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Positive Behavior Management in Physical Activity Settings
by Barry W. Lavay, Ron French and Hester L. Henderson
296 Pages
It’s never been more challenging to manage behavior and motivate students in a physical activity setting.
There are more at-risk children and students with disabilities to manage. Physical activity professionals also face the unique challenge of providing instruction to large groups with limited resources and distractions galore. If not handled correctly, these challenges can quickly add up to chaos, ineffective instruction, and frustrated, burnt-out physical activity professionals.
That’s where the third edition of Positive Behavior Management in Physical Activity Settings, Third Edition comes in. This resource will help you not only overcome those and other discipline challenges, but also use tried-and-true, positive techniques to develop appropriate and responsible behaviors and good character among all learners.
This new edition incorporates principles, methods, and instructional practices from psychology, special education, pedagogy, recreation, athletics, and coaching. It shows teachers, coaches, and recreation leaders how to apply the principles that have proven effective in schools, youth sport programs, and recreation sites.
Positive Behavior Management in Physical Activity Settings offers this new material:
• A new chapter on bullying, providing up-to-date information to help you recognize and manage such behavior within your group
• A new chapter on children with special needs, including autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit disorder, learning disabilities, intellectual disabilities, traumatic brain injury, and behavioral/emotional disabilities
• A new chapter on behavior management ethics and professionalism, to help those who are preparing to be physical activity professionals at the pre-service and in-service levels
• New sections on motivating children who are overweight or obese, using the latest research to help you to encourage them to participate
Also new to this edition are an instructor guide and a web resource. The instructor guide offers different sample syllabi, showing various ways to teach the course; sample assignments; answers to chapter review questions; suggested further readings; and useful websites and apps. The web resource supplies behavior management scenarios, sample forms (checklists, rubrics, certificates, worksheets) from the chapters, instructions for designing an Applied Behavior Analysis graph and a trifold display, useful websites and apps, and a glossary by chapter.
This text provides you with evidence-based strategies in managing special needs populations, including designing a positive behavioral support (PBS) model and a behavioral intervention plan (BIP), as well as information on response to intervention (RTI).
The authors have added a fourth section to this new edition. Part I details the challenges that professionals face in developing a positive learning environment, and shows readers how to be proactive in doing so. Part II outlines the interventions that physical activity professionals have successfully used in a variety of settings. This part includes chapters that discuss behavioral, humanistic, and biophysical approaches. The final chapter in this section addresses how to evaluate the behavior intervention.
Part III explores behavior management with various populations, and offers the new chapters on bullying and on special needs children. In part IV, the authors discuss ethical and professional behavior of physical activity professionals relative to the application of behavior management techniques used with children and youth with a focus on professionalism. The final chapter will synthesize the information presented in this text and assist the reader to take the appropriate steps needed to develop a working, teaching, and behavior management portfolio.
GUIDANCE TO MOTIVATE CHILDREN
Positive Behavior Management in Physical Activity offers current and future K-12 physical educators, coaches, recreation specialists, and adapted physical education specialists guidance in motivating young people. You will learn how to manage behavior and create a physical activity environment that is conducive to performance and learning—and that is designed to empower children rather than control their behavior.
Part I Creating a Positive Learning Environment
Chapter 1 Introduction to Behavior Management
Chapter 2 Preventing Inappropriate Behaviors and Promoting Positive Behaviors
Part II Exploring Behavior Management Approaches
Chapter 3 The Behavioral Approach: Maintaining and Increasing Behaviors
Chapter 4 The Behavioral Approach: Redirecting and Decreasing Inappropriate Behaviors
Chapter 5 The Humanistic Approach: Accepting Social and Personal Responsibility and Building Character
Chapter 6 The Biophysical Approach: Biological Variables to Behavior
Chapter 7 Evaluating the Behavioral Intervention
Part III Behavior Management Challenges
Chapter 8 Bullying of Children and Youth
Chapter 9 Children and Youth With Unique Needs
Part IV Behavior Management in Practice
Chapter 10 Behavior Management, Ethics, and Professionalism
Chapter 11 Steps for Developing a Behavior Management Portfolio
Barry W. Lavay, PhD, is a professor of adapted physical education at California State University at Long Beach. He has authored or coauthored more than 15 texts and chapters and more than 60 juried articles in physical education and special education journals. He has made close to 100 presentations at the international, national, regional, and state levels and given numerous seminars and workshops.
