The Effects of Warned Versus Unwarned Time-Out Procedures on Child Noncompliance

Mothers of twenty-four noncompliant, clinic-referred, preschool children were trained to use either a warned or unwarned time-out procedure in a clinic analog setting to suppress child noncompliance to commands. Warnings respecified the command to be followed and labeled the time-out procedures were equally effective at increasing child compliance. However, warned time-out procedures were associated with fewer actual time-outs than unwarned time-out procedures. The potential benefits of warned time-out procedures are discussed and future research needs are indicated.     

Maternal Treatment Acceptability and Preference of Room Time-Out and Deferred Time-Out Escape Contingencies

ABSTRACT

Maternal preference and acceptability were examined for two methods of addressing time-out escape behavior: room time-out (RTO) and deferred time-out (DTO). With respect to preference, mothers were split about evenly. Spanking frequency and previous effectiveness using privilege removal were associated with preference for DTO while previous effectiveness using RTO was associated with preference for RTO. Child age was negatively associated with acceptability for either treatment and lax parenting style was negatively associated with acceptability for DTO. Results suggest that DTO could provide an alternative escape contingency for mothers who spank their children or who have been unsuccessful using RTO.     

Effects of two types of response-contingent time-out on compliance and oppositional behavior of children.

The present study examined the effects of two time-out (TO) procedures, within-room and out-of-room, on compliance and oppositional behavior. Subjects were 24 nonclinic 5-year old children and their mothers. Mother-child pairs were assigned to one of three groups (within-room time-out, out-of-room time-out, or control) and observed in a laboratory setting under each of three experimental conditions: pretraining, training, and posttraining. The results indicated that, relative to the control group, both out-of-room and within-room TO reduced oppositional behavior and increased compliance. The two time-out procedures were equally effective in changing the two target behaviors; however, the within-room approach required significantly more administrations of time-out than the out-of-room technique.     

ANALYSIS OF A HIGH-PROBABILITY INSTRUCTIONAL SEQUENCE AND TIME-OUT IN THE TREATMENT OF CHILD NONCOMPLIANCE

This study evaluated the effectiveness of high-probability requests and time-out as treatments for noncompliance that appeared to be maintained by contingent attention in 2 developmental normal children. The introduction of high-probability requests increased compliance for 1 child but not the other. Time-out was effective with both children, and improvements in compliance were maintained at an 8-week follow-up.     

TEACHING YOUNG CHILDREN TO USE CONTACT LENSES

Young children with surgically removed lenses and extreme nearsightedness can benefit from contact lenses, but their parents may need instruction to teach their children to accept lenses. In this study, 4 children under the age of 5 years were taught contact lens wear using a shaping procedure. Compliance was rewarded with praise and tangibles, and noncompliance was followed with brief time-out for 3 of the children and restraint for the 4th. Three children showed high compliance during an initial shaping procedure, with a decrease in compliance during initial insertion of the lenses. At 3- to 10-month follow-up, levels of compliance were high. Insertion and removal of lenses were accomplished in substantially less time, with little crying and no need for time-out. All 3 children continue to use the lenses daily, and 2 have shown improved visual acuity. The 4th child, who has Down syndrome, showed low levels of compliance with need for physical restraint throughout. Although his parents reported high compliance when he first went home, fitting difficulties and an infection resulted in plummeting of compliance, and contact lens use was discontinued. This procedure has been used successfully at the same hospital with 11 of 13 other children between the ages of 14 months and 7 years 4 months. Implications for selection of suitable candidates for this intervention and ways to decrease costs are discussed.     

The effect of time-out release contingencies on changes in child noncompliance

This project evaluated the effect of time-out release contingencies on changes in child noncompliance to maternal instructions. Twenty-four clinic-referred, noncompliant, preschool children served as subjects. Each child was assessed under baseline conditions and then under one of three experimental conditions: Parent Release, Child Release, or Control. Children in the Parent Release and Child Release conditions experienced time-out contingent upon noncompliance. Temporal and behavioral time-out release contingencies were present in the Parent Release condition but not in the Child Release condition. A spanking procedure was used to inhibit premature escape from time-out for children in the Parent Release group. The results indicated that both time-out groups demonstrated increased compliance ratios. However, improvement associated with the Child Release condition was considered to be clinically insignificant.The authors wish to express their appreciation to Dave DeLawyer, Larry Snapp, and Mike Samac for their assistance in conducting the study.     

