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The development from a medical to a more educational and psychologically-based model of SEBD, as described in Section 3.2, was partly the result of the development of behaviour modification techniques.

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For educational psychologists, behaviourism, with its emphasis on how behaviour is learned and maintained, offered techniques that could be offered to teachers to use within the classroom. This approach, founded on the idea that all behaviour (whether good or bad) occurs because it is „reinforced‟ (whether intentionally or not), has tended to be the dominant model employed for understanding and approaching SEBD (Cooper, Smith and Upton, 1994).

Early „stimulus – response‟ behavioural modification techniques were based on

experiments that involved „conditioning‟ animals (Pavlov, 1927). For example, a stimulus such as a buzzer that is followed by a reward such as food, conditions an animal to expect food when they hear the buzzer. The stimulus prompts the behaviour which is modified through this process and the animal learns that the buzzer means food. A classroom based example is the class “signal for attention”, in

which the teacher uses a stimulus known to the children (such as a clap or use of a musical shaker), to which children are expected to stop any activity and listen to the teacher. Appropriate responses to the signal for attention can then be positively reinforced.

In a development of this „classical conditioning‟, Skinner (1953, 1971) differentiates

learning which results from a stimulus and learning which occurs as a result of the consequences of a behaviour, or „operant conditioning‟. That is, a particular

behaviour is more likely to be repeated if something pleasant follows it and less likely to be repeated if something unpleasant follows it. Skinner (1971) demonstrated experimentally that learning happens more quickly when established through reliable contingent reinforcement and is maintained effectively through intermittent

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reinforcement. In Realistic Evaluation terms, if the mechanism (the provision of a reward) is intermittent it is more effective than it would be within a context where it is consistently related to a particular behaviour.

There are many approaches based on behaviour modification ideas. For example, Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) (Baer, Wolf and Risley, 1968) has been employed to change behaviours in a variety of areas including seat belt use (Van Houten et al., 2005) and improving performance in sports (Brobst and Ward, 2002). ABA has been used as a framework to improve classroom management in training packages such as „BATPACK‟ (Behavioural Approach to Teaching Package) (Wheldall and Merrett,

1985). This approach reflects the behaviourist tenet that behaviour is learned through an individual‟s interaction with the environment and that behaviour tends to be

repeated if the outcome is rewarding (and repeated less if the outcome is unrewarding).Thus learning results in a change in observable behaviour and is context dependent in that an individual learns in which contexts particular behaviours are acceptable though the feedback received. This approach focuses on making appropriate and expected behaviours explicit, on observing and pin-pointing behaviours closely, carefully managing antecedent conditions and using praise and deliberate ignoring to modify behaviours. Ignoring, as a form of timeout from reinforcement, is used specifically as a strategy to „extinguish‟ unwanted behaviour (Arkande, 1997).

Another approach, Functional Behavioural Analysis, seeks to assess a behaviour that has been targeted for change in a systematic manner in terms of the function, or purpose a particular behaviour serves for a person within the environment, through

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identifying the benefits the behaviour provides to the individual and environmental factors that act to maintain the behaviour. This is done by close observation of the behaviour, including the frequency, duration, and intensity of the behaviour and the associated antecedents and consequences. The condition under which the behaviour occurs most frequently suggests the function, but if this is not evident contextual factors (such as the antecedent or consequence of the behaviour) are manipulated separately and the effects on the frequency, duration and intensity of the behaviour observed. A plan to modify behaviour is drawn up in the light of these observations (Noell et al., 2001).

The Assertive Discipline approach (Canter and Canter, 1976) advocates an approach to classroom management in which the expected behaviours are clearly articulated to children in the form of rules, which are taught and reinforced though the use of praise and rewards, augmented by sanctions if necessary. This approach has been widely adopted in schools and by Local Authorities (Bush and Hill, 1993).

In Realistic Evaluation terms, the behavioural approach of modifying behaviour through manipulating the antecedent conditions or the consequences for the child can be seen as manipulating mechanisms operating within contexts. Antecedents can be managed to reduce the likelihood of undesired behaviour being triggered in the first place. Manipulating what happens after a specific behaviour, either through sanctions or positive reward can affect the likelihood of the behaviour recurring (Provis, 1992).

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As the behavioural model asserts behaviour results from interactions that take place within the classroom, removing a child to a different environment for therapy would be unlikely to be effective in supporting a change in classroom behaviour. When the child returns to the classroom s/he is being returned to the same environmental conditions which initially produced the behaviour. Rather, the child‟s behaviour is

modified within the usual environment through the use of rewards and sanctions so that appropriate and acceptable behaviours are more likely to result. Such techniques, which are relatively straightforward to use (although maintaining the consistency of approach required can be difficult) can be extended to the home setting, providing pro-active strategies that parents can use, for example as incorporated in the „Incredible Years‟ Parenting Programme (Webster-Stratton, 1992)

This is an interactive, ecological approach within which expected behaviours, rewards and sanctions are clearly stated. Research in this area indicates positive reinforcement is more effective than the use of sanctions in modifying behaviour, rewards need to be closely contingent with the target behaviour, and they tend to work more effectively in the short term (Brophy, 1981). The appropriate use of rewards and sanctions has also been shown to have a positive effect on the motivation, satisfaction and feelings of equity of other members of the group (O‟Reillys and Puffer, 1989), which is a positive effect on the wider context of the

classroom.

The behaviour policy for Willow Park School draws significantly on this broad model of behaviour management and interpretation of and responses to SEBD. The policy includes clearly articulated expectations for behaviour (see Table 3.3, page 85), and associated rewards (such as verbal praise and merit marks) and sanctions (such as being placed on report or detention). The expected behaviours are codified in the

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„School Laws‟ and „Classroom Routines‟, and include behaviours such as “All students to walk around the school corridors on the left-hand side”, and “When a teacher or student is talking to the class, all students will be attentive and silent”. A

list of strategies, which can be considered as mechanisms, believed to be effective for rewarding good behaviour is included in the policy. These mechanisms include verbal thanks and praise, merit marks, positive comments in a student‟s book, certificates, home contact via the student‟s planner, letters sent home to parents, displays of students‟ work and „Celebration Assemblies‟. A hierarchy of sanctions is

also articulated which progress form verbal warnings, comments to parents in the student‟s planner, detentions, and being placed „on report‟ to internal exclusions

(where the student is taught away from the mainstream class) and external exclusions (where the child has to stay at home).

Thus, a behaviourist framework posits a child‟s social, emotional and behavioural

development is conditioned by the environment and implies the educational environment should be controlled to produce good outcomes for children. If a child is experiencing SEBD appropriate modifications to the environment should be made in school. It is important to note, however, that a behavioural methodological approach to modifying behaviour, which draws significantly on controlled pre-test- post-test research designs (for example Brobst and Ward, 2002), may have unintended consequences when translated into in a real world setting. Within a complex social context, such as Willow Park, reinforcement contingencies described in the behaviour policy will not necessarily be under tight control nor will they be implemented consistently by different stakeholders. In addition, factors that are reinforcing to one child may well be unrewarding to another, for instance depending on the child‟s own

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motivations or aspects of their personality. There is also the potential for incidental reinforcers that inadvertently serve to teach or maintain undesirable behaviours.

In part to address such concerns behavioural approaches have increasingly focused on antecedents as well as consequences of behaviour, that is “setting events” (Bull

and Solity, 1987) such as seating plans, or the size and mix of students in a class. The influence and importance of such contextual effects, and a potential model for including these effectively in an understanding of SEBD, is discussed further in Section 3.3.ii below.