Lavay has spent four decades as a university professor in physical education teacher education and as a public school physical education teacher. He has been a member of SHAPE America since 1973 and has been a fellow member of the AAHPERD Research Consortium since 1989. He served on the steering committee for the Adapted Physical Education National Standards Project from 1992 to 1997. He also was a member of the California AHPERD Council on Adaptive Physical Education for five years.
In 2011 Lavay received the William A. Hillman Distinguished Service Award from the National Consortium for Physical Education for Individuals with Disabilities. He enjoys spending time with his family, and he runs and cycles in his leisure time.
Ron French, EdD, CAPE, is professor emeritus in the department of kinesiology at Texas Woman’s University in Denton. In 1971 Dr. French received his doctorate in special education and special physical education from the University of California at Los Angeles.
Since 1981 he has taught a graduate course on behavior management in physical education and sport. A former public school physical educator, he has presented at more than 100 workshops, conferences, and conventions and written or coauthored more than 72 articles and two manuals on behavior management. Dr. French has earned such awards as the TWU Carnaro Professor Award and the Texas Piper Professor Award.
Hester L. Henderson, PhD, taught adapted physical education for one year at Iowa State University and then joined the faculty in the department of exercise and sport science at the University of Utah, where she has taught since 1983.
She has written and administered 26 grants, primarily in professional preparation, totaling $6.2 million. She has authored or coauthored 41 manuscripts and has coauthored or been a major contributor to eight books and four book chapters. She was a major contributor to the revision of the first edition of the book Adapted Physical Education National Standards and the Adapted Physical Education National Standards Study Guide.
Dr. Henderson has made more than 100 presentations at all levels. In 1999 Dr. Henderson developed and still administers two service learning projects at the University of Utah. She also started the physical education program at the Pingree Learning Center for Children with Autism.
Since 1992 she has served on the executive committee and helped develop the Adapted Physical Education National Standards (APENS). She is a member of the national, regional, and state Associations of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance as well as the National Consortium of Physical Education for Individuals with Disabilities.
Dr. Henderson has received the University Faculty Community Service Award, Select 25 Award, University Beacon of Excellence Award, University Distinguished Faculty Service Award, Hollis Fait Scholarly Contribution Award, and College of Health Distinguished Mentor Award. In her free time she enjoys playing soccer, running, biking, and snowshoeing.
“Positive Behavior Management in Physical Activity Settings is a knowledge base that is almost lost in teacher education. If you are a teacher and have challenges with your students’ behavior and want more from your students than just following directions, but you want enthusiastic cooperation from your students, this is the book.”
Phillip Ward, PhD, FNAK, RFSA-- Director of the Learning to Teach Physical Education Research Program, Ohio State University
Professional Ethics and the Use of Punishment in Physical Activity Environments
There are professionals and organizations who believe there must be an ethical consideration when manipulating participant or group behavior to perform, learn, reduce, or eliminate a behavior (see checklist 10.2).
There are professionals and organizations who believe there must be an ethical consideration when manipulating participant or group behavior to perform, learn, reduce, or eliminate a behavior (see checklist 10.2). The focus should not be just on solving an immediate behavioral problem that negatively affects not only the level of motivation of children to attend and respond but also helps to increase their level of physical performance and learning. The focus at the same time should be on more than the teacher teaching or the coach coaching - it should be on the bigger picture. Professionally and ethically, there must be an attempt to positively affect students' lives. Because of this, physical activity professionals must exhibit moral courage, unshakable ethical standards, and consideration for the dignity of children and youth, which may involve challenges of their professional ethics by parents, guardians, administrators, and others in a community (Bagley, 1907).