Time-out with children

The purpose of the present study was twofold: (a) to determine the effect of an explanation prior to or after time-out on child compliance and on child disruptive behavior during time-out and (b) to determine the effect of brief parent training in time-out on child and parent behaviors. Thirty-two mother—child pairs served as subjects and were assigned to one of the following four groups: control, time-out only, explanation prior to time-out, or explanation following time-out. Each mother—child pair was observed for one session under pretraining, training, and posttraining conditions. The results indicated that time-out significantly increased compliance but the addition of an explanation did not further alter the effectiveness of time-out. Training in the use of time-out decreased the incidence of maternal interruptions but did not affect maternal responses that were not trained. Finally, following brief time-out training for noncompliance, the mothers used the procedure only 50% of the time following noncompliance.This study was supported in part by a University of Georgia Research Council grant.     

EFFECTIVENESS OF BRIEF TIME-OUT WITH AND WITHOUT CONTINGENT DELAY: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

We evaluated a commonly used component of brief time-out, in which release from time-out is delayed contingent on the occurrence of disruption. Data were collected for one normal and two mentally retarded children on time-out-producing behaviors (aggression and disruption) as well as delay-producing behaviors during time-out (loud vocalizations, out-of-chair, aggression, and disruption). The results of a combination ABAC reversal and multiple-baseline design indicated that, under the conditions used in this investigation, both delay and no delay variations were effective in reducing the frequency of the target behaviors. Implications for the use of time-out to reduce aberrant behaviors are discussed.     

The effect of time-out (to) duration on assaultiveness in psychiatrically hospitalized children

The effect of differential time-out (TO) durations (15, 30, 45, 60, and 90 minutes) on assaultive behavior for 13 psychiatrically hospitalized children and adolescents was analyzed. For the total sample, no statistically significant difference in assault frequencies was evident. Also evident was the effect of time-out duration on time taken to become settled: the longer the time-out given, the longer the time needed to become calm.     

SUPPRESSION OF SELF-STIMULATION: THREE ALTERNATIVE STRATEGIES

Four boys with autistic-like behavior were treated for self-stimulatory behavior with three different treatment procedures—time-out, differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO), and overcorrection. All four boys showed a rapid response to the overcorrection procedure. Three boys demonstrated some evidence of decrement in responding with time-out. During the DRO procedure, one showed a modest decrease, two showed no change, but one exhibited a consistent increase in responding under this condition. A multiple baseline applied to one of the subjects failed to reveal any generalization of suppression from one setting to another. A strong but not perfect relationship was found between a frequency and a duration measure of self-stimulation. There was some evidence of negative side effects for one boy during overcorrection and for another during time-out. None of these negative side effects was enduring. There was also some indirect evidence that overcorrection facilitated appropriate play.     

The use of a self-control package to enhance temporal generality of a parent training program

The purpose of the present study was to examine the effectiveness of a self-control package in enhancing temporal generality of a parent training program. Sixteen mothers and their clinic-referred noncompliant children were assigned to either a parent training alone group, or a parent training plus self-control group. All mother-child dyads were treated individually by teaching the mother to reward compliance and other prosocial behavior, and to use time-out for noncompliance. In addition, mothers who also received self-control training learned to self-monitor their use of their new parenting skills and to reinforce themselves for use of the skill during a 2 month follow-up period. Assessment consisted of four home observations by independent observers prior to treatment, after treatment, and at a 2 month follow-up. The data indicated that the children in the parent training plus self-control group were significantly more compliant and less deviant at the 2 month follow-up than the children in the parent training alone group. Parental behavior did not differ between the two groups at the follow-up.     

