EC-S1: Ability to deliver developmentally appropriate instructional interventions under the direction of a licensed professional for infants and young children ages 0-5 in these domains: cognitive, motor, self-help, sensory, social/play, and speech/language development.

EC-S3: Ability to prepare, adapt, and use developmentally appropriate materials under the direction of a licensed professional.

1

1R

2

2R

2a

2aR

3

3R

3a

3aR

4

4R

4a

4aR

5

5R

5a

5aR

6

6R

6a

6aR

7

7R

7a

7aR

7b

7bR

7c

7cR

7d

7dR

8

8R

Strategy to Practice: Positive Reinforcement

Reinforcement is a word that you will often hear in discussions of young children’s challenging behavior in the early childhood setting. Reinforcement is a stimulus that follows and is contingent upon a behavior and increases the probability of a behavior being repeated. For example, teacher attention and praise in response to a child’s good listening skills will increase the likelihood that the child will use good listening skills again in the future. Positive reinforcement can increase the probability of not only desirable behavior but also undesirable behavior. For example, if a student whines in order to get attention and is successful in getting it, the attention serves as positive reinforcement that increases the likelihood that the student will continue the behavior.

Planned positive reinforcement is very effective in promoting desirable change in child behavior. Some educators question whether reinforcing or rewarding children for improving their behavior is really just bribing them to do what is desired. This is not the case. A bribe is something that is unacceptable, inappropriate, and illegal. Reinforcement is given to bring about desirable change and to teach children to take responsibility for behavior. For example, your paycheck is reinforcement for doing your job, and commendations and bonuses are reinforcements for going above and beyond expectations. Without these reinforcements, how likely is it that you would exhibit the appropriate behavior of showing up at work each day?

Several types of reinforcement can be used when addressing challenging behavior:

Natural and Direct Reinforcement

Natural and direct reinforcement is reinforcement that occurs naturally and directly from the behavior. For example, interacting appropriately with peers in group activities will lead to more invitations to join such activities. The natural reinforcement for appropriate requests for attention, help, participation, etc. is providing the attention, help, and opportunity to participate. When using reinforcement to address challenging behavior, the goal should always be to move the student to natural and direct reinforcement.

Social Reinforcers

These are reinforcers that are socially mediated by teachers, parents, other adults, and peers, who express approval and praise for appropriate behavior. Comments (e.g., "Good job," "I can tell you are working really hard," "You're nice"), written approval (e.g., "Super"), and expressions of approval (e.g., nodding your head, smiling, clapping, a pat on the back) are all very effective reinforcers.

Activity Reinforcers

Activity reinforcers are very effective and positive for children. Allowing children to participate in preferred activities (e.g., games, computer time, etc.) is very powerful, especially if part of the reinforcement is being allowed to choose a classmate with whom to participate in the activity. This also provides social reinforcement from the partner.

Tangible Reinforcers

This category includes edibles, toys, stickers, and awards. Edibles and toys should be used with caution. Parents may have reason to object to edibles as reinforcement (e.g., if a student has a weight problem), and toys can cause envy in other students. However, awards can be in the form of certificates, displaying work, and letters home to parents commending the students' progress. These are powerfully motivating reinforcers.

Guidelines for Using Reinforcers

Reinforcers must be valued, preferred, and individualized. What may be extremely motivating for one child may be entirely useless for another. In order to make positive reinforcement work as an effective intervention, use the following guidelines:

1. Reinforcement must be consistently delivered, according to a planned reinforcement schedule. If it is not according to a planned schedule, the child will develop no connection between appropriate behavior and the reinforcement, and the appropriate behavior will not be reinforced.
2. Reinforcement must be delivered immediately. Children should know when they can expect reinforcement. If you wait until the end of the day to reinforce a child for remaining seated during circle time, the effect of reinforcement is reduced, if not lost. If it is impossible to deliver reinforcement immediately, verbal reinforcement should be given, and the child should be told when he or she can expect to receive other reinforcement. In this way, a contingency between behavior and reinforcement will be strengthened or maintained.
3. Improvement should be reinforced. Do not wait until the child's behavior is perfect to deliver reinforcement. You should recognize improvement, and let the child know that you recognize the effort.
4. Do not give reinforcement because you feel sorry for a child . If a child does not achieve the required criterion, delivering reinforcement will only teach the child that rewards are readily available regardless of behavior and may even lead to an escalation of the behavior. Rather, recognize that you know the child is disappointed but that they will have the opportunity to try again tomorrow. Reinforcement must be contingent on behavior.
5. Whenever possible, pair any reinforcement with social reinforcement. If your reinforcement plan is letting children participate in preferred activities, make sure to give some sort of social reinforcement, such as telling the children, "You did a great job today. You should be really proud of yourself," or letting the children participate in their chosen activities with a friend.
6. Make sure that social reinforcers are not ambiguous. They should be sincere, clear, and identify the specific behavior for which they are being delivered.
7. Reinforcement should be age-appropriate
8. Finally, in designing a positive reinforcement plan, it is very important tomove from less natural reinforcement (tangibles) to more natural reinforcement(social reinforcement, and/or reinforcement that occurs naturally and directly from behavior.)

Information in this lesson is used with permission from:

Smith, K. (YEAR). Positive Ways of Intervening with Challenging Behavior Tip Sheet: Positive Reinforcement. Minneapolis , MN : University of Minnesota , Institute on Community Integration. Retrieved January 22, 2005 , from, http://education.umn.edu/ceed/publications

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