POSITIVE ROUTINES:

Abstract

Children's severe opposition to going to bed (bedtime temper tantrums) has typically been treated by ignoring the behavior (extinction). Although this method has proven effective with various populations, caregivers must endure the child's screaming and crying for long periods of time before the problem is overcome. Consequently, many fail in their efforts to control tantrums because they experience difficulty in consistently using the procedure. The study reported herein evaluated the effectiveness of a chaining and fading procedure (Positive Routine) in rapidly eliminating the bedtime tantrums of three emotionally disturbed, severely handicapped children living with their parents. For each, the Positive Routine was a fixed sequence of typical daily events, culminating in going to bed, that was implemented shortly before the child's natural sleeptime. Completion of each intermediate component of the routine was followed by praise and served as a discriminate stimulus for the next. Once the routine was established, the parents were instructed to gradually fade the beginning of the routine backward in time until it coincided with the bedtime they desired. In all three experimental cases and in two subsequent clinical replications, Positive Routines were highly effective in inducing the children to retire voluntarily. Furthermore, the tantrums parents so often find aversive were virtually eliminated, thereby overcoming a major contributor to parents' inability to effectively employ the extinction procedure.