Strategies to Promote Positive Behavior at Home and in the
Community
The purpose of this article is to explore a variety of strategies that can be used when
dealing with unacceptable behaviors. You may choose to start with just one or you can start
with more. However, any of the following strategies chosen must be used consistently or it will
not be as effective. Also, it is likely that the negative behaviors will increase at first before
getting better. This is when it will be the hardest to remain consistent, but stay focused on the
long term results. You and the child will be grateful in the end for the structure and positive
results. There are a variety of strategies for various behaviors and situations. Some are things to
avoid and be proactive; others are ways to help children become more aware of how they react
to their emotions. (These strategies are in no particular order to be used)
Certain things to avoid would be overstimulation of loud music, strobe lights, and noisy
groups of people. Also, look into other areas that your child may be sensitive to, such as
fluorescent lighting, repetitive sounds, etc. Something else to avoid is using confinement as a
method of discipline. Also, when discipline is necessary do so privately and not in front of a
group of people or other children. A child is more likely to accept discipline when others are not
watching. Sometimes instead of using discipline it might be better to just ignore certain
behaviors. This is called planned ignoring and may work for children who are interrupting
others, whistling, humming, tapping etc. These behaviors are directed at gaining attention
inappropriately. Instead, provide the attention the child is seeking when appropriate behaviors
are displayed. This strategy takes practice and is planned as well as followed through by all
adults.
Preventative cueing is another strategy that is used to alert a child who is doing
something unacceptable, kind of like a nonverbal warning. The adult could cue the child by
making eye contact, frowning, shaking the head, or pointing to where they should be focusing.
This is used a lot in schools, but can also be used at home or in the community.
We know that some children do not handle change well. A strategy to help these
children are using social stories and giving advance notice of changes. Be sure to go over the
day’s routine and expectations for behavior. It is also helpful to give reminders as the change in
routine is approaching. Also, explaining that changes happen and that it’s ok, will be helpful.
Another way to encourage change as a positive, is giving the child examples of other changes
that have happened that the child has liked, or went well.
A very important strategy that is individualized to each child is using a reward plan.
There are multiple elements to an effective reward plan. One being the rewards themselves,
each reward must be age appropriate and be something that the child will want, work to
achieve and not receive outside of this plan. When the rewards are meaningful to the child they
will try harder, if the reward is not meaningful then there is no reason for the child to
demonstrate the proper behavior. The rewards may need to change to keep it meaningful;
they may tire of working for the same reward.
The concept is to focus on one behavior at a time, while teaching a replacement
behavior. Punishment or discipline alone does not teach the child what they should be doing.
The reward should be instant for younger children. Remember, a lot of behaviors are to gain
attention so we have to make sure to give them the positive attention. If they do not get the
positive attention they will seek any attention even if it is negative.
Let’s say the child is 8 years old, you will keep a chart that tracks only one of the
negative behaviors, such as yelling. The chart will show daily, weekly and monthly progress up
to a possible three months. Allowing for some mistakes to occur, set an expectation that is
reasonable, one that will be difficult but able for the child to reach. For example, the 8 year old
child who yells quite frequently, the goal might be to yell 3x or less in one day in order to
receive a sticker for that day, and a small reward such as an extra 2 minutes playing a video
game or watching T.V. At the end of the week if the child has at least 6 stickers out of 7 the
child would receive a larger reward like not doing one of their chores, or getting to decide what
will be for dinner. Then at the end of the month the child gets their largest reward which could
be a trip to their favorite store or to the zoo etc. Now to decide if they reached the monthly
goal, you would look to see if they met the weekly goals. If they received the reward each week
then they have achieved the monthly goal, if not then the child doesn’t get the monthly goal.
However, still encourage the child to keep at it, and work towards the next reward. After about
three months, it starts over but this time with higher expectations. In order to receive a daily
sticker the child only gets to yell one time a day, and any more they don’t receive a sticker or
the daily reward, but it still remains at 6/7 stickers for the week to get a reward and the same
for the monthly reward. This way the changes are gradual and the child is able to improve and
see their own progress. Eventually, the goal would be 0 yelling in a day to receive a sticker, and
just using the weekly and monthly rewards and not the daily reward anymore. Also, nothing
should be taken away if the daily or weekly goal isn’t met. The discipline in this plan is the child
will not be receiving the planned reward, this way again focusing on the positive behaviors and
using rewards that are motivating for that child is key.