Positive Practice

Positive practice involves the repeated practice of a desired behavior and is considered one of the two components of overcorrection (the other component is restitution and involves correcting the effects of an inappropriate behavior). Overcorrection is a behavior modification technique that has been used with a variety of patient populations for numerous types of behaviors. Overcorrection involves requiring an individual to engage in “positive” behaviors that correct a problem in the same situation or context as the problem behavior, and the positive behaviors are logically linked to the problem behavior. For example, a child who purposefully knocks a plate of food out of the hands of a classmate in the lunch line might be made to repeatedly serve food to his or her classmates as a consequence.

Positive practice overcorrection is used when the purpose is to develop new and appropriate behaviors to replace a problem behavior. The technique requires that (a) the individual repeatedly practice a positive, functional, and appropriate behavior, as a consequence of performing a problem behavior and (b) the appropriate behavior is incompatible with the problem behavior. The use of appropriate and incompatible behaviors serves an educational purpose and differentiates positive practice from other types of punishment (i.e., other types of punishment reduce the rates of the problem behavior; however, positive practice reduces the problem behavior and theoretically develops an appropriate behavior in its place).

Positive practice has been utilized to treat a variety of problem behaviors such as antisocial behavior, selfinjurious behavior, self-stimulatory behavior, school phobia, and tics. Four procedural characteristics have been identified that aid in the implementation of overcorrection and its components. First, the techniques of overcorrection need to be directly related to the problem behavior. For example, if a child repeatedly doesn't make his or her bed and/or purposely messes up the bed, then an appropriate positive practice behavior for the child to engage in would be to require the child to make the bed and also make everyone else's bed in the family. Second, positive practice methods are most useful when employed immediately following the problem behavior. Third, the individual needs to actively perform the positive behaviors. Finally, the duration of time that the individual is required to engage in the appropriate behavior needs to be for a fairly extended period. The length of time used in past studies has ranged from 48 seconds to 2 hours, depending on the type of behavior.

When using positive practice, rapid and dramatic effects have been shown for numerous problem behaviors. Positive practice has been effective in changing behavior even after other techniques such as time-out, reprimands, reinforcement, and physical restraint have proven ineffective. Research suggests that the use of positive practice is often more palatable than other types of punishment for those having to implement the technique such as therapists and staff workers. Disadvantages of overcorrection do exist. These include the complexity of the technique, the time and effort required to implement the technique, the numerous variations of the technique, and the possibility that the individual may come to think of the appropriate behavior as a punishment.

...