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The Power of Positive Reinforcement
Positive reinforcement is often underestimated by many parents and professionals when working with children. We are often more likely to reprimand a child who is doing something wrong than we are to praise a child who is doing something right. I find in my observations of various classrooms that many teachers will spend the majority of their lesson redirecting the children that are off track and very rarely attending to those doing as they should. There are many children that engage in disruptive behaviors just for attention. Teachers may think that by reprimanding a child, they are punishing the behavior, but if a child is looking for attention, any conversation may be enough to keep them engaging in further disruptions. I feel that many times it is more effective to for teachers to spend time reinforcing the children in the class that are staying on track. If a child is trying to get attention, the most powerful thing for the teacher to do is to provide the praise to those around them. By the child seeing the other children receiving attention for doing as they should, they may try harder to gain the teacher’s attention appropriately.
Positive reinforcement can be provided in many ways, some structured and some unstructured. For classrooms, structured reinforcement systems can be set up as group reinforcement or as individual reinforcement. Each child should be made aware of what can earn them reinforcement as well as what they are going to get for earning reinforcement. Teachers should avoid making the earning competitive, such as only the top earners get something while everyone else is given nothing. The levels should be set for all of the children, and if all reach the criteria for reinforcement, they should all be provided with it.
Often when people think of reinforcement, they think tangible items that have to be purchased, but that is not always the case. Children can earn time with preferred people, engaging in preferred activities or even time to just get to be alone to choose what they want to do. Unstructured reinforcement should be occurring consistently in both homes and schools. Anytime you see a behavior you would like to see more of, let the child know. In many of my observations of both homes and schools, I often see what many perceive to be reinforcement systems that are actually what we refer to as a response cost. In a response cost, something previously earned is taken away or “lost”. This is actually a punishment procedure that is not necessary in most reinforcement systems. Children get used to hearing that they will “lose” things, and the focus shifts off of the reinforcement piece, which is where the focus should be.
Parents and professionals should practice rephrasing statements to be positive, such as “You can have dessert as soon as you finish your dinner” instead of “You will lose dessert if you don’t eat.” Rephrasing the statements focuses the child back on earning.
Never underestimate the power of positive reinforcement!
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