Head Start Bureau's Position on Time Out

"Do not fear mistakes. There are none." - Miles Davis

Head Start Bureau's Position on Time Out

A Head Start Bureau publication, "The Role of Time-Out in a Comprehensive Approach for Addressing Challenging Behaviors of Preschool Children," produced by the Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations of Early Learning (CSEFEL), offers these introductory remarks...

"Time-Out is a form of discipline that can be effective in reducing challenging behaviors of young children. The term 'time-out' is short for 'time out from positive reinforcement.' The strategy is similar to an extended form of selectively ignoring disruptive beharior. Children are removed for a brief time from all sources of reinforcement (e.g., teacher and peer attention) following serious challenging behavior. Usually this strategy requires that a child be removed from an ongoing activity for a brief time, typically by having a child sit on the outside of the activity within the classroom until the child calms down and is ready to rejoin the activity and try again. Time-out is intended to be a non-violent response to conflict that stops the conflict, protects the victim, and provides a 'cooling off period' for the child.

"Time-out is only effective when used in the context of a comprehensive approach to behavior support that is designed to teach, nurture and encourage positive social behaviors. Time-out should be used only by well-trained teachers and caregivers when less intrusive discipline procedures have been tried and deemed unsuccessful and only in combination with positive procedures designed to teach new skills and prevent challenging behaviors from occurring....Effective management of behavior should always start with praise and encouragement for pro-social behavior and self-regulation and be accompanied by distraction, redirection, withdrawal of attention, and logical and natural consequences."

This publication is one in a series of "What Works Briefs," produced by CSEFEL. For more information about this publication and the entire series, go to their web site at http://csefel.uiuc.edu.

For other views on discipline, check out the Beginnings Workshops on "Perspectives on Discipline" at http://mail.ccie.com/go/eed/0559

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