EBD Blog

Mrs. Ris, one of my favorite reads, used an entry in her blog to review her use of “detention” in her classroom. She took the opportunity to develop describe her policy and procedures—as well as rationale—for using detention in her classroom.

Detention is the last phase of a multi-step intervention strategy designed to address dangerous /unsafe behaviors. It is the period of time after a child has moved through the crisis cycle, and is ready to demonstrate behaviors incompatible with the negative, inappropriate behavior previously noted.

Mrs. Ris goes on to (a) say that her students need time to settle down, (b) describe “unsafe behavior,” (c) place detention in an array of disciplinary practices, (d) explain that failing to have a child settle down increases the chances of repeated, relatively immediate failure, and (e) suggest that perhaps “detention” should be replaced with a different term. It’s an thoughtful article and it set me to thinking.

Although I’ve read the piece a couple of times, I’m still a little at sea about what, procedurally, “detention” is. Elsewhere, Mrs. Ris describes it a little more as “an extended time out.” I understand “time out” as a brief period when reinforcers are not available to an individual; usually this is accomplished by isolating an individual from usual classroom activities for a few minutes. Mrs. Ris’ procedures describe detention, “extended time out,” as occurring a step or two after regular time out.

Time out is one of the most well-researched behavior management procedures teachers have available. It is an unusually effective method for reducing inappropriate behavior, provided that it is used in the ways that research has shown contribute to its effectiveness. What are the relevant ways of implementing time out effectively and ineffectively? They include having a very reinforcing time in environment, focusing time out on a specific behavior, using time out consistently, limiting the duration of time out, and so forth; all of these can be found in most credible behavior management books. Each of these topics (and other related ones) deserves a post of its own.

Link to Mrs. Ris’ entry. A relevant earlier entry is here.