Child Behavior: Discipline of Children in Schools

Being an Educational Psychologist for over 30 years has given me the opportunity to work with many kinds of child behavior problems in schools and to see many childcare, preschool, and school focused child discipline programs come and go. Being deeply trained in behavior modification predetermined my approach to child behavior problems entailed looking at what happened right before a child behavior problem occurred and what happened right after a child behavior problem occurred. Behavior modification training also predicted that my approach to child discipline behavior would be based on my analysis of "why" the child behavior occurred. I continue to believe behavior modification techniques are a valid part of schools processes for understanding child behavior and should be a part of a well thought out child behavior discipline program in childcare, preschools, schools, and homes.

My education clinical practice, related to child behavior and discipline, now integrates the principles from the child behavior discipline model called Positive Behavior Supports (PBS). I have made this expansion in my work with schools and in child behavior therapy because PBS addresses several child development issues that could be at the core of child behavior problems. Research has shown that when these child development issues are addressed in a systematic manner, 85% of child behavior problems requiring a discipline intervention are ameliorated.

In my opinion the following PBS strategies address typical child development and are effective in preventing child behavior problems up front: 1) having consistent school-wide rules, 2) teaching (by modeling and practicing) all children in the school how to be successful at keeping the school-wide rules, and 3) teaching (by modeling and practicing) the classroom rules. I have selected these elements as being important for the child development reasons addressed below.

Teachers and adults assume children know what they mean when they make a rule. This is a very erroneous assumption to make and is the crux of most child behavior problems in classrooms. Many children in schools today do not have the vocabulary, or the experiences to follow classroom rules. For example - a teacher may say to the class "It is circle time." This statement has many implied requirements depending on the teacher. Some of the implied expectations include: 1) put your pencil or crayons down or away, 2) close your book and leave it on your desk or put it away, 3) take your work to the workbasket, or put your work in your desk, or put your work on the teacher's desk, 4) bring your chair to the circle, or sit on a mark on the circle, or sit in your place on the circle, 5) have your legs crossed, sit on your knees, or sit anyway you want, 6) put your hands in your lap, put your hands on the floor etc.

Although this example may seem a bit excessive, it is the number one reason for most child behavior problems in classrooms and schools and consistently creates the need for teachers to use some form of discipline. Every student in a classroom interprets the teachers' original direction "It's circle time" differently. Every teacher in a school building will have different expectations for being successful with that direction too. In schools today, it is rare that students do not have multiple teachers they see on a daily basis. When each of these teachers has different implied expectations for following the same direction, students have very complex behavior expectations to attempt to follow.

When schools decide to implement PBS, they are making a commitment to reduce child behavior problems by addressing this confusion for students. They agree to define and teach, through modeling and practicing, consistent child behavior expectations across all classrooms, the gymnasium, the lunchroom, the playground, the bathrooms, the library, and halls etc. When schools implement a well planned and thought out PBS system, they can expect 85% of their students will be successful in following school rules. This means only 15% of their students will exhibit child behavior problems that require a discipline of some sort. It is at this level when behavior modification techniques become useful.

When schools and teachers can have 85% of their students being successful at meeting school expectations (and only 15% of students exhibiting child behavior problems), doesn't it just make good sense to consider a PBS model to reduce the excessive amount of child behavior problems occurring in schools today?

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