Application of Timeout in the School Setting

The purpose of this research paper is to provide an overview of the behavioral technique, timeout, as it is applied to the school setting. This presentation will include a review of the literature and a conclusion regarding the material presented.

This review of the literature begins with an introduction to timeout with a discussion of what it is, how long it should last, when it is used, and whether it can be harmful. Next the review will cover misuse of timeout, standards and legal issues, timeout examples and evaluation, and effective use of timeout.

Timeout is a behavioral technique that allows a child to take distance from a given situation. Removing the self from an inc

. . .
lthough timeout resulted in low to moderate effects, a relationship between timeout and academic achievement was not found; truancy was related to poor academic performance (p. 36). Foxx and Shapiro (1978) reported a study that was developed in reaction to negative attitudes to the timeout procedure. In this study, children received a ribbon to wear and timeout consisted of removing or timeout for the ribbon. The study showed that baseline behavior consisted of 42 percent and 32 percent of misbehavior and timeout conditions resulted in only 6 percent misbehavior. It was concluded that this method can be successful when the disruptive behaviors can be tolerated and a backup method of exclusionary timeout can be employed when necessary (p. 1). A more recent study by Yeager and McLaughlin (1994) also demonstrated positive results with the ribbon timeout method (p. 945). Twyman et al. (1994) studied the effects of a warning signal paired with timeout, on nine elementary students. Findings showed that warnings were correlated with decreases in the appropriate use of timeout behaviors and more negative staff-student interactions (p. 243). Taylor and Miller (1997) studied timeout programs and identified reasons that a program may
. . .

Some common words found in the essay are:
Effective Timeout, Taylor Miller, Misuse Timeout, Yeager McLaughlin, Children NAEYC, Rowbury Baer, Timeout Timeout, SCHOOLS Abstract, Foxx Shapiro, Skiba Raison, academic achievement, misuse timeout, child timeout, nelson 1997a, delaney 1999, self control, rimm 1995, timeout procedure, increase self control, increase self, negative behavior, skiba raison 1990, yeager mclaughlin 1994, foxx shapiro 1978, clark rowbury baer,
Approximate Word count = 3147
Approximate Pages = 13 (250 words per page)