Child time-out

A time-out is an educational (mainly parenting) technique recommended by many pediatricians and developmental psychologists as an alternative to spanking and other traditional forms of discipline. Yet in many developed countries such as the Scandinavian countries, it is considered medieval and primitive. [ [http://www.folkeskolen.dk/ObjectShow.aspx?ObjectId=31046] ]

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. Wolf first used Staats' time-out procedure in a 1964 published study dealing with the behavioral treatment of a child. [ [http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1226164 Montrose M. Wolf (1935–2004)] ] [ [http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/picrender.fcgi?artid=1404175&blobtype=pdf Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior 1962;5:33–40] .]

Staats used the term in his 1968 book, Learning, Language and Cognition [Robert Strauss, "Twenty People Who Changed Childhood", Child magazine, October 2006, pp107-110.] 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 inappropriate] , 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.

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.

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.

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 [Ware, Fortson & McNeil: (2003) [http://www.behavior-analyst-today.net/VOL-3/BAT-3-4.pdf Parent-Child Interaction Therapy: A Promising Intervention for Abusive Families.] (PDF)"The Behavior Analyst Today, 3 (4)," 375-382] [Van Camp, Borrero & Vollmer: (2003) [http://www.behavior-analyst-today.net/VOL-3/BAT-3-4.pdf The Family Safety/Applied Behavior Analysis Initiative: An Introduction and Overview.] (PDF) "The Behavior Analyst Today, 3 (4)," 389-404] [Shaffer, A Kotchick, B. A. Dorsey, St & Forehand R. (2001) [http://www.behavior-analyst-today.net/VOL-2/BAT-2-2.pdf The Past Present. and Future of Behavioral Parent Training: Interventions for Child and Adolescent Problem Behavior.] (PDF) "The Behavior Analyst Today, 2 (2)," 91-105] [McNeil, C. B., Filcheck, H. A., Greco, L. A., Ware, L. M. & Bernard, R. S. (2001) [http://www.behavior-analyst-today.net/VOL-2/BAT-2-2.pdf Parent-Child Interaction Therapy: Can a Manualized Treatment Be Functional?] (PDF) "The Behavior Analyst Today, 2 (2)," 106-114 ]

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 [Jones, R.N., Sloane, H.N. & Roberts, M.W. (1992). Limitations of the don't instructional command."Behavior Therapy, 23(1)" 131-140 ]

References

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).

ee also

*Punishment
*Naughty chair
*Behavior management