Time-Out for Sibling Aggression: An Analysis of Effective Durations in a Natural Setting

Abstract

Time-out is a ubiquitous strategy to reduce problem behaviors. The current study sought to find the shortest effective duration(s) of time-out for sibling aggression in a community sample of girls ages 3–7. All participants reached a minimum reduction in sibling aggression of 60% after experiencing a 1-minute time-out. The majority (75%) of participants also demonstrated clear reversals of behavior when returned to the baseline condition. The current findings suggest that a 1-minute time-out may be sufficient for low-level sibling aggression in children as old as seven. Limitations include the presence of a graduate assistant during sibling play and unclear generalizability.     

COMPETENCE IN ASPECTS OF BEHAVIORAL TREATMENT AND CONSULTATION: IMPLICATIONS FOR SERVICE DELIVERY AND GRADUATE TRAINING

This study examined the extent to which competence in applying behavioral procedures (timeout from positive reinforcement) was sufficient to establish competence in teaching others to apply the same procedures. During baseline, graduate students attempted to instruct parents with a history of child abuse and neglect in the use of time-out. Students were then instructed in the use of time-out until they achieved proficiency in a role-play context. They then reattempted to instruct the parents. Finally, the students were instructed in certain consultation skills (i.e., teaching others to apply behavioral procedures) and again attempted to instruct parents in the application of time-out. Observations of students' consultation skills, parents' proficiency at administering time-out, and children's compliance to parental instructions revealed that explicit training in behavioral consulting skills was necessary to produce improvements in these behaviors. Students' proficiency at administering time-out was insufficient to enable them to instruct others in its application. These results were corroborated by surveys of both students and staff. The implications for graduate training and service delivery are discussed.     

TRAINING FAMILY THERAPISTS: AN EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS

This study implemented and evaluated a training program (a written manual, videotaped models, rehearsal, role plays, and performance feedback) designed to teach five subjects the skills to become effective family therapists. The study examined the therapists' use of three target behaviors: instructing, informing, and praising. The therapists, each paired with a parent and a preschool-aged child (2 1/2–4 1/2 yr old), were trained in the clinic to use, and to teach to the parents, several behavioral skills (e.g., praising, planned ignoring, and time-out) relevant to teaching children compliance to parental instructions. A multiple-baseline design across triads (therapist/parent/child) demonstrated that after the training program was instituted, the therapists increased their rates of instructing, praising, and informing the parents; all parents increased attention to compliance, decreased attention to noncompliance, and increased rates of praise to their children; and all children increased their compliance and decreased their noncompliance.     

MOVEMENT SUPPRESSION TIME-OUT FOR UNDESIRABLE BEHAVIOR IN PSYCHOTIC AND SEVERELY DEVELOP MENTALLY DELAYED CHILDREN

The effects of a movement suppression time-out, which involved punishing any movement or verbalization while a client is in the time-out area, were evaluated in four experiments. The first experiment examined the effects of a DRO procedure and movement suppression plus DRO in suppressing self-injurious behavior in a psychotic child in three different situations. In Experiment 2, the results of the previous experiment were replicated with two dangerous behaviors in a second psychotic child. In a third experiment, movement suppression plus DRO was compared with contingent restraint in reducing inappropriate poking behavior in two settings. The movement suppression procedure eliminated poking whereas contingent restraint had little effect. In the final experiment, movement suppression time-out alone was compared with exclusionary time-out alone and simple corner time-out alone. Self-stimulation occurred at high levels during the exclusionary and simple corner time-out procedures. Self-stimulation was either suppressed or reduced during movement suppression time-out. The movement suppression time-out procedure produced a larger reduction in the target behavior in all three children. The effectiveness of the movement suppression procedure was explained in terms of the suppression of self-stimulation while the time-out procedure was being applied.     

