Operant Work with Children

Operant conditiong plays an imortant role in the developent of good or desirable

behavior among children. It is no secret that many parents and teachers
struggle with disciplining children. Toilet Training, Washing Hands, Dry Nights,
Sharing Toys and Teeth Brushing Learning the skills of everyday life can be hard,
but they can be helped with application of a little operant conditioning.
One model, the ABC model, involves the application operant conditioning which
is there to re-enforce desirable behaviours. Using the model leads to the
development of a behaviour plan where desirable and undesirable behaviours
are consistently targeted to change behaviour. The ABC stands for: Antecedents,
Behaviours, and Consequences

The Antecedents are what happened before the undesirable behaviour

and which may have triggered it. They may include:
o The actions of others : being told off, bullying or even
overstimulation in the environment
o The physical state of the person: hungry, tired, medicated (or not)
o The emotional state: anxious, excitable, depressed
o The social context: who else was there The environment: hot, noisy,
too many people, bright lights etc
Finding out which factors are significant and reducing them is important.

The Behaviours need to be examined. What does it look and sound like?
For example a child who believes he can get what he wants by throwing a
tantrum in a shop may throw himself to the ground, cream, kick and may
even hold his breath until he nearly loses consciousness. In such
situations the consequences may have to include ignoring it otherwise
attention might re-enforce.
The Consequences: What can you do to re-enforce the desirable
behaviour? This may involve both negative and positive re-enforcement.
The child throwing the tantrum needs to be ignored (negative) but as soon
as he behaves appropriately he should be rewarded but not with the thing
which caused the tantrum in the first place This is called catching them
being good.

Why is knowing about operant conditioning so important?

1. Its the basis of all learning. Human beings learn by making associations,
consciously or innately. Infants learn that breastfeeding provides milk and
comfort. Saying dada makes mom and dad very happy. And in the teen
years, doing homework and chores earns greater rewards and privileges.
2. It can be used to manage behavior. Teachers use operant conditioning
methods in the classroom to manage classroom behavior and to keep
students on task. Its also a method you can consciously employ at home
to encourage more constructive behaviors.
3. Reinforcements must change with time. Based on the behavior, you need
to change the reinforcement. Giving a teenager a lollypop isnt as powerful
of a reinforcement as it is to a toddler. Getting the keys to dads car means
nothing to a five year old.

4. Non-adaptive behaviors dont last. Generally speaking, human beings

have an innate drive to survive. Learned behaviors that interfere with that
need to survive dont last, except in the case of addictions. In each of us,
there is a strong drive to survive. If you child is engaging in lifethreatening behaviors like alcohol use or drugs, you need to aggressively
take action to break that learned association and to replace the kind of
reward a child gains by taking drugs. If you have a child in this situation,
you should seek professional help.

References:

Urgemeester, A. (2014, December 15). Everyday Examples of Operant

Conditioning . Retrieved January 5, 2017, from
http://psychologized.org/everyday-examples-of-operant-conditioning/
Huerta, M. Parenting and B.F. Skinner: It All Boils Down to Operant
Conditioning. Retrieved January 5, 2017, from
http://www.kars4kids.org/blog/parenting-b-f-skinner-it-all-boils-down-tooperant-conditioning/