Module 2: Basic Principles
Let’s get started! In this module, we will discuss some basic principles of teaching. There’s a lot to cover! Try to stick with it and cover the material in a way that works with your schedule. This section has really important material. Most of the other sections are shorter than this one.
The following basic ideas are covered, each in its own section. Start with Reinforcement: The Cornerstone of Behavioral Teaching, found after the Vignette. Then, work your way through each of these sections in the order listed. When you reach the end of each topic, you will find a link to the next one.
Pairing Praise with Reinforcers
Module 2 Basic Principles Quiz
Module 2 Vignette: Using Prompts
Bella was two years and 6-months-old when her mother started to work with her using behavioral teaching techniques. Bella had already learned to imitate a little on her own. Her family was happy to see that she waved goodbye back when her auntie waved at her. But she waved with her palm facing herself. Her mother called it, “Bella’s backwards self-wave.”
Bella’s mother wanted to teach her how to wave the right way. As she learned more about prompting, she tried gentle physical guidance. She set up a few practice sessions with Bella’s father. Her mom held Bella and her father stood by the door facing them. With one hand on the doorknob, he said, “Bye-bye!”smiling and waving. Before Bella had a chance to return the wave using the “backwards self-wave” her mother gently turned her hand so that her palm was facing her dad, helping her to wave back. Her mom was using a physical prompt. Then her dad gave her a quick tickle before walking out the door and closing it behind him. Then he quickly popped back in, and they did it again. They made a game of it. This gave Bella a chance to practice about six times during each practice session. Bella seemed to enjoy the waving game and giggled every time her dad popped back into the house.
This seemed to work well. But, whenever her mom didn’t use her physical prompt, Bella went back to her backwards self-wave. Then her mom had an idea. She got Bella’s older brother Gabriel in on the game. Gabriel stood just a little bit in front of his mom and Bella and put his hand where Bella could easily see it. He faced his dad and waved to him. When they played the game, Mom focused Bella’s attention on Gabriel’s hand. After a few days of doing this fun little routine a couple of times a day, Bella was starting to hold her hand the right way on her own. So, in addition to mom’s physical prompt, Gabriel was using a “model” prompt – that is, he was showing Bella what to copy (imitate).
Reinforcement: The Cornerstone of Behavioral Teaching
First, we want to explain some of the most basic and important ideas about how children learn.
The single most important idea is that of rewarding behavior that you want to teach or that you want your child to do more often. Most of the other teaching methods that we will explain depend on this basic idea: Reward the behavior that you want your child to do more often.
Let’s take an example. Let’s say we’re trying to teach Susie to wave goodbye when another person waves goodbye to her.
Susie knows how to wave, but she doesn’t do it very often. So, you decide to work on teaching her to wave goodbye more often. You begin by making sure that whenever Susie waves to someone, the other person responds with enthusiasm. That person could give Susie a big smile or praise her (Nice waving!). The person might even give Susie a little tickle. If you are holding Susie when she waves, you can give her a little squeeze or tickle, along with praise. You might say something like, “Yay, you waved bye-bye!” or “What a big girl waving bye-bye!” Then quickly give the child a little tickle or maybe spin her around if she likes that. The point is that whenever someone waves good-bye to Susie, and she waves back, the result is a reward for her! Over time, when somebody waves bye-bye, she will be more and more likely to wave back.
In the following clip, watch how the teachers reward a little boy for waving.
Some parents may be uncomfortable with the idea of rewarding behavior. It may not feel natural or they may think that children should do what they’re asked to do without a reward. It would be nice if young children did what we asked them to all the time just because it was right, but they often don’t! We’re going to explain why rewarding your child is okay.
The idea that learning depends on rewards applies to all of us, even though we may not be aware of it. We all learn in this way. For example, if you prepare a meal for your family that they really like, you will be more likely to make that same meal again. Or, if every time you wear a particular sweater, you receive compliments on it, you may be more likely to choose that sweater again. Think of a behavior of your own that has been rewarded by having friends or relatives pay attention to you or give you compliments. The approval of people you care about is a powerful reward. Even when you feel satisfied because you did something difficult – that’s a reward you give yourself. And of course, getting paid for a job is a powerful reward. The point is that every adult and every child continue to do the things for which they get rewarded. That is just the way our brains work.
Sometimes the reward is money. Sometimes it’s approval from others. Sometimes it’s feeling satisfaction because you did the right thing. And for young children, especially those who don’t yet understand much language or adults’ approval, something that feels good or tastes good, like a tickle, a sweet or salty treat, or watching bubbles may be the reward that works best.
In the next two videos, the children are rewarded for doing what they are asked or prompted to do, by getting praised enthusiastically or by getting bubbles to blow.
When a reward is given right after a child does something, that reward is called a reinforcer because it reinforces or strengthens the behavior that it followed. When we “reinforce” a behavior, the child is more likely to do it again. In this program we will use the word “reinforcer” to mean a reward that you give the child right after she does something good. A lot of research has shown that reinforcing behavior is the best way to teach. And we all want to see results from our teaching!
We will use both words, reward and reinforcer, and we will use them a lot! This is because reinforcement is really important for good teaching.
In the next video, there’s an example of a teacher reinforcing a behavior that she has been teaching. In this case, the teacher reinforces the child with tickles and a little fun game.
Now watch the same teacher reinforce the child for making the “b” sound. The child can’t say “blue” but the teacher accepts “buh” as an attempt to say the word, “blue.” The teacher holds up a blue, square-shaped piece from a shape sorter, which makes a funny noise when the right piece is placed. Then she demonstrates the “b” sound and asks her to make the sound. As soon as the little girl makes the sound, the teacher immediately hands her the shape she’s been reaching for while giving her an enthusiastic, “Wow!”
In this situation, the teacher is actually reinforcing two things at the same time. She is reinforcing the “b” sound so that the child will learn to make that sound as the first sound of the word “blue.” But she is also reinforcing the child just for trying to follow the teacher’s instruction. We call this tendency to follow instructions, “cooperation” or “compliance.”
Why is cooperation important?
There are many reasons why cooperation is important. One is that if children usually try do the things they are told to do, it is easier to keep them safe. For example, if a mother tells her child to walk close beside her on a busy street, and the child does that, she can keep him safe. Cooperation with instructions to stay close, to keep a coat on when it’s very cold out, or not to touch a hot stove, are all examples of the importance of cooperation.
Cooperation with adults also helps children to get along with others. For example, if we tell children to share toys or to take turns on a swing, and they do this, other children will be more likely to play with them.
There is another important way that cooperation is important. When children try to do the things they are asked to do, it is much easier to teach them new things. For example, if we want to teach a child to wave more often, we have to help her do it so that we can reward her for it. If the child understands us when we say, “wave bye-bye,” and then does it, we have a chance to reward her for waving.
But what if she doesn’t understand the words yet? Then, we can model (show) the behavior for her or help her to wave by moving her arm up and down. And then, we can give her a reward. These ways of helping children to do what they are asked to do are called prompts. We will talk more about prompts later. The important point here is that if a child tries to follow our prompts, or accepts our help, teaching becomes easier and more successful. Remember that good teaching requires a lot of chances to reinforce the behaviors we want to teach. For this reason, the more willing your child is to follow your instructions or accept your help in doing so, the better!
Some children have a lot of interfering behaviors, that keep them from cooperating with you, or even paying much attention to you. If your child does this a lot, you might want to finish Module 2 and then go directly to Module 6, where we discuss preventing and handling interfering behaviors. But be sure to come back and continue with Module 3.