What is Time-Out?
A Comprehensive, Positive Approach to Behavior
Support for Preschool Children
When to
Include Time-Out to Address Challenging Behavior
Planning for the Use of Time-Out
Where Do I Find More Information on Implementing This
Practice?
What Is the Scientific Basis for
This Practice?
This What Works Brief is part of a continuing series of short,
easy-to-read, “how to” information packets on a variety of
evidence-based practices, strategies, and intervention procedures.
The Briefs are designed to help teachers, parents, and other
caregivers support young children’s social and emotional
development. They include examples and vignettes that illustrate how
practical strategies might be used in a variety of early childhood
settings and home environments.
What Is Time-Out?
Time-out
is a form of discipline that can be effective in reducing
challenging behaviors in young children. The term "time-out" is
short for "time out from positive reinforcement." The strategy is
similar to an extended form of selectively ignoring disruptive
behavior. Children are removed for a brief time from all sources of
reinforcement (e. g., teacher and peer attention) following serious
challenging behavior. Usually this strategy requires that a child be
removed from an ongoing activity for a brief time, typically by
having the child sit on the outside of the activity within the
classroom until the child calms down and is ready to rejoin the
activity and try again. Time-out is in-tended to be a nonviolent
response to conflict that stops the conflict, protects the victim,
and provides a "cooling-off" period for the child.
Time-out is only effective when used in the context of a
comprehensive approach to behavior support that is de-signed to
teach, nurture, and encourage positive social behaviors. Time-out
should be used only by well-trained teachers and caregivers when
less intrusive discipline procedures have been tried and deemed
unsuccessful and only in combination with positive procedures
designed to teach new skills and prevent challenging behaviors from
occurring (please refer to other CSEFEL What Works Briefs for
effective practices for preventing behavior problems). Effective
management of behavior should always start with praise and
encouragement for prosocial behaviors and self-regulation and be
accompanied by distraction, redirection, withdrawal of attention,
and logical and natural consequences.
This Brief provides an overview of a comprehensive approach to
supporting children's behavior and discusses the role of time-out in
the context of a comprehensive approach. Although time-out has been
demonstrated to be effective in some situations, it should not be
overused and should be reserved for high-intensity behaviors such as
aggression toward peers and adults and destructive behavior. Because
of a lack of evidence to support its use with very young children as
well as the research on the social-emotional development of very
young children, the use of time-out with infants and young toddlers
is not recommended.
We would like to acknowledge the input of the following
individuals:
• Douglas Tynan, AI duPont Children's Hospital, Jefferson
Medical College
• Deborah Miller, AI duPont Children's
Hospital, Jefferson Medical College
• Carolyn
Webster-Stratton, University of Washington
• Mark Greenberg,
Penn State University
• Marilyn Benoit, Georgetown University
Medical Center
• Joseph Hagan, University of Vermont College
of Medicine
• Edward Carr, State University of New York at
Stony Brook
• Edward Christophersen, Mercy Children's
Hospital, University of Missouri at Kansas City School of Medicine
• Nicholas Ialongo, Johns Hopkins University 2
A Comprehensive, Positive Approach to Behavior Support
for Preschool Children
Serious challenging behaviors that may
benefit from the use of time-out include aggression, destruction of
property, and noncompliance. Time-out is one option to include in a
comprehensive approach for addressing these serious challenging
behaviors when less intrusive methods are unsuccessful. A
comprehensive, positive approach should include the following:
1. Building Positive Relationships.
It is critically important
that every child feels valued by the adults in the classroom. A
caring relationship between the adult and the child serves as a
foundation for teaching behavior expectations and social skills.
Adults must be generous with their approval of the child, providing
positive feedback to the child and building an affectionate
relationship. When children feel liked and valued by adults, they
are more motivated to seek adult attention in positive ways and
accept adult guidance. Children who have positive and caring
relationships with their caregivers are able to acquire the skills
and understanding they need to regulate their emotions and behavior.
2. Using Classroom Preventive Practices.
Providing children
with structure and guidance for appropriate behavior can minimize
problem behavior. Preventive practices such as organized play
environments, predictable activities, planned transitions,
appropriate materials, opportunities for choice, and adult support
for peer interactions minimize the likelihood that children will
engage in problem behavior.
