Growing Together Lawrence Pradell, MD Staff Pediatrician, Nemours Pediatrics at Peoples Plaza Clinical Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Jefferson Medical College Discipline and Time Out

Goals for Tonight’s Talk:  Discipline and the Rules Children Learn, as a set of Laws or Guidelines  Perspective and its importance on this subject: –From the parent –From the child –From the health care provider

Discipline and Time Out  Behavior and the “Quick Fix”  What we will not do tonight

Discipline and Time Out Discipline: The application of social rules in response to behavior (a working definition)

Discipline and Time Out Children learn through observation, discovering patterns in the environment around them, both with objects and with people.

Discipline and Time Out  Children apply their knowledge: –Learn to navigate the environment, –The “Rules” of how things work allow the child to master tasks to meet their needs.

Discipline and Time Out Perspective: Behavior Problem Parent

Discipline and Time Out Perspective: Behavior Problem Child

Discipline and Time Out Perspective: Behavior Problem Pediatrician

Discipline and Time Out Pediatrician’s Foremost Concerns: Does the behavior concern brought by the caregiver suggest an underlying problem in the development or behavior of the child? Or Does the behavior concern suggest a problem in the caregiving of the parent that carries significant impact for this child’s progress and safety?

Discipline and Time Out  Specifics of the behavior concern: –Who –What –Where –When

Discipline and Time Out  What is the response the child is getting for the current behavior?  Could this response be rewarding, from the child’s point of view?

Discipline and Time Out  Desirable Qualities of a Response: –Immediate –Intense

Discipline and Time Out TIME OUT: Features of a Successful Program  Initiated by the Specific Unwanted Behavior  Immediate and Certain  Attention Witholding  Performed by a Calm and Neutral Adult

Discipline and Time Out Questions?