behavior that results in a
decrease of that behavior.