A time-out procedure in a public school setting

This study uses time-out as the primary therapeutic intervention with a 13-year-old highly aggressive male in a public school setting. Specific behaviors were listed prior to beginning TO and were explained to the child and teachers. TO was used over a 10-week period with extinction of the specified behaviors occurring after the seventh week. During an 8-week follow-up only three instances of the aggressive behaviors were observed. During the third and fourth weeks of TO the child began to show spontaneous interest in school work. Statistical analysis by an interrupted time-series program revealed a t (102) = - 8.290 (p <.0005) for change in level between baseline observations with intervention and follow-up data. It is concluded that TO is a sufficiently intense aversive event of itself to alter some types of deviant behavior without direct application of positive reinforcers. It is most propitiously used when alternative response modes are made available for the child.