Discipline and Punishment
Discipline is the control that is gained by requiring that rules or orders be obeyed and punishing bad behavior. Based on Carson (2014), there is both positive and negative discipline. Positive discipline focuses on modeling positive behavior and ensures student or player input in the development of class or team rules. Negative discipline relates to students running laps or performing other tasks as a result of misbehaving. It is generally a reactive behavior when something negative happens and relays a message the teacher or coach is mad or angry. Punishment is a term often used to describe consequences that are implemented to decrease the future occurrence of a behavior. Broadly, punishment may include suffering, pain, or loss that serves as retribution and severe, rough, or disastrous treatment. Seifried (2008) defined punishment as a moral concept for disobedience to an authority or a set of rules relating to right and wrong that is intended to reduce or eliminate the disobedient behavior. The authors believe that this term is too harsh for educational settings, so we have chosen to use the term corrective methods. Corrective methods are intervention procedures in which a pleasurable stimulus is removed or an aversive stimulus is presented as a consequence of a behavior in order to decrease the future frequency of occurrence of that inappropriate behavior. See chapter 4 for more discussion on corrective methods and punishment.
Corrective techniques are the most widely used behavioral strategies to control behavior because they reduce the inappropriate behavior quickly. However, we believe that corrective techniques have many negative side effects and should only be used minimally to manage behavior. As Gallahue (1978) indicated, corrective techniques serve to repress the inappropriate behavior but they do nothing to determine and solve the cause of that behavior.
Corporal punishment is using physical force with the intention of causing a person to experience pain, but not injury, for the purpose of correction or behavior control. Some school districts define corporal punishment as touching someone for the purpose of discipline, starting with putting your arm on that person's shoulders to discuss a problem and including dragging that person into time-out. Corporal punishment is prohibited in schools in all developed countries except in 19 states in the United States, parts of Canada, and 1 state in Australia. See chapter 4 for more details on the use of corporal punishment in schools. Corporal punishment is the most severe corrective method and is discussed in this book because it is still allowed in some states. There are serious professional and ethical issues as well as liability issues in using corporal punishment. Further, physical activity specialists who support the use of corporal punishment must comply "with the authoritative social values and moral codes set forth by their own professional organizations" (Albrecht, 2009, p. 475). How can we expect to develop well-disciplined students and players with all the positive qualities we want them to have through the use of punishment?
Requiring Physical Activity
A technique used far too often in physical activity settings - especially in coaching - is requiring a participant to perform a physical activity as a consequence of misbehavior. Participants have been required to perform extreme physical activity extending beyond their physical capacity, resulting in medical conditions such as heat stroke, renal failure, or even death. When a participant is required to do exercise as punishment, such as doing squat thrusts, running wind sprints, doing push-ups, running laps, and so on, the message sent is that this activity is something that is aversive and should be avoided. Even as early as 1992, Hart indicated that excessive physical activity used as punishment is not only risky but outdated. This is particularly true if not carried out with the appropriate supervision to ensure there is no emotional or physical injury.
Further, some states have stipulated that using physical activity as punishment is considered a form of corporal punishment and is illegal. In the web resource see California's policy on the use of physical activity. In addition, the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) opposes administering or withholding physical activity as a form of punishment or behavior management. For a summary of this policy see figure 4.7. Because of the possible negative effects of using physical activity to correct misbehavior, the authors do not condone the use of this technique. We caution physical activity professionals who may be contemplating its use to learn more about the possible negative consequences and be sure to consult your state's office of education to determine the legality of the use of this technique.
