Time Out Intervention

When my own children were younger I used time-out as a parenting strategy aimed at reducing behaviors and also to give my child (and myself) a bit of a cooling off period before deciding how best to handle the situation. As a teacher, I think it is common to associate the time outs we use with our own children with a time out in the classroom. Unfortunately, the absence of a consistent evidence-based process for using a time-out makes it ineffective. Through my research this week I learned the four types of time-out interventions as well as legal and state policies surrounding the use of time-outs. The big take-aways for me were, as with any behavior intervention, we need to use data to drive our decision making. This includes understanding the root cause of the behavior before making a plan to address it. Finally, the goal is always improvement and growth. While using a time-out can be effective in some cases, it must always be accompanied by teaching the expected behaviors followed by positive reinforcement of those behaviors. If teachers use a time-out effectively, it should be a short-term intervention that facilitates this learning while maintaining aa safe, respectful classroom environment.