The Effects of Physical Time-Out on the Aggressive Behaviors of a Severely Emotionally Disturbed Child in a Public School Setting

In: AAESPH review: the official publication of the American Association for the Education of the Severely/Profoundly Handicapped, Band 4, Heft 4, S. 399-406

Abstract

A firm physical restraint procedure was applied to a 6-year-old severely emotionally disturbed male in a self-contained special education classroom in a public school. The treatment procedure consisted of physically holding the subject, contingent on the occurrence of verbal aggression, a response frequently accompanied by physical aggression. Following each instance of verbal aggression, the subject was placed in a "basket hold"; this consisted of crossing the child's arms in front of him while the adult simultaneously stepped behind and sat him on the floor between his legs. The subject's eyes were covered by one hand of the adult to reduce external stimuli and to firmly establish the security of adult control. The subject was not released from physical time-out until all verbal and physical aggressions had ceased for a period of 30 seconds. Experimental sessions were conducted through an A-B-A-B design, where A consisted of baseline sessions and B of sessions in which physical time-out was initiated. The data indicate that the restraint procedure was effective in significantly reducing the maladaptive aggressive responses of the subject in the public school setting.