Thinking and Acting Like a Behavioral School Counselor by Parsons Richard D.;

Author:Parsons, Richard D.;
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 1993278
Publisher: Corwin Press
Published: 2009-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

PUNISHMENT

For many school personnel, efforts to reduce or eliminate undesirable behavior involve application of “punishments,” such as detentions, demerits, and in- and out-of-school suspensions. The use of punishment is not without its controversy, and clearly no humane person or caring professional would endorse procedures that are dehumanizing, socially degrading, or physically harmful. But, in situations where the student’s behavior places him or her in great danger or serious harm, as would be the case with a developmentally disabled student who is at risk of damaging her hearing by clapping her hands against her ears with such force as to tear the flesh and cause bleeding, punishment may be an effective intervention (see Linscheid, Pejeau, Cohen, & Footo-Lenz, 1994).

The fundamental principle underlying the use of punishers is that if, in a given situation, the behavior which the student manifests is followed by an undesirable consequence, then the student will be less likely to engage in that same behavior when encountering similar situations in the future. However, it is essential to remember a punishment like a reinforcement is known only as it functions. For some students, an out of school suspension is a welcomed vacation and, as such, serves to strengthen the behavior that resulted in the suspension. A punisher is defined by how the event operates. If an event following a behavior results in that behavior’s reduction in frequency, then we can assume the event was a punisher.

It is important to understand a couple of subtle differences between this use of the term “punisher” and the more typical examples of punishment. From a behavioral perspective, a punisher is a contingency applied immediately following the targeted behavior, which has as its sole intent the reduction of this specific behavior within this specific situation. If one contrasts this definition to the more secular use of the word “punishment,” as when applied to the process of incarceration, for example, we recognize that the imprisonment is not an event immediately following the undesirable behavior. It is often employed for purposes of eliciting a modeling, preventive effect for other possible lawbreakers and to extract retribution from the lawbreaker. For school counselors operating with a behavioral orientation, the application of “punishers” and punishment is viewed not as retribution or social statements, but rather an intervention intended to reduce the likelihood of the occurrence of this specific, undesirable behavior.

The fundamental nature of a behavioral punisher is that it is an event highlighting that a certain behavior will result in an unpleasant consequence. Consider, for example, the experience of touching a hot stove. When touching a hot stove, not only do we respond to the intense stimuli by rapidly withdrawing our hand, but we “learn” to reduce the likelihood of repeating that behavior (i.e., touching a hot stove). In most cases, we don’t feel like a bad person, nor do we necessarily “hate” the stove and feel it has delivered an injustice to us. Rather, we accept that there were signals that we failed to recognize, that would have warned us that a certain behavior (i.

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