3. Teaching Social Skills.
For many young children, a group
care setting is their first experience with a large group of
same-age peers. The opportunity to play and work with a group of
children also brings challenges related to social problem solving,
friendship development, conflict resolution, and the expression of
emotions. It is important to provide children with explicit and
repeated instruction on the social and emotional skills needed for
social competence. Effective teaching includes careful planning, the
provision of multiple meaningful learning opportunities, promoting
prosocial behavior, and the use of guidance procedures such as
redirection and planned ignoring to assist children as they navigate
the development of social relationships with peers and adults in the
classroom.
4. Individualizing Behavior Intervention Efforts.
Young
children may engage in a variety of problem behaviors such as
hitting, biting, and hair pulling. For many young children, these
behaviors are develop-mentally expected and serve as opportunities
for the adult to guide the child to learn the appropriate behavior
for a specific situation. For example, the toddler who bites to get
a toy can be told, "Biting hurts, ask to play." Based on
observations of the child, adults examine the context of the
behavior to deter-mine how to intervene. In this manner, the
intervention is designed based on the unique, individualized needs
of that child. The intervention can also be used when the child
engages in persistent problem behavior that is not developmentally
expected (for example, a 3-year-old who is aggressive to get toys or
objects or a 4-year-old who cries and whines for adult attention).
By understanding and recognizing the purpose or function of the
problem behavior, a teacher can select an appropriate intervention
strategy. The teacher may initiate this process based on his or her
observations of and interactions with the child. When the behavior
persists, the intervention planning process should include not only
the teacher or caregiver but also the family, program administrator,
and mental health consultant when possible.
5. Teaching Children Replacement Skills.
Children who use
problem behavior to get their needs met are often missing important
social or communication skills. Individual intervention efforts
should be developed based on an understanding of the behavior and
the identification of the skills that the child needs to learn. Once
the team has identified what to teach the child, a behavior support
plan can be designed that includes prevention strategies that
minimize the child's continuing use of the problem behavior,
instructional strategies to teach new skills, and responses to the
behavior that ensure that the problem behavior does not give the
child access to his or her desired outcome.
6. Providing Specialized Services.
Children with severe,
persistent behavior challenges may need assessment and support from
other professionals (e.g., mental health, special education, or
medical consultants) who can team with the early educator in the
provision of comprehensive interventions and support to the child
and family. In these situations, services may need to extend beyond
the early childhood program and include support to the family within
the home and community. The early educator should work
collaboratively as a team member with other professionals in the
design, implementation, and ongoing evaluation of specialized
services and supports.
7. Involving Families.
Programs should provide information to
families about the classroom discipline plan, including the details
of how and when time-out will be used for aggressive behavior. If
time-out is being considered for a child, the child's parents should
be consulted. The family should agree that the challenging behaviors
are serious and that time-out is appropriate before the procedure is
used. The team, including a mental health consultant when possible,
should work with the parents to identify strategies for use at home.
When to Include Time-Out to Address Challenging
Behavior
When the strategies described
above are in place, time-out may be used to intervene with a child
who does not respond to redirection or the teacher's guidance to
follow behavior expectations. If the child is not responsive to the
teacher and is engaging in problem behavior that is disruptive to
the classroom or hurtful to other children, time-out can provide the
child with a chance to calm down. Once the child is calm, the
teacher should address the behavior with the child (e. g., talk
about the problem situation, restate behavior expectations, explore
problem-solving options). Time-out may also become a planned
procedure for removing a child from engaging in problem behavior
that serves the purpose of gaining the teacher's or peers'
attention. For example, if a child destroys other children's
materials or activities to gain access to teacher attention, a
time-out may be used to remove the child from any attention paired
with teaching the child to request attention in an appropriate
manner. Time-out can also serve as an effective strategy for
interrupting the problem behavior and providing the child with a
structure for calming down, expressing feelings (e. g., "I am angry-
I want a turn with the dump truck"), and deciding on a social
problem-solving strategy. Time-out should not be used if the child
is engaging in problem behavior to get out of an activity or to move
away from adults or peers. If time-out follows problem behavior that
serves the purpose of escaping activities or interactions that the
child finds unpleasant or boring, providing the child with a
time-out could serve to strengthen the problem behavior.