Who gets mad,sad, scared or happy at discipline? Emotion attributions explain child externalizing behaviour

Few studies have linked parental discipline with children's emotional experiences, and not much data explore children's emotional attributions to discipline linked to externalizing behaviour. With a sample from Brazil, this study examines which emotions children most aptly attribute to a protagonist facing spanking, time-out or inductive discipline for norm violations. We hypothesized that anger, sadness, and fear would have higher attribution rates at spanking or time-out, relative to inductive discipline and that happiness would have higher attribution rates at induction relative to the other discipline modalities. We expected these findings to be more pronounced in older children. Based on emotional functions, we also tested the role of neutrality and happiness attributions to discipline in children's externalizing behaviour. A two-way MANOVA, with discipline and child age as explanatory variables, showed that children attributed more anger at time-out or spanking than at induction, and more happiness and neutrality at induction than at either time-out or spanking. Older children attributed significantly more sadness and less fear or neutrality. Hierarchical regressions showed that child externalizing behaviour was negatively related to happy attributions in discipline independently of child emotion situation knowledge or demographics. The results are interpreted in light of a functional view of emotions.     

Effects of parent enhancement therapy on the treatment outcome and generalization of a parent training program

The purpose of the present study was to examine the effectiveness of parent enhancement training in facilitating treatment and maintenance effects of a parent training program. Seventeen mothers and their clinic-referred noncompliant children were assigned to either a parent training alone group or a parent training plus parent enhancement therapy group. Fifteen mothers and their nonclinic children served as a quasi-control group. All clinic-referred mother-child dyads were treated individually by teaching the mother to reward compliance and other prosocial behavior and to use time-out for noncompliance. In addition, mothers in the parent training plus parent enhancement group also received treatment related to the following areas: parent's perception of their child's behavior, parent's personal adjustment, parent's marital adjustment, and parent's extrafamilial relationships. Assessment consisted of four home observations by independent observers prior to treatment, after treatment, and at a 2-month follow-up. The data indicated that the parent training plus parent enhancement therapy was more effective than parent training alone in changing child deviant behavior at posttreatment and in maintaining child compliance, child deviant behavior, parental rewards and parent contingent attention at follow-up. The control group did not change over the three assessment periods.     

Suppression of ethanol self-administration in alcoholics by contingent time-out from social interactions

In a residential research ward setting six volunteer chronic alcoholics were given daily access to 17 alcoholic drinks provided that a minimum of 40 min elapsed between receiving successive drinks. Each drink contained 1 oz 95-proof ethanol in orange juice. During baseline phases subjects were free to drink and socialize on the dayroom. However, during social time-out phases subjects were not permitted to socialize for the 40 min period following receipt of each drink. This contingent social time-out manipulation was systematically replicated across three conditions which varied with respect to the number of non-contingent ward privileges available. The results show that contingent social time-out suppressed drinking; and its effectiveness depended directly upon the conditions of available privileges. Within individual subjects, contingent time-out was increasingly effective in suppressing drinking as the available privileges were increasingly restricted.     

Effectiveness of time-out: a comparison of psychiatric, correctional and day-treatment programs

The effectiveness of a time-out intervention for adolescent psychiatric patients, adjudicated (delinquent) youth, and behaviorally disordered youngsters was explored in this study. The research was conducted in three psychiatric hospitals for children and adolescents, a facility for adjudicated youth, and in a day-treatment program. Utilizing a comparative outcome model, 813 occurrences of time-out with 274 youth were investigated in order to assess levels of effectiveness. The results indicated that time-out had a significant impact, and the use of a child-care specialist as time-out monitor improves overall effectiveness. Important implications for practicing professionals and clinical researchers are noted.     

Effects of differential reinforcement and task difficulty on preschoolers' compliance with teacher instructions

Preschool children in day schools were given instructions to complete certain tasks. Four tasks were given of two types and two levels of difficulty. In each condition compliance with at most one instruction (one task) was reinforced. In two similar experiments, with six children, general results were: compliance with easy tasks was maintained without reinforcement when any task compliance was reinforced; compliance for hard tasks remained high only when that specific task was reinforced. Thus, generalization of compliance with instructions varied with task difficulty. The setting and procedure for both studies were designed to reduce possible coercive features of laboratory studies of generalized performance. Results show generalized performance can occur under naturalistic conditions. The effect of effort, as a response characteristic affecting generalized performance, is discussed.