Parents currently require guidance on the proper management of disruptive behaviors. Family management will be very useful as a tool in the process of managing such behaviors. Another important point that is exposed is the identification and definition of the most frequent behaviors at home as well as the strategies that must be used to reduce or eliminate problem behavior.
Introduction
Disruptive behaviors are a very common topic in homes and parents are continuously heard talking about this situation in which they frequently use what we know as beatings or often leave it that way. What they do not know is that with the beatings and leaving it like this, they increase the unwanted behavior, resulting in the fracture and harmony of the home.
In view of this need, family management emerges as a tool to solve or channel disruptive behavior; it must be applied in the event that there are behaviors that are not accepted by the family or society. However, it is important to highlight that for this management to be effective, members must agree and share its structure.
Family Management
In recent years, management has been applied to various fields, obtaining great applicability and improvement in all organizations.
In the last decade, the lack of control of the management of disruptive behaviors by parents has been evident, this is due to the lack of knowledge of the tools that help or will help to diminish them, the fundamental thing is to be able to establish and develop new behaviors in replacement of the disruptive ones; which will allow the child a proper integration in their environment.
Currently, parents are continuously looking for strategies to guide them in behavioral management; management is a tool that will guide them in management; however management and family will be unified in order to develop family management which can be defined as: the position held by parents within the family which has within its functions, to represent, protect, care for and guide the members of the same in order to coordinate and achieve the proposed and established family goals. (González, 2009).
Family management will provide parents with strategies to guide and guide them because of the great need they have for the behavioral management that their children usually present and that in most cases are unaware of the methods or strategies that can be executed to reduce or eliminate this disruptive behavior.
Parents have taken on the task of educating their children, especially that of modifying the disruptive behavior that children with special needs usually present, viewed from all angles (mental retardation, learning difficulties, visual and hearing impairments, among others).
Characteristics of the Family Manager
A family manager must possess certain characteristics, which will guide him in the management of the strategies that he must employ in disruptive behaviors:
- Observer; be able to distinguish the disruptive behaviors that are evident in the home. Communicator; can clearly set out the rules and regulations that must be met at home Planner: be able to administer and execute strategies for behavior change Leader: in the family group one of the parents is that they must have these characteristics and will be the one who live more with the child; He will be the family manager. Authority - affection binomial; This will be the one who establishes the norms, rules and the administration of the strategies. Guide: guide your child towards the appropriate behavior, this will be achieved through the administration of rewards and punishment.
Disruptive Behaviors
Disruptive behaviors are a conglomerate of inappropriate behaviors that hinder the proper interaction of the child, making learning and interpersonal relationships difficult.
It is common to observe different behaviors and sometimes parents do not recognize which are disruptive and which are not, in most cases they laugh at the behavior of their children and do not recognize that they are reinforcing inappropriate behavior. Sometimes it is necessary to reduce and even eliminate those behaviors that alter, hinder or prevent a good adaptation of the child to the social environment.
On the other hand, the style with which parents handle their children's behaviors is closely linked to their own values and their expectations.
Some parents may choose to control their children's behaviors by establishing strict rules and applying them rigorously. Other parents may have a more flexible style of control, allowing a greater margin when setting standards of conduct. In some homes, no one seems to be in control because the rules are ambiguous, not enforced firmly, the child and parents seem to be on the same level. To some extent, the style parents use in educating their children will vary with each child in the family; since some need more supervision and control than others.
It is important for parents to identify which are the disruptive behaviors that their children present, then some of them are exposed and defined, which are considered the most common in homes, according to D´Ascoli (1,988)
- Disobedience; failure to follow orders, instructions, or rules given by parents or other significant adult in the family. Physical Aggression; kicking, biting, hitting, spitting, pushing, pulling hair, throwing objects, or throwing doors. Verbal Aggression; Verbal protest consisting of screaming, crying, swearing, name calling, threats directed at an adult and / or child. Disorder; not keeping your belongings in the right place, leaving the house or room to be watered: clothing, school supplies and toys. Tantrums; throwing himself to the ground, crying, yelling and / or depriving himself when he is not given what he wants or when he does not do what the child wants both at home and on the street. Restlessness while doing homework; when doing homework stand, jump, jump, run around the room, move or rock the chair,move limbs leaving homework aside. Lies; not telling the truth to parents regarding housework, school, friends, outings and / or activities carried out. Robberies or Thefts; A.- Bring home objects, toys that are not owned or purchased or given away.
