Choices for Children by Alfie Kohn

Choices for Children

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Improving Children's Compliance- Part 2: Mastering the Alpha Command

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On my last blog post, “ Improving Children’s Compliance- Part 1: Kinds of Commands ,” we learned about the three most common kinds of commands: the initiating command, the terminating command, and the mixed command. With an initiating command , we start behavior; with the terminating command , we end behavior. The mixed command aims at, first, terminating the behavior that we do not want, and then start a new behavior, or initiate the specific behavior that we want. (To read this blog post in full, click on the link at the bottom.) Another way in which we can analyze commands is in terms of both their efficiency and compliance rate; most specifically, distinguishing between the beta command and the alpha command . Details of each kind of command follow. Forehand and McMahon developed a list of five beta commands , or commands with lower efficiency and reduced compliance, that is still relevant today (As presented on Walker and Walker, 1991): 1.       ...
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What is Psycho-Education?

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In the broader sense, psycho-education refers to the education given to people who are living with emotional disturbances. The rationale behind a psycho-educational approach is that, with a clear understanding of the mental condition, and self-knowledge of own strengths, community resources, and coping skills, the individual is better equipped to deal with the problem and to contribute to his or her own emotional well-being. The core psycho-educational principle is education has a role in emotional and behavioral change . With an improved understanding of the causes and effects of the problem, psycho-education broadens the person’s perception and interpretation of the problem, and this refined view positively influences the individual’s emotions and behavior. Consequently, improved awareness of causes and effects leads to improved self-efficacy (the person believing that he is able to manage the situation), and improved self-efficacy leads to better self-control. In other words, the ...
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Improving Children's Compliance- Part 1: Kinds of Commands

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In the classroom, the three most common types of commands that teachers give are the initiating command, the terminating command, and the mixed command. With an initiating command , we start behavior; with the terminating command , we end behavior. A mixed command , on the other hand, includes elements of both an initiating and a terminating command. I like to call this third kind of command the “stop… and…” command, because it generally resembles that sentence pattern. “Rebecca and Frankie, distribute the protractors and graph paper” and “When we get to the library make sure that you sit within your reading group” are examples of initiating commands. Examples of terminating and mixed commands follow. Terminating Commands ·         Hector, you and Ryan stop talking! ·         Camille, stop daydreaming! ·         Gregory, stop pushing in line! ·    ...
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