Sign Behavior Contract Made Easy

Signature behavior contract

hello to everyone out there watching my name is Drusilla Roberts and I'm a school psychology graduate student today I want to talk to teachers about a strategy for decreasing disruptive behavior in the classroom it is not an uncommon experience for teachers to have a few students who tend to be the root cause of classroom disruptions one feasible solution to disruptive behavior is the implementation of behavioral contracts this intervention works best for classrooms with few students who are disruptive as each contract is for a single student I understand that oftentimes the word intervention means more work for you as the teacher on top of everything else that you have to do in the classroom but behavioral contracts can be a feasible solution for disruptive classroom behavior this presentation will thoroughly introduce behavioral contracts by the end you should understand what a behavioral contract is and how to implement it know when to and not to use behavioral contracts and know about the two types of behavioral contracts so let's get right into it Raymond G Milton Mercker defines behavioral contract at a written document that specifies a particular target behavior for a client and the consequences that will be contingent upon the occurrence or non-occurrence of the behavior in a stated period of time so basically as it pertains to the field of Education behavioral contracts are formal written agreements regarding behavior which are negotiated between a child and a school staff member parent or other individuals a behavioral contract is a type of contingency plan in which student behaviors are directly linked to a punishment or reinforcement here's an example of a behavioral contract according to miltenberger there are five important steps to a behavioral contract the first step is to identify the target behavior or behaviors they can be desired behaviors that need to be increased or undesired behaviors that need to be decreased or combination of the two typically focus is placed on one to two particular behaviors in the case of disruptive students these behaviors could include calling out not sitting in their seat talking to other students during instructions etc once you identify the target behavior the second step is in implementing the intervention is to state how the target behavior or behaviors will be measured this step ensures that the intervention is monitored all parties that are participating in the contract must come to an agreement this typically includes the teacher and the student there needs to be some sort of proof that the behavior has or has not occurred this includes but is not limited to the use of permanent products like homework and class assignments that are due and observation done by the manager in this case the teacher or an agreed upon third party the third step in implementing a behavior contract is to state when the behavior must be performed the contract must include a time frame that states when the behavior must occur or not occur in order for the contingencies to be implemented properly this behavior can be monitored daily weekly bi-weekly et cetera the fourth step is to identify the reinforcement or punishment contingency it can be positive or negative reinforcement something that increases the likelihood that a behavior will occur in the future or positive or negative punishment something that decreases the likelihood that a behavior will occur in the future it is very important to be clear and specific when communicating the consequences in accordance with ideas from positive behavior intervention supports PBIS I recommend wording these contracts in a positive manner and focusing on reinforcements rather than punishments for this step you may want to give your student reinforcement survey or reach out to their parents to figure out what reinforcement will be most effective for this here's a basic example of a reinforcement survey the fifth and last step to implementing a behavior contract is to identify who will implement the contingencies in order for behavior contract to work the stated reinforcement or punishment must be contingent upon the occurrence for non occurrence of the outlined behavior the person that is in charge of ensuring this happens is called the manager in most cases this will be usually future so those are the procedural steps in implementing a behavioral contract it is also important however to send a copy of the contract being used home for the parent to sign try to review it with the student either daily or weekly to ensure though the student is always working towards meeting the standards outlined in the contract it is also helpful to review the students daily behavior and markers with them in a productive manner and discuss things like how they felt how they did for the day their progress and what to change or do differently the next day so now that you have a better understanding of the intervention let's talk about when to and not to use it the minimum requirements for the use of a behavior contract are a manager who is available and willing to participate and someone who wants to increase or decrease one or more behaviors behavioral contracts are used in the educational setting when students exhibit persistent behavior problems or defiant and oppositional are very unorganized consistently failed to complete daily or school activities or exhibit persistent emotional difficulties like frustration anxiety and tantrums some examples of when not using the Ebro contract including when you are teaching a new behavior a student must understand and be able to perform a behavior in order for behavioral contract to be helpful behavioral contracts are also not used when a student is not mature enough to understand how a contingency plan works motivation to increase or decrease specific behaviors outlined in the contract comes from the students understanding that behavior is directly linked to punishment or reinforcement so the student is not mature enough to grasp that concept a behavioral contract should not be used there are two types of behavioral contracts the first type is a two-party contract this type of contract involves two people both of which are trying to increase or decrease of behavior in both parties have contingency set in place the second type is a one-party contract this type of contract involves two people likely this is the type of contract you'll be using where one person is trying to increase or decrease one or more behaviors and the other person agrees to manage their contingencies an example of this type of a contract is if a student will call him Victor is constantly forgetting to bring his homework into class his teacher will call her mrs. Buffay may set up a behavioral contract with him as Mizpah thanos that Victor loves to go to recess the contract may determine that Victor brings his homework every day for a week he will get 15 extra minutes of recess on Friday at the end of each week ms birthday and Victor may need to revisit the contract to adjust it Andrey sign it for the following week if they decide that the goal is still practical this has been a brief introduction to behavioral contracts for more information and a list of my sources please follow the link in the description thanks for watching