Behavior Management - Uses of Behavior Management

Uses of Behavior Management

Many of the principles and techniques used are the same as behavior modification yet delivered in a less intensively and consistent fashion. Usually, behavior management is applied at the group level by a classroom teacher as a form of behavioral engineering to produce high rates of student work completion and minimize classroom disruption. In addition, greater focus has been placed on building self-control. Brophy (1986) writes:

"Contemporary behavior modification approaches involve students more actively in planning and shaping their own behavior through participation in the negotiation of contracts with their teachers and through exposure to training designed to help them to monitor and evaluate their behavior more actively, to learn techniques of self-control and problem solving, and to set goals and reinforce themselves for meeting these goals." (p. 191)

In general behavior management strategies have been very effective in reducing classroom disruption. In addition, recent efforts have focused on incorporating principles of functional assessment into the process.

While such programs can come from a variety of behavioral change theories, the most common practices rely on the use of applied behavior analysis principles such as positive reinforcement and mild punishments (such as response cost and child time-out). Behavioral practices such as differential reinforcement are commonly used. Sometimes, these are delivered in a token economy or a level system. In general the reward component is considered effective. For example, Cotton (1988) reviewed 37 studies on tokens, praise and other reward systems and found them to be highly effective in managing student classroom behavior. The most comprehensive review of token procedures to match to children's level of behavioral severity was Walker's text "The acting out child."