It has been suggested that there is a double standard relative to corporal punishment: "[T]eachers [coaches] who detect unusual bruises on children's bodies are required to report suspected abuses to authorities, but parents who see the same thing on their children as a result of educators' [coaches] disciplinary procedures get little to no back up from the law" (as cited in Rico, 2002, p. 356). For example, if physical educators or coaches follow school policy related to punishment, they could receive qualified immunity, but parents and guardians may be liable for violating the same state statutes. Again, though, corporal punishment, including requiring physical activity, cannot be excessive and must be reasonable, or the physical educators and coaches may be subject to the same civil and criminal liability as parents and guardians in virtually all states.
Remember that as of 2014, 31 state legislatures have passed laws prohibiting the use of corporal punishment in schools. For a list of these states, see figure 4.5. Also in that chapter is a discussion of many negative side effects of using severe corrective methods for managing behaviors.
If we as physical activity professionals want to develop strong connections with our participants and create a positive, nurturing environment for them to grow and learn, there are many other proactive and positive ways to manage their behavior than using corporal punishment. Therefore, we believe that it is never appropriate to use corporal punishment!
Time-Out
The use of time-out has been debated by experts for decades. Some believe that if it is used correctly and consistently, a student or player learns to control himself or herself, and a trusting and respectful relationship between that participant and the physical activity professional will be maintained. There are other experts who believe the use of time-out strategies that remove a participant from positive reinforcement is overused and counterintuitive to sound educational practices because that participant is removed from an environment where he or she had an opportunity to practice or learn. For example, in one strategy a participant may be removed from a possible reinforcing environment for a minute or two for each year of his or her age. For older participants this could be more than half the instructional class period or practice!
Once, one of the authors of this text was visiting a physical education class and a student came in late from another class. That student was required to sit out the entire class. Later, it was determined that it was not the student's fault that he was late; the teacher in his previous class had held him after class. A teacher must know why the student came in late first before punishing him or her for a behavior that he or she had no control over. A more proactive technique would be to include that student immediately into the class. Then, once class was over, determine the reason why he or she was late. In this case the possible solution may be to meet after school with the other teacher to rectify the problem so the student is not held back in total or in part from your class.
Another issue in using time-out, besides the potentially excessive length of time involved, is the type of time-out. If a participant is sent to another setting that is away from the actual activity setting, this is referred to as seclusion time-out. Many school districts and other organizations do not allow seclusion time-out because all students must be supervised. It is easy for a physical activity professional to forget about the participant in seclusion and leave him or her out of class or team activity for a long time, thus depriving that student or player from participating and learning.
Alternatives to the Use of Corrective Methods
Most experts believe that a proactive behavior management program should always be in place to stop or reduce behavioral problems and thus avert the need for corrective techniques. For example, the physical activity professional continually must put away the free weights after the weight lifting class. He is considering not letting the students use the free weights for class next week. He decides to first post signs in the weight room asking that the weights be put back on the appropriate rack immediately after use, or the weights will be removed for 2 weeks in the future.
Sometimes the problem may be that participants are violating an expected program standard that seems to be common sense to the physical activity professional. Or there may be a communication problem in that a standard was just not clearly explained. Once recognized, that problem can be solved immediately by explaining the standard more clearly to participants; the violation will most likely not occur again and no punishment will be needed.
Another proactive technique is the use of cues to signal what behavior is expected. For instance, a verbal warning cue could be a statement such as "The game will be over in 5 minutes" or "Billy, when I blow my whistle, you need to start lining up in your squad." Many other proactive techniques are discussed in chapter 3.
If the proactive strategies are not enough to manage behavior, try including intrinsic reinforcers such as fun and exciting activities that meet your essential class or practice objectives and are also activities that participants enjoy doing. There will, however, be some participants who do not believe an activity has any functional value or that an activity is repetitive and boring. To bridge the gap between performance and learning, a more powerful extrinsic reinforcement may be required initially to engage those who may not be intrinsically motivated to participate. The goal is always to fade out extrinsic reinforcers and move to intrinsic reinforcers as soon as possible.
