Tip Sheets: Positive Ways of Intervening with Challenging Behavior

 Shaping...

a proactive intervention for the classroom

This Intervention Tip Sheet has been developed to assist teachers and parents in providing the best possible educational opportunities to students with emotional and behavioral disorders. This Tip Sheet was published by the Institute on Community Integration, College of Education, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis

Introduction

Shaping is a technique by which a student is reinforced for exhibiting closer and closer approximations to desired behavior. It is useful in teaching new desired behavior and is a natural way of encouraging the student to increase the prevalence of desired behavior.

What kinds of behaviors can be modified with shaping?

Shaping is most effective for increasing positive behavior. For example, shaping can be very effective in increasing productivity and accuracy of schoolwork, for increasing pro-social behavior, and for encouraging shy students to participate.

I know what behavior I would like my student to exhibit. What is the first step I need to take?

After you have defined the behavioral objective in clear and measurable terms, assess the present level of the student's skills. For example, if your goal is that the student consistently complete 90% of math problems, first determine how many he presently consistently completes. If your goal is that a student be able to play an entire game of kickball without getting in a fight, observe how long she usually plays before a fight begins.

How do I help the student get from his or her present level to the behavioral objective?

After having determined what the gap between present and desired behavior is, break your goal into “steps.” If your student presently completes 10 math problems, set a goal of 12 problems. Once he is able to consistently achieve this, raise the goal to 14, etc. In the example of the kickball game, if your student can participate for one inning without fighting, set a goal for 1-1/2 innings, etc.

How is the behavior “shaped”?

As each step is achieved, the behavior is taking a “shape” closer and closer to that of the goal. These approximations represent modification of the behavior. Positive reinforcement is provided for each step toward the desired behavior. Reinforcement is delivered naturally in the form of praise and recognition. It is the student's interpretation of your reinforcement which motivates him or her to change. As a student moves closer and closer to achieving the desired behavior, only the new step which is being learned is reinforced. Previous steps no longer need to be specifically reinforced as they have already been achieved.

How do I shape a behavior which the student does not exhibit in any form?

Interpret any action which can be approximated as any form of the behavior as the behavior itself and reinforce it. For example, if your goal is that a shy student participate in class discussion, interpret any movement of his hand as raising his hand. “Tom, you wanted to say something? Did you agree with the author's opinion?” Posing questions such as this make it easy for the student to participate as they require only a “yes” or “no” answer. After Tom answers, you can reinforce him by asking, "How many people agree with Tom? (hands go up) Wanda, why do you agree with Tom?" This gives the student important peer reinforcement.

Another example of shaping a new behavior is that of in-seat behavior. If a student is invariably out of her seat, catch her in her seat and reinforce her for it. "Sharisse, you've been sitting quietly in your seat. How would you like to help me hand out worksheets?"

What are the advantages of shaping?

The biggest advantage of shaping is that it focuses your attention and the student's attention on positive behavior. It recognizes progress and helps the student feel good about him- or herself. It creates the opportunity for positive interaction between the student and teacher, something which may not be that common for a student who exhibits high rates of problem behavior. Additionally, the effects of shaping are long lasting and become a solid part of the students repertoire.

Shaping is easy to implement and, since reinforcement is natural, it does not draw undue attention to the process of behavior modification. This may be very important in specific cases, such as drawing out shy students, or with some high school students.

Are there any precautions to be considered before implementing a shaping program?

Yes. Remember that shaping is a slow process and that achieving steps which are very small, in light of the end goal may take quite some time. Don't give up! Give the process and the student the time needed to change.

Early Childhood Behavior Project
Center for Early Education and Development (CEED)
University of Minnesota

College of Education and 
Human Development