So today I want to talk about traditional "Time Out" vs. using a process called "The Thinking Seat" in your classroom or home. I will identify the differences and how each approach works in handling discipline.
Most of us are familiar with the use of traditional "Time Out" and that procedure. Usually it is where a child has exhibited an unwanted behavior and is redirected by an adult to an area in the home or classroom. This area is a place where the child is supposed to go and reflect and regain composure to be able to return to the activity that preceded the unwanted behavior.
For purposes of moderation and control, it's recommended to place the child in "Time Out" for one minute in correspondence to their age. So, a two year old sits in "Time Out" for two minutes , a four year old for four minutes and so on. Generally this also helps the adult to have a cooling off period,a moment to count to ten and to prepare for that child to return to the activity.
Studies show that during a "Time Out" sequence there is no learning going on. "Time Out" does NOT promote learning. It is an independent activity to remove the child from an activity to stop the "bad behavior".
In prior training I have explained Executive Functioning Skills and how that affects emotions, control of behavior and working memory (short term memory). With younger students, and students that are on the Autism Spectrum, we often see a Executive Functioning Skills deficit. Oftentimes working memory and thinking abilities are not matured yet. This is normal.
It's not good practice for students who have not matured yet in the Executive Functioning skills part of the brain to go to an area by themselves and process how to regain control of their emotions.
The "Thinking Seat" is a systematic approach to changing a behavior. I have personally used this successfully in my classroom. The basis of the Thinking Seat procedure is not one of independent learning for the child, but rather one of joint effort with a trained adult, to teach the child what happen that caused their behavior to escalate to needing time in the Thinking Seat.
If I've perked your interest in how this procedure works and you would like to view the full training video, please log into the Members Only section of the website to gain full access.
Thanks!
Jennifer
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