Sometimes these positive proactive and reinforcement strategies (Martens, 2004) may have little influence on effective learning and performance. Therefore, mild corrective techniques matched with positive reinforcers for demonstrating the appropriate behavior may need to be used in order to eliminate behaviors that are interfering with the performance and learning of a participant or a group. Clearly, it is a serious ethical issue for physical activity professionals when deciding whether to incorporate different levels of corrective techniques into their programs for educational purposes. This is particularly true when a professional is considering the use of the more punitive corrective techniques such as time-out or a corporal punishment that includes the use of physical activity. See chapter 4 for more information related to methods that can be used to redirect and decrease inappropriate behavior.
This is not to say that what are generally considered mild forms of punishment should be taken lightly. What would be considered mild by some people may not have the same punishment effect when perceived by a physical activity professional. For example, you may have met the wrath of a teacher or coach just by how he or she said no! when you did something incorrectly. You may still remember this incident today, particularly if that professional was respected and considered a role model.
On the other hand, one of the authors of this text had a friend who was always getting in trouble with a physical educator and was required to run laps, which is generally considered a form of corporal punishment. This student did not care to participate in many team-based activities but loved to jog. Running laps was a positive reinforcer to him, not a punishment at all. Most professionals believe that physical activity should be enjoyable, fun, and continued throughout someone's lifetime. If you professionally believe this, physical activity should not be related to punishment (see checklist 10.3).
Learn more about Positive Behavior Management in Physical Activity Settings, Third Edition.
Bullying in the Physical Activity Environment
Bullying occurs more frequently in school environments such as locker rooms, showers, restrooms, on the playground and behind buildings, in the cafeteria, in the hallways, on the bus, and at the bus stop (Bradshaw, Waasdorp, O’Brennan, Gulemetova, & Henderson, 2011; Farrington & Ttofi, 2009).
Bullying occurs more frequently in school environments such as locker rooms, showers, restrooms, on the playground and behind buildings, in the cafeteria, in the hallways, on the bus, and at the bus stop (Bradshaw, Waasdorp, O'Brennan, Gulemetova, & Henderson, 2011; Farrington & Ttofi, 2009). School-based physical activity settings are common locations for bullying (Roman & Taylor, 2013). The incidence of bullying in physical education classes was reported in a study of 10th-grade students in Canada. In this study, 11.1% of the students reported experiencing physical bullying, 13.6% experienced verbal bullying, and 12.8% experienced social bullying. Bullying was one of the major reasons students dropped out of physical education (Hurley & Mandigo, 2010).
Often, a physical activity professional is not even aware that bullying is occurring in his or her environment because class or team groups are typically large, and there is often a high level of competition and physical contact in the activities, so physical contact is likely the norm. In these settings physical contact may be used to intimidate others (Biggs, Simpson, & Gaus, 2010). Physical activity professionals may also be unaware of the undercurrent of social status and peer pressure in their programs and may inadvertently allow some participants to wield their power over others. This may occur when participants are allowed to choose teams, leading to social exclusion; tease or call names, thereby intimidating others; or even encourage other participants to engage in rough physical play that may get out of hand (Fuller, Gulbrandson, & Herman-Ukasic, 2013). We must do something about this problem because we do not want participants to be traumatized in our programs and quit coming or not enroll in them at all (Huber, 2010; Hurley & Mandigo, 2010).
It may be that a physical activity professional is the first adult to recognize that a participant's social and emotional problems have developed through continually being bullied. When a participant is bullied, a physical activity professional is often the person the victim feels comfortable talking with about what happened. As physical activity professionals, we have a responsibility to understand what bullying is; be aware of the signs of bullying; be involved in the development and implementation of programs to prevent bullying; intervene; and develop a safe environment where students and players can participate, enjoy physical activity, and feel safe.
