To Review, there are three contingencies of reinforcers; immediacy, consistency and constancy. These are the aspects of reinforcers that create change. I’ve related all of them to increasing positive behaviors by applying the contingencies to each behavior you want to increase. The same arrangement works to decrease negative behaviors, if the contingencies are applied using punishments. …

This is the first of a three-part series of articles introducing an approach to changing teenager’s behavior. I’ve been a child psychologist for twenty-seven years. During that time, I’ve evolved a system for dealing with children. It involves some basic reinforcement strategies, but it also has some new ideas. People tell me they want the nuts …

This is the third in a three-part series of articles. Please read the first two and have your list of behaviors handy before reading this article. To continue, these are some of the many complaints and categories I hear about from parents. There are a lot more categories and infinitely more negative behaviors to be put …

This is part II of a three part series on What To Do First When Changing Teenager’s Behavior. Please read the first article before tackling this one. What To Do First When Changing Teen’s Behaviors-Part II Here are some examples to help out. Positive (+) Behaviors Negative (-) Behaviors Talks Quietly Yelling Cleans room Doesn’t clean …

I’ve been a child psychologist for twenty-seven years. I also work with younger children, but the principles are the same for changing behaviors. But first, there needs to be a little preparation. Here’s an exercise and a description of thes process that we can use to change teenager’s behaviors. Take a sheet of typing paper and …