The Role of Positive and Negative Reinforcement

I recently had a conversation with a parent about school progress.  We talked about how the student was "doing well" in school but that there was rarely any elaboration about WHAT exactly was going well.  The parent wondered, does this just mean the student isn't engaging in challenging behavior?  And do only "squeaky wheels" get additional teacher reports sent home?

We started to chat about how trying to complete homework was nearly impossible.  The student's motivation was to escape, or to be done with the task.  It didn't feel like learning, just going through the motions to get it done.  Is this how the student performed at school?  Was the student's goal just to get done with the activity (negative reinforcement) or was the student motivated by sensory experiences, positive attention, and tangible reinforcers available within the activity?  The parent explained that potential reinforcers had been provided to the teacher but that they hadn't been replenished in a while.  Did that mean that they weren't being used?  

I mentioned the possibility that the classroom may be using "escape" or "all done" as negative reinforcement.  The idea is that the student will remain engaged in the task to completion with the promise of being "all done" or having "free time" afterwards (i.e. removal of task demands or a period of time without demands).  This process might be enough to get the student started on the right path BUT it's not likely to be successful long term.  Positive reinforcement is much more likely to maintain long term success.  Positive reinforcement would involve ADDING (+) something to the environment that serves to reinforce or increase the likelihood of the behaviors or responses occuring again in the future.  For example, after 2 responses (i.e. answering 2 questions or completing 2 math problems), the teacher would offer praise, tickles, candies, or blowing bubbles.  Better yet, the teacher would embed the task within a preferred activity or use preferred themes to make the task more pleasant.  For example, if the student likes trains, an idea might be to use trains as pictures to count on a math worksheet or use a train set as math manipulatives to count.  Of course our students aren't going to LOVE every academic task they complete at school.  BUT our goal shouldn't be teaching students to escape these tasks.  Wouldn't we rather our students find JOY in learning?  

Maybe you've found yourself or your student in this situation.  Or maybe you do use positive reinforcement but it doesn't seem to be working.  If positive reinforcement IS already in play and your student still seems to be working to escape, then you might consider that the effort required to obtain the positive reinforcer may be too high compared to the value of that reinforcer.  I find myself falling into this trap from time to time.  The student is doing so well that the schedule of reinforcement gets thinned (meaning that more responses are required before a reinforcer is delivered) and all of a sudden the student starts engaging in challenging behaviors.  It's not that the student is no longer doing well, although it may feel that way in the moment.  Rather, the effort required to recieve the reinforcer now outweighs the value of that reinforcer.  We get so caught up in how well they are doing that we forget to reinforce their cooperation and progress.  That is, until they remind us, usually by engaging in a challenging behavior signaling that they would now like to escape this task.  As your student makes progress with cooperation and learning, keep in mind that they may not be ready to complete an entire worksheet to gain access to a positive reinforcer.  Just because they've made progress and are able to complete longer tasks than before doesn't necessarily mean they no longer need reinforcement throughout the activity.  Positive reinforcement is a powerful thing!  Keep it up, maintain the positive rapport that you've built, and continue to support the joy of learning.