Teachers play a key role in preventing and intervening in bullying at school, yet they receive little if any help or training in identifying the warning signs, preventing bullying, or effectively intervening (Juvonen, Graham, & Schuster, 2003). When a bullying problem becomes serious and is not effectively managed, we need to work in partnership with other teachers (e.g., general physical educators, special educators) coaches, staff (e.g., social workers, school counselors, school psychologists), parents and guardians, and administrators to solve the problem as soon as possible (Olweus, 2006). See checklist 8.1 to make sure you are recognizing bullies and bullying behaviors.
Learn more about Positive Behavior Management in Physical Activity Settings, Third Edition.
School-Age Overweight and Obesity Issues
Childhood obesity is a serious medical condition in which a child or adolescent is significantly above the normal weight based on his or her age and height (Mayo Clinic, n.d.).
Childhood obesity is a serious medical condition in which a child or adolescent is significantly above the normal weight based on his or her age and height (Mayo Clinic, n.d.). The prevalence of childhood obesity has reached epidemic proportions in the United States and in many other industrialized countries in the world since the 1980s (Ogden, Caroll, Curtin, Lamb, & Flegal, 2010). It is quickly becoming the leading cause of death in the United States.
The concern is that childhood obesity is associated with numerous physiological and psychological comorbidities. Childhood obesity has been reported in some instances as a disease (Wallace & Ray, 2009) and in other sources as what might be an educational disability (French, Sanborn, Stephens, & DiMarco, in press). Childhood obesity is often misunderstood and stigmatized; currently, it is not recognized as a disability, and so services are not always provided. Some possible common behaviorsassociated with being overweight and obese along with a list of a few illustrative teaching strategies are provided in table 9.5.
There are numerous program modifications and strategies that a physical activity specialist may consider to more effectively engage children and youth who are underweight, overweight, or obese in physical activity programs. The following are a few proactive modifications and strategies that may be considered. The first two are safety considerations.
- Ensure the physical activities are within a participant's medical margin of safety. For example, appropriate weight-bearing activities may need to be included. In addition, students who are classified as morbidly obese need a physician's written consent to participate in physical activity (French, Sanborn, Stephens, & DiMarco, in press).
- Consider the use of heart rate monitors. Children and youth who are obese carry a lot more weight than those within a usually recommended weight range. Even if obese students are among the slowest in class, they may have the highest heart rates because of the extra weight they are carrying.
- Consider peer tutors for instructional (e.g., achieving healthy diet and physical activity goals) and emotional - social support.
- Use differentiated instruction to accommodate multiple levels of performance and learning. Using stations may be a useful strategy. In the station activities consider the use of health video games as well as exercise games that are fun and motivating (e.g., Dance Dance Revolution, Wii, Play Station) as motivational techniques. This strategy can also be used for homework assignments. Commercially available health video games have been used as a motivational intervention strategy for students who are overweight or obese (Lu, Kharrazi, Gharghabi, & Thompson, 2013).
- Use staff training, collaborate with families and students and community leaders, and adopt school-wide programs to reduce stigmatization of those who are overweight or obese.
- Model trusting and caring behavior for children or youth who are overweight or obese and for others who are participating in physical activity. All children and youth deserve to be respected and be learners. Sometimes, even with the best intentions, a physical activity professional could actually be increasing guilt, stigmatizing a child or youth who is obese, and negatively affecting a student's body image and self-esteem. For example, a physical activity professional may be overprotective and not ask an overweight or obese child or youth to be accountable for performing and learning at his or her appropriate level (Rovegno & Bandhauer, 2013).
- Evaluate the program to determine whether inactivity can be reduced (e.g., transitions between activities, standing in lines).
- Be a resource to parents, guardians, children, and youth regarding your physical activity program. Consider using e-mail or Twitter to provide initial support for programs in which a child with weight issues and his or her parents may be involved. Consider a community-based program the first time one of your students with weight issues attends.
- Observe the recess program and provide ways to motivate students to take part in activities and encourage those with weight issues to do the same.
