Question

Using the following case, describe how you would set up a program for young boy Jonathon who is watching too much T.V. and not getting his homework done, by using principles from operant conditioning (behavior modification). Be sure to include all of he tasks you would use before getting started. Determine the target behavior you would seek to change. include techniques that both increase and decrease the target behavior and those behaviors closely associated with the target behavior.

Jonathon is an eight-year-old boy. He is in the third grade and Bonneville Elementary School in Salt Lake County. He is the middle of three children. His older brother is age l l and his younger sister is age four. All three children live with their biological mother. Their parents divorced a year ago.

The children's father, Marquis, has a new partner and they live in an apartment approximately 15 miles from Jonathon, his mom, and his siblings. His mother is not seeing anyone at this time, so her evenings are spent at home with the children. She is, however, employed outside of the home and works as a clerk at a local convenience store.

Once a week, and every other weekend, the kids go to their father's house. Jonathon has begun complaining about being there as he reports it is not much fun because his father is "never there". He indicated that his dad's girlfriend isn't very friendly and that she orders Jonathon and siblings around all of the time.    

Jonathon did well is school, until his parents began to have relationship problems. His mom especially noticed a change in his grades after his father moved out of the house, just over a year ago. Prior to that, he was earning A and B grades and seemed to enjoy his teachers and classmates.

He has been assessed and does not have any neurological problems or learning disorders. As the school social worker, you have been asked to help Jonathon by setting up a behavioral program that will improve his grades.   Your assignment is to set up a program that addresses his study habits. He has been watching TV excessively, according to his mother, and he his neglecting to do his homework. As a result, he is getting D and F grades in his classes

Answer 1

Although Jonathan is just an 8year old kid there is so much more going on than what meets the eye. As it has been discussed his grades and behavioural change have started only after the departure of his father.

He seems to be dissatified with the behaviour of his parents as they have split up. He seems to have idolized his father and now cant live with the fact that his father i with someone else. So in order to vent out he seems to have intentionally given up his studies and starting focusing on tv shows as it would be a form of escape for him. Some ways to alter his behaviour to ensure that he focuses on the important things can be done using behaviour modification in the operant conditiong example. Behaviour modification is the therepy of changing the environmental factors that are connected to the bahviour of Jonathan. Which means reinforcing his good behaviours and punishing the undesired ones.

The best method that can be used for a 8 year old child in this situation is the token economy method. In this method the child is given secondary reinforements or tockens which is later echanged for primary reinforcements.

As Jonathan has the ability and the talent of studying and is just choosing not too he can be reinforced to get back into his regualr self.

Using token economy his mother can make a chart or a timetable with minutes on them so everytime he does something good like do his home work or clean hi room, his mother can add minutes on his chart which means that he gets to watch that much more tv during the week or he could have a binge watch day. His mother can positively reinforce him with extra time on his tv day by extra time through the week and shecould punish his behavouir during the course of the week by taking away time from his chart.

Here in this token exchange system the adding and subtracting of time from his chart is the secondary reinforcement and him exchanging that for actually binge watching tv on the weekends is his primary reinforcements.

So in the beginning the target behaviour that we would expect of him would be doing all the chores expected off him so to gain more time when he looks forward to watching more undisturbed tv during the weekends or special days. This method could fireback if he shows lack of interest and completely shuts off not even wanting to watch tv as we have used that as his primary reinforcement. This problem can then be rectified with only his father spending more time and speaking to him.