This issue strikes me as essential reading for educators, teachers, parents, and anyone working with children who struggle with behavior. The subject is presented with clarity and simplicity, backed by concrete examples and illustrations. The text first examines problem behaviors at home, in school, on the street—and then offers a straightforward method for addressing them. To analyze a behavior means to observe it and try to understand why it happens.
Luana breaks objects to get her mother's attention. Marco cries and screams in a store to get a bag of candy. Marisa tears up her book when the teacher leaves her alone at a table, because she doesn't like being by herself and wants company instead.
A child behaves a certain way because past experience has taught him or her that this behavior gets what he or she wants. That "something"—that payoff—is exactly where an educator can and must intervene. This may sound straightforward, but it has real merit: it underlines essential principles of teaching, like consistency and follow-through. Praising a child when he behaves well, not just scolding him when he misbehaves; steering him away from difficult situations; offering him fresh and engaging experiences—none of this is simple to do. But it's necessary if you want to improve difficult behavior. The author notes that he has deliberately avoided discussing particular behaviors like stereotypies, self-injury, and anxiety states, which call for separate treatment. We hope to find such a discussion in a future issue of these journals.
review by N.S., 1987