modification program

modification program

Behavior Modification Program



Technique: In this behavior modification program, the goal will be to decrease a behavior with extinction.

Assessment: Madison a 1st grader who always raises her hand and loves participating in class is taking the frustration of missing a question and physically hitting her self in the head. Whenever Madison does this, the teacher unknowingly reinforces this behavior by giving her a lot of attention for the inappropriate behavior.

Introduction

            When a behavior is disruptive or harmful implementing a program to decrease the behavior to zero or extinction would be ideal. In this case, Madison's target behavior is “hitting self”. In this paper, I will design, implement and evaluate the behavior modification program.

Designing the program

            In the design of this program, I will take into consideration, how often the target behavior occurs and what the reinforcer is toward the inappropriate behavior. In this case, the target behavior occurs after every missed question during a classroom day. The reinforcer for that behavior is the teacher's attention because she begs Madison to stop.

            There will also be a need for an alternative behavior that Madison can do, which will be snapping her fingers one time, after a wrong answer. The reinforcer for Madison when she snaps her fingers instead of punching herself in the head is a cool small sticker.

The setting where the extinction program will be carried out will be the classroom because this is the only place the behavior occurs. The teacher along with student aid will be informed about what behavior is being extinguished and what behavior is being reinforced.

Implementing the program

            Madison's teacher will be implementing the plan. The teacher will first explain to Madison what the plan is before starting.

            In class Madison gave the wrong answer for a question, she then hit her self in the head....