Timeout from Emotion, Time for Science: A Response to Kemp

ABSTRACT

In response to Kemp's reaction to the McNeil/Lutzker debate over the use of a hold technique as a component of timeout in a training program for preschool children with serious behavioral disorders; it is suggested that primary focus on the use of aversive treatment should be with the scientific precepts of behavior analysis and therapy, and that, to date, this has largely been missing. It is further suggested that the primary ethical concern should be whether there are safeguards against the potential abuses of aversive procedures. Finally, this discussion tries to correct perceived errors or out of context remarks in Kemp's article, and concludes with a recommendation that future debate confine itself to scientific and ethical issues.