You can't avoid consequences and punishments

But you can leverage them as teaching tools!

Parenting Instagram discourages the use of consequences and punishments. In honor of Autism Awareness Month, let me explain in ABA terms why this is, to put it mildly, nonsensical!

Consequences are effects of behaviors. You do something, and it causes something else—a consequence—to happen. Consequences exist whether you want them to or not. 

Punishments are consequences that decrease the likelihood of behaviors. Presumably, if your kid is doing something unsavory, you’d want to discourage it, in which case you’d implement some sort of punishment. The opposite of punishments are reinforcers, or consequences that increase the likelihood of behaviors. 

Punishment and reinforcement can be positive or negative. Positive means that you add some sort of stimulus; negative means that you take a stimulus away. 

Here is a helpful infographic: 

The absence of a punishment can act as reinforcement. If a kid uses their phone during class and the teacher doesn’t make a stink about it, the kid will be more likely to use their phone during class in the future; by failing to punish the kid, the teacher has negatively reinforced phone use during class.

On the other hand, essentially doing nothing can also serve as a negative punishment. If your kid keeps using their phone in class, you don’t have to do anything; you can simply stop paying the phone bill.

Every behavior has a consequence, so behaviors are constantly and naturally punished and reinforced. And that’s generally helpful! Punishment and reinforcement are both crucial for learning. Just remember that consequences are most helpful when they are administered immediately and consistently. And, of course, they must not cause the child harm or shame.

—

I’m still crossing my fingers that they put Smash back on the air!