This was the message of autism specialist Dr. Kent R. Logan of the DeKalb Country School System of Georgia during the conclusion of the week-long celebration of the Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month.
He said reinforcing inappropriate behavior should be stopped.
“If you want the student to change…the teacher has to change first,” he added.
Logan reminded teachers that reinforcement is a process.
Inappropriate behavior will always occur in the classroom, he said.
“Being prepared for those inappropriate behaviors and understanding their basic causes are what set good behavior managers apart from poor behavior managers,” Logan said.
To get rid of inappropriate behavior, he added, the teacher has to find an appropriate behavior that serves the same function, share it with the student and reinforce it.
Simply punishing students with significant problem behaviors is not enough — the student must learn an appropriate way to get what he wants or needs without resorting to bad behavior, Logan said.
If punishment works, it would already have eliminated inappropriate behavior among students, he added.
