tinyeye: behavior modification (children)
DESCRIPTION
Quick Tips for Child Behavior ModificationWritten by Marnee Brick, Speech-Language Pathologist, and Director of Speech Therapy for TinyEYE Therapy Services.TinyEYE provides Speech-Language Pathologists via Telepractice. SLPs connect to students online via TinyEYE.com and therapy is facilitated by TinyEYE's growing base of Speech Therapy computer games.http://www.TinyEYE.comTRANSCRIPT
Online Speech Therapy Telepractice
Quick TipsBehavior Modification
Focus on “do” instead of “don’t”
NO: Don’t drop your milk.YES: Carry your mild in both hands like this.
Protect and preserve your children’s feelings of being lovable and capable
No: Can’t you do anything right?YES: That’s a hard job. Let’s wipe it up and you can try again
NO: You’re too little to do that.YES: Let’s see if we can do it together.
Give choices only when you can abide by their decisions
NO: Do you want to come in and eat?YES: You will know its lunch time when the light goes off in 5 minutes
NO: What would you like for breakfast?YES: Would you like toast or cereal?
Change the environment instead of the child’s behaviour
IF: Your child spills milk at every meal…THEN: Provide heavy bottomed, wide plastic cups with lids
Work with children instead of against them – know what’s ‘normal’ for their age
NO: 13 month old Sam wants to eat with his hands, but it makes a big mess so you only allow him to have food from a spoonYES: Cover the floor with a shower curtain from the dollar store – let him help himself!
TinyEYE Therapy Services 127G-116 Research Drive, Saskatoon Saskatchewan, S7N 3R3www.TinyEYE.com – 1.877.TinyEYE (846.9393)
Online Speech Therapy Telepractice
Give children safe limits that they can understand
IF: Taylor, who is four, is pouring mild onto her plateTHEN: Say, “Milk stays in your cup. When your cup is empty, you may pour some more. But you may not pour it over you dinner.”
Set a good example – apologize for your mistakes and be honest
NO: “Aiden, if you bite your sister, I will bite you!”YES: “Biting hurts. You may bite these crackers, but you may not bite your sister.”
Distract and Refocus
NO: You take a toy from one young child to give to another child; causing him to cry.YES: Replace that toy with a different one as you are taking the first toy away (if for a good reason). Try engaging the child in something else of interest – right away. (Young children do not understand sharing – EVERYTHING belongs to them!)
Look at the whole picture
A child’s behaviour may be related to surrounding stress due to:-family changes or conflicts-sibling relationships-school environment-peer relationships-physical or health conditions-neighborhood or community environment
Prevent problems
- Demonstrate coping skills- Prepare an appropriate environment that is safe and free of items that
could cause problems- Be clear and consistent about rules- Calmly remind children of the rules when a problem occurs – be direct and
simple- Schedule events with the child’s needs in mind
TinyEYE Therapy Services 127G-116 Research Drive, Saskatoon Saskatchewan, S7N 3R3www.TinyEYE.com – 1.877.TinyEYE (846.9393)
Online Speech Therapy Telepractice
- Help children to solve problems, make choices, and understand consequences
TinyEYE Therapy Services 127G-116 Research Drive, Saskatoon Saskatchewan, S7N 3R3www.TinyEYE.com – 1.877.TinyEYE (846.9393)