Planning for the Use of Time-Out
• As discussed above, before using time-out,
there should be evidence that the challenging behaviors have not
improved even when high-quality preventive and proactive practices
have been implemented. In these cases, teachers, in collaboration
with families and mental health consultants, should carefully
observe and document that the challenging behaviors are a serious
concern. The child's aggressive or disruptive behaviors should be
recorded in a way that documents when, where, and with whom they
occur (e. g., at transition or unstructured times). Observational
data also should be used to document that time-out is leading to
intended outcomes (reductions in challenging behaviors).
Consider the following example:
Jeremy is a child who is prone to aggression. His teacher
describes him as having a short fuse and lacking play skills,
particularly how to join and play with peers. The teacher has
developed a strategy for teaching Jeremy friendship skills and is
working with him on a daily basis to promote his skill development.
However, sometimes Jeremy still has incidents that are harmful to
other children. For example, Jeremy was playing alone with blocks.
He saw three children having a great time playing with the train set
across the classroom. He walked over to them and grabbed a train.
When the children objected and called for the teacher's assistance,
Jeremy kicked the train track and hit one of the children. The
teacher moved over quickly and said, "What is the problem over
here?" Jeremy continued to hit and kick the other children. While
the teaching assistant attended to the hurt child, the teacher
guided Jeremy to the time-out area to calm down. Once he was calm,
she asked him whether he was ready to join the other children. Next
she modeled and practiced with Jeremy how he could ask to join the
other children in their play and provided support and encouragement
when he used his words to join the other children in their play.
• Teachers should have extensive training in this procedure and
should be given opportunities to practice how, when, and where
they will use time-out. Every teacher should have a choreographed,
well-understood sequence of events. Time-out should occur within
the classroom environment and should be closely monitored.
• Teachers should involve the support of a mental health
consultant, behavioral consultant, or an administrator to help
with determining when time-out will be used, how it fits with the
overall behavior support plan for the individual child, and how
its use will be monitored.
• It is important for teachers to provide guidance on the best
way for children to help their friends when they are in time-out.
The teacher could say, "The best way we can help our friends calm
down when in time-out is to leave them alone and get on with our
play. As soon as our friends come back to playing, we can have fun
with them."
When it is agreed that time-out should be used, the following
steps should be followed:
1. Describe the challenging behaviors so that all staff know
exactly what behaviors should result in time-out. Young and
preverbal children frequently engage in mild pushing or aggressive
behaviors. These mild aggressive behaviors can usually be handled
with a redirect or a prompt by the teacher for the children to use
their words. Time-out should be reserved for the highly aggressive
acts, and teachers should agree on what their threshold for these
behaviors will be and when the behaviors will result in a time-out.
In addition, alternative prosocial behaviors should be specified
that can be taught and encouraged in place of the challenging
behaviors. These alternative behaviors should be taught and
encouraged throughout the day at times when the problem behavior is
not occurring.
2. When the challenging behavior occurs, provide a very brief
explanation (such as "You cannot hit your friends, so you need to
sit in time-out until you're calm.") and immediately guide the child
to sit in a chair. Do not interact with the child, either positively
or negatively, while the child is in time-out. Time-out should be
carried out by teachers in a calm, respectful, nonangry,
nonstigmatizing way.
3. Time-out is brief, usually 3 to 4 minutes. However, some
children will take longer to calm down than others, and individual
differences should be respected. Time-out needs to be monitored
carefully and ended by the teacher once the child has calmed down.
Children quickly learn that time-out will be over as soon as they
calm down and are ready to re-join the ongoing classroom activity.
This practice can help children develop self-calming behaviors.
4. Time-out provides the child with a chance to try again. That
is, children are given an opportunity to reengage in the activity
from which they were removed and thus learn a more adaptive,
prosocial method of dealing with the difficulty or conflict they
were experiencing.
