Why are timeouts not effective?
Andreanne Hahn
2025-07-21 14:59:31
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: 13
Timeouts are not going to work for the majority, if not all of your children or clients. There is so much complication and fidelity required for this to be an effective behavior change strategy that is just short of impossible in a typical classroom or even an ABA school. Many times timeouts can even reinforce behavior, especially escape behavior. If a child is refusing to do something and they are sent to timeout, any removal or delay of this task is a reinforcement of their behavior. Timeouts are also ineffective for children with any delays present because they are often lacking the language and understanding of why they are in timeout and what it means. Anybody who has studied the science of this can tell you, positive reinforcement is going to lead to much better outcomes than punishment. Discipline means by definition, training people to obey rules or a code of behavior by using punishment to correct disobedience.
Austyn Bartell
2025-07-21 12:21:51
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: 9
Timeout is a temporary, artificial, and inadequate solution to a real problem. The problem with this logic is that it assumes children are thinking reasonably when they are breaking the rules. The truth is that they’re usually acting on impulses that don’t make sense to them either. So, in effect, we’re expecting them to reason out the unreasonable while dealing with equal doses of shame and guilt, then miraculously come to their senses and henceforth conduct themselves with a more mature level of self-control. This is a fantasy. It’s just not going to happen. Timeout closes the door on communication in the misguided hope that children will think about their behavior and, shamed, resolve to do better in the future. When kids feel judged and rejected, they tend to clam up. Defiance, aggression and other limit pushing behavior are our children’s way of letting us know their impulses have taken hold. Self-control has left the building, and they need to be able to depend on ours as back-up.