Typical Negative Reinforcers May Include:
- Punishment: This may be considered a negative reinforcer if it has the desired effect of reducing the problem behavior. Punishment may include strategies such as timeout, removal of privileges, and natural consequences.
- Token systems, behavior charts, and reward systems: While we often think of these systems as being used to increase behaviors, they can also be used to reduce behaviors.
- Extinction: This involves planned ignoring of problem behavior.
During extinction, the teacher ensures that problem behavior is neither rewarded nor discouraged. It is simply ignored.
As long as an action or consequence reduces the targeted problem behavior, it is considered a negative reinforcer.
For a negative reinforcer to work, it is important that it be carefully chosen, preferably based on the IEP team's knowledge of the child.
It is important to monitor any behavior intervention plan for effectiveness, but this is especially true when using negative reinforcers such as punishment. In many cases, traditional punishments, such as suspension, can actually encourage problem behaviors among students who want to be removed from the classroom. In cases where students have learning problems, this is not uncommon.
Parents, teachers, and other caregivers should keep data on the child's progress and meet to revise the behavior plan if necessary.