5. Remember that time-out is only effective if it is used
infrequently. Alternatives to time-out should be used whenever
possible. For instance, when a serious challenging behavior occurs,
teachers might interrupt the behavior and redirect the child to a
more appropriate way of interacting or to another activity.
6. If a classroom activity is not rewarding to the child or if a
lesson is too difficult, the child may display disruptive behavior
that leads to time-out. Remember, it is "time-out from positive
reinforcement," and some children may behave in ways to avoid
certain activities and go to time-out instead. If the challenging
behavior persists, particularly around certain activities or
settings, the child may be avoiding those activities by going to
time-out.
7. If the challenging behaviors persist despite considerable
encouragement for prosocial behaviors and use of time-out, observe
the child again to determine what is maintaining the aggressive or
disruptive behavior. Evaluate the plan to be sure the child is not
getting attention from other adults or peers for misbehavior and
determine whether a more meaningful reinforcement system is needed
to motivate the child to use more appropriate behaviors.
Example: Kara is a 4-year-old child enrolled in a community
preschool program. She has difficulty when playing with peers that
includes knocking over block structures, grabbing dress-up clothes
from peers, hitting children who are in centers with her, and
hitting children on the playground. When an adult intervenes, she
hits and pinches the adult and becomes even more aggressive. The
classroom team members have talked with the family, and they all
think that Kara engages in these behaviors to get the attention of
the adults in the classroom or to gain a preferred toy. They are
trying to give Kara more attention when she is behaving
appropriately and are teaching her to ask to play with a toy, to
wait her turn for an item, or to ask an adult for help. Meanwhile,
there are occasions when Kara continues to engage in the behavior,
and the adults feel that Kara needs to be removed from the situation
to calm down and remember the expectations of the classroom. The
classroom team members, in consultation with their director and
mental health consultant as well as Kara's family, have decided to
use time-out to guide Kara to a chair to calm down when she is
aggressive. Kara's teacher reminds Kara each morning that she should
ask for toys or ask an adult to help her. Kara has also been told
that when she hits or kicks, she will have to go to the thinking
chair to calm down and remember the classroom rules.
The next day, Kara kicked over a child's block construction. The
teacher approached her, and Kara kicked the teacher and grabbed
another child. The teacher stated firmly, "Kara, you may not kick.
You need to sit in the thinking chair and calm down." Kara was
guided to a chair in the classroom and told to sit down. The teacher
then set a timer for 3 minutes, during which she minimized
conversation and attention to Kara by moving away from Kara and not
talking with her. When the timer rang, the teacher moved over to
Kara and calmly said, "You are calm now. You may go play with your
friends. Let's practice what you say to a friend when you want to
play with them. You can say, 'Can I play with you? '" Kara's teacher
then walks over with Kara and prompts her use of asking skills and
praises her enthusiastically when she remembers to ask to play
instead of grabbing.
Indications That There Is a Problem with the Use of Time-Out
It is important to recognize that time-out can be overused or
used incorrectly. In such cases, it is very important that teachers
and all other personnel be sensitive to the signs of trouble. The
following are indications that time-out is not working and may be
creating problems and a negative atmosphere in the classroom:
• Teachers are threatening children with "time-out" if they do
not behave.
• Certain children are repeatedly in time-out, day
after day for long periods of time. If the challenging behavior
continues to persist, a new behavior support plan should be
developed. Some children with persistent challenging behavior may
require additional assessment and support services or mental
health consultation to fully address their needs.
• Time-out
is being used when the teacher wants a break from the child.
•
Children are teasing the child when he or she is in time-out.
• Time-out is used as the only approach to dealing with
problem behaviors, rather than as a strategy used in conjunction
with many other classroom management strategies (e.g., praise,
ignoring, redirection). Teachers engage in a physical struggle to
guide the child to time-out or hold the child in the time-out
chair.
• Placing a child in time-out is accompanied by
scolding or berating the child.
Where Do I Find More Information on Implementing This
Practice?
See the CSEFEL website (http://www.vanderbilt.edu/csefel)
for additional resources including numerous other What Works Briefs
on related topics.
