Childhood
Behavior
Project
Collaboration
Collaboration is a strategy in which the responsibilities of an activity are divided between a child and another individual (peer or adult). When using collaboration, the interventionist shares responsibility for task completion with the child.
Tommy engages in challenging behaviors when asked to participate in clean-up activities. Rather than asking Tommy to complete the task independently, the teacher offers to collaborate with him by saying, “Tommy, you pick up the red blocks and I will pick up the green ones. It's time to clean up our toys and go to the art table.” Tommy and the teacher then pick up blocks together. When Tommy has picked up his part of the blocks, the teacher provides praise to Tommy for his participation by saying, “Good job, this looks better,” and Tommy is allowed to move on to the next activity.
The purpose of collaboration is to increase the probability of task completion and permit earlier escape while delivering attention (a potential positive reinforcer) during engagement.
Why is collaboration effective?
Collaboration is effective in reducing challenging behavior and increasing engagement in tasks because it decreases the task demands placed on the child and creates opportunities to provide the child with social attention.
In the above example, there were several blocks that needed to be put away. Instead of asking Tommy to clean up all the blocks, the teacher asked Tommy to share the responsibility with her. Additionally, the teacher provided social attention by talking about the activity while cleaning up and by praising Tommy for his participation.
Who would benefit from using a collaboration strategy?
Collaboration is an appropriate strategy to use for children who engage in challenging behaviors to:
1. obtain attention when asked to perform an activity.
Karen is a child who engages in tantrums to obtain attention when asked to participate independently in activities. She frequently requests painting activities and will independently engage in them for short periods of time, but soon begins to rip paper and spill paint containers until the teacher approaches her.
2. escape from an ongoing activity.
During turn-taking games with peers, Rose participates for short periods of time before she begins to scream and throw game pieces on the floor. Although Rose frequently requests turn-taking games as an activity, she finds them difficult and quickly becomes frustrated.
3. avoid the demands of an activity completely.
Tommy engages in challenging behavior when asked to participate in clean-up activities (e.g., toys, art, etc.).
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Early
Childhood Behavior Project
Center for Early
Education and Development (CEED)
University
of Minnesota
Joe Reichle, Ph.D.,
Co-Principal Investigators
LeAnne Johnson, Project Coordinator
Phone: 612-626-3457 E-mail:
chaf0032@umn.edu
http://pebbles.cehd.umn.edu/ceed/projects/preschoolbehavior/strategies/collab.htm
This page was last updated on November 27, 2007.
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