Strategies for Disruptive Behavior Management
There are numerous methods and / or strategies to decrease or eliminate disruptive behaviors, some with a level of depth and others simpler, however, for the knowledge and management of parents, simple tools should be used that are easily accessible and with a low level of complexity.
For Bianco (1998), the real reason why children act as they do, is based on the laws of human behavior. The procedures mentioned below provide the possibility of modifying the behaviors to acquire, decrease or eliminate them.
The main procedures for the acquisition of new behaviors are: A.- Positive Reinforcement, B.- Negative Reinforcement, C.- Molding by Successive Approaches and D.- Imitation.
A.- Positive Reinforcement; it is the probability of increasing the frequency of a behavior when it generates a pleasant consequence.
B.- Negative Reinforcement; is the increase in the probability that a response occurs as a consequence of the omission of a stimulus or object on certain occasions, it is difficult to use negative reinforcement for the acquisition of new behaviors.
C.- Molding by Successive Approximations; It is a procedure that is used to establish responses that do not exist in the subject's repertoire. It consists of reinforcing a scale of responses that have been previously broken down from the simplest to the most complex.
D.- Imitation; it is a procedure to encourage the acquisition of new behaviors. In general, it can be used with children who have a minimal behavioral repertoire.
There are various behavior suppressing procedures. Those that are most useful for parents will be reviewed below: A.- Punishment, B.- Time Out, C.- Cost of Response, D.- Overcorrection, E.- Extinction, F.- Reinforcement of Incompatible Behaviors.
A.- Punishment; It is the procedure by which the decrease in the probability of frequency of certain behaviors is achieved, when unpleasant consequences follow their emission.
B.- Time Out; This procedure is applied when the reinforcer that maintains the behavior cannot be suspended. It consists of removing the subject from the situation in which he emits the behavior that he wishes to suppress.
C.- Response Cost; Also called negative punishment, is to remove a positive reinforcer from the subject as a result of their behavior.
D.- Overcorrection; refers to the correction of the environmental effects caused by inappropriate behavior.
E.- Extinction; It consists of the suspension of the reinforcement or suppression of the reinforcing consequences that follow certain behaviors considered inappropriate.
F.- Reinforcement of Incompatible Behaviors; It is a procedure to decrease the occurrence of inappropriate behaviors without the need to use aversive stimulation.
Administration of Prizes and / or Punishment
It is important to highlight that parents need to be trained to apply the aforementioned techniques, however it is important to consider that these techniques must be accompanied by prizes and rewards among which are:
Materials: (sweets, gifts, toys, walks, trips, among others), are the most used by parents, easier to apply; as they occur occasionally and do not require daily observation.
Social: words of social approval such as: How cute you did !, I look very nice !, Keep it up !, among others.
Affective: a kiss, a hug, a pat on the back, a hand over the head as a sign of acceptance of an activity carried out by the child.
The first task parents face is to teach them proper behavior so that they can understand it. For example: When faced with their children's tantrums, parents not only try to restore calm and order in their homes, they try to teach their children how to handle frustration and anger more appropriately.
A parent who accepts what the child does at home may realize that other parents would not approve of it; Then that parent can decide to do something about that inappropriate behavior. Children do not see their behavior as a problem; they simply have not yet learned proper behavior or forms of self-control.
Bibliographic references
Bianco, F (1998) Parent Education. CIPPSV. Caracas Venezuela.
D´Ascoli, D (1.988) Training for Parents in Learning behavior modification techniques that can be applied at home with the help of a specialist. Greco Publishing House. Caracas Venezuela.