Center on the Social and Emotional
Foundations for Early Learning http://www.vanderbilt.edu/csefel
We welcome your feedback on this What Works Brief. Please go to the
CSEFEL website (http://www.vanderbilt.edu/csefel)
or call us at 1-866-433-1966 (toll free) to offer suggestions.
Practical information on prevention strategies and strategies for
addressing problem behavior can be found in journals such as Young
Children. See the following articles and books for how and when to
use time-out appropriately:
• American Academy of Pediatrics, Committee on Psychosocial
Aspects of Child and Family Health. (1998). Guidance for effective
discipline. Pediatrics, 101(4), 723-728.
• American
Psychological Association and National Association for the
Education of Young Children. (2004). Adults and children
together against violence: Early violence prevention- Discipline
at home, Discipline at childcare center & school.
Available: http://www.actagainstviolence.org/discipline/index.html
• Howard, B. J. (2002). Time out. In M. Jellinek, B. P. Patel,
& M. C. Froehle (Eds.), Bright futures in practice: Mental
health. Vol. II, tool kit. Arlington, VA: National Center for
Education in Maternal and Child Health.
• Kaiser, B., &
Rasminsky, J. S. (2003). Challenging behavior in young
children: Understanding, preventing, and responding
effectively. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
• Landy, S.
(2002). Pathways to competence: Encouraging healthy social and
emotional development in young children. Baltimore, MD: Paul
H. Brookes.
• Schreiber, M. E. (1999). Time-outs for toddlers:
Is our goal punishment or education? Young Children,
54(4), 22-25.
• Slaby, R. G., Roedell, W. C., Arezzo, D.,
& Hendrix, K. (1995). Early violence prevention: Tools for
teachers of young children. Washington, DC: National
Association for the Education of Young Children.
•
Webster-Stratton, C. (1999). How to promote children's social
and emotional competence. London: Paul Chapman.
What Is the Scientific Basis for This Practice?
For those wishing to explore this
topic further, the following researchers have studied time-out:
• Brestan, E. V., & Eyberg, S. M. (1998). Effective
psychosocial treatments of conduct disordered children and
adolescents: 29 years, 82 studies, and 5272 kids. Journal of
Clinical Child Psychology, 27(2), 180-189.
• Mace, F. C.,
Page, T. J., Ivancic, M. T., & O'Brien, S. (1986).
Effectiveness of brief time-out with and without contingent delay:
A comparative analysis. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis,
19(1), 79-86.
• Porterfield, J. K., Herbert-Jackson, E.,
& Risley, T. R. (1976). Contingent observation: An effective
and acceptable procedure for reducing disruptive behavior of young
children in a group setting. Journal of Applied Behavior
Analysis, 9(1), 55-64.
• Sherbourne, S., Utley, B.,
McConnell, S., & Gannon, J. (1988). Decreasing violent or
aggressive theme play among preschool children with behavior
disorders. Exceptional Children, 55(2), 166-172.
•
Turner, S. T., & Watson, T. S. (1999). Consultant's guide for
the use of time-out in the preschool and elemen-tary classroom.
Psychology in the Schools, 36(2), 135-148.
•
Webster-Stratton, C., Reid, M. J., & Hammond, M. (2001).
Preventing conduct problems, promoting social competence: A parent
and teacher training partnership in Head Start. Journal of
Clinical Child Psychol-ogy, 30(3), 283-302.
This material was developed by the Center on the Social and
Emotional Foundations for Early Learning with federal funds from the
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for
Children and Families (Cooperative Agreement N. PHS 90YD0119). The
contents of this publication do not necessarily reflect the views or
policies of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, nor
does mention of trade names, commercial projects, or organizations
imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. You may reproduce this
material for training and information purposes.
We welcome
your feedback on this What Works Brief. Please go to the CSEFEL
website (http://www.vanderbilt.edu/csefel)
or call us at (217) 333-4123 to offer suggestions.
See PDF Version:
The Role of
Time-Out in a Comprehensive Approach for Addressing Challenging
Behaviors of Preschool Children [PDF, 991KB]
