Punishment... According to Applied Behavior Analysis Methodology

The word punishment has long carried with it a great deal of anticipated fear, and many educators have long avoided using punishment within educational plans out of consideration for families' feelings. But what is the intended punishment? And how can it be applied based on behavioral theory and strategies under the field of Applied Behavior Analysis without being frightening or distressing to any party? And is the punishment methodology similar to old practices that caused a great deal of physical pain or negative psychological effects?

Punishment according to Applied Behavior Analysis methodology involves adding or removing a (stimulus) something in the child's environment, which leads to a decrease in the unacceptable behavior and similar behaviors in the future. Among the types of punishment are what is known as positive punishment and negative punishment; we must mention here that the words positive and negative are in the mathematical, arithmetic sense, where positive means addition and negative means removal.

Positive reinforcement occurs by presenting or adding something to the child's environment that is undesired by the child, which leads to a decrease in their behavior.

Positive punishment intervention is represented in the following situations:

1. Amer stands on the chair during morning circle time when everyone is sitting on the floor; the teacher: "No" or "Stop" or "Get down," accompanied by eye contact and approaching where the child is, as this is more effective than directing from a distance. Verbal prompting does not require a loud voice as much as a tone that is clear, direct, and focused. And the teacher does not repeat the verbal prompt and can use other strategies accompanying "reprimand."

2. Reem puts her hand in her mouth and then puts her hand in her eye; the teacher intervenes physically by preventing the behavior from occurring, by preventing the child from completing the behavior as soon as its signs appear. This method can be paired with verbal prompting and is often used with self-injurious behaviors or behaviors with a sensory function, and this method is called "response blocking." Side effects of this method may appear, such as resistance and aggression; in this case, the child is provided with prompting and reinforcement of alternative behaviors.

3. Jamil hits his friends in the morning lineup, so the teacher asks Jamil to sit and stand 10 times, and in case of refusal, verbal prompting and physical assistance are used if necessary. It is used with stereotypical behaviors, aggression, and self-stimulation, and is called "contingent exercise."

4. Khaled throws papers and tissues on the classroom floor, so the teacher asks him to clean up what he threw in addition to cleaning the entire classroom, and it is called the "overcorrection" method. There is positive overcorrection and also negative; positive is after the child engages in the undesirable behavior, such as throwing papers on the floor, the teacher asks him to repeat the desirable behavior he was supposed to do from the beginning, such as: going to throw the tissue into the trash bin a number of times. As for negative correction, such as: Raed hits his friend, so the teacher asks him to hit the pillow 10 times, which is called a type of correction.

As for negative punishment, it is by removing and taking away something from the child's environment, which leads to a decrease in the behavior.

Negative punishment intervention:

1. Lama pushes her friends during playtime in the garden, so the teacher places her in a spot away from her friends and she is not allowed to play with them, but she can watch them; or she removes her completely from the play area so they cannot be watched; or the distinctive ribbon for students is removed from Lama's hand while everyone else keeps their ribbons, and this is called "time-out." For this method to succeed, there must be a difference between the isolation environment and the reinforcing environment. This method takes into account the parent's permission, school policy, and building suitability.

2. Joud receives three opportunities daily to use the computer, but when the behavior of raising her voice or screaming occurs, she loses one of those opportunities. Joud can also receive 6 computer opportunities as a type of bonus, and these opportunities decrease each time the behavior appears; thus, the baseline number of opportunities remains and the child loses from the bonus. This is called "response cost."

Punishment intervention is preceded by an assessment of the behavior's function (that is, knowing the reason the behavior occurs) so that we can choose the optimal method or combination of methods suitable for that behavior.

Nour Al-Huda Nabeel Mousa

Autism Specialist

Master's in Special Education

Originally published in Arabic. This English version was produced with AI-assisted translation; the Arabic original remains the reference.