- Focus on helping students meet manageable and achievable goals in an enjoyable environment (e.g., increase number of steps a day, monitor results, and provide intrinsic and extrinsic reinforcers [see chapter 3]).
- Encourage participation with others through small groups or teams to provide peer instructions and motivation to all members of the small group or team.
- The physical activity environment is the most logical place for programs that address obesity prevention and intervention in children and youth (Richards, Shimabukuro, Combs, & Kreuter, 2004). Some of the advantages in using the physical activity environment are that both preventive and intervention programs can be provided; large numbers of students can be provided continuous and concentrated intervention; and the costs to parents and guardians are minimal (Brownell & Kay, 1982). To date there have been mixed results on the effectiveness of school-based weight-gain programs and the retention of losses over time (Shaya, Flores, Gbarayer, & Wang, 2008). One of the major components of the most effective programs is the use of appropriate behavior management strategies with a focus on a participant within a class or team (Brownell & Kaye, 1982).
Learn more about Positive Behavior Management in Physical Activity Settings, Third Edition.
Professional Ethics and the Use of Punishment in Physical Activity Environments
There are professionals and organizations who believe there must be an ethical consideration when manipulating participant or group behavior to perform, learn, reduce, or eliminate a behavior (see checklist 10.2).
There are professionals and organizations who believe there must be an ethical consideration when manipulating participant or group behavior to perform, learn, reduce, or eliminate a behavior (see checklist 10.2). The focus should not be just on solving an immediate behavioral problem that negatively affects not only the level of motivation of children to attend and respond but also helps to increase their level of physical performance and learning. The focus at the same time should be on more than the teacher teaching or the coach coaching - it should be on the bigger picture. Professionally and ethically, there must be an attempt to positively affect students' lives. Because of this, physical activity professionals must exhibit moral courage, unshakable ethical standards, and consideration for the dignity of children and youth, which may involve challenges of their professional ethics by parents, guardians, administrators, and others in a community (Bagley, 1907).
Discipline and Punishment
Discipline is the control that is gained by requiring that rules or orders be obeyed and punishing bad behavior. Based on Carson (2014), there is both positive and negative discipline. Positive discipline focuses on modeling positive behavior and ensures student or player input in the development of class or team rules. Negative discipline relates to students running laps or performing other tasks as a result of misbehaving. It is generally a reactive behavior when something negative happens and relays a message the teacher or coach is mad or angry. Punishment is a term often used to describe consequences that are implemented to decrease the future occurrence of a behavior. Broadly, punishment may include suffering, pain, or loss that serves as retribution and severe, rough, or disastrous treatment. Seifried (2008) defined punishment as a moral concept for disobedience to an authority or a set of rules relating to right and wrong that is intended to reduce or eliminate the disobedient behavior. The authors believe that this term is too harsh for educational settings, so we have chosen to use the term corrective methods. Corrective methods are intervention procedures in which a pleasurable stimulus is removed or an aversive stimulus is presented as a consequence of a behavior in order to decrease the future frequency of occurrence of that inappropriate behavior. See chapter 4 for more discussion on corrective methods and punishment.
Corrective techniques are the most widely used behavioral strategies to control behavior because they reduce the inappropriate behavior quickly. However, we believe that corrective techniques have many negative side effects and should only be used minimally to manage behavior. As Gallahue (1978) indicated, corrective techniques serve to repress the inappropriate behavior but they do nothing to determine and solve the cause of that behavior.
Corporal punishment is using physical force with the intention of causing a person to experience pain, but not injury, for the purpose of correction or behavior control. Some school districts define corporal punishment as touching someone for the purpose of discipline, starting with putting your arm on that person's shoulders to discuss a problem and including dragging that person into time-out. Corporal punishment is prohibited in schools in all developed countries except in 19 states in the United States, parts of Canada, and 1 state in Australia. See chapter 4 for more details on the use of corporal punishment in schools. Corporal punishment is the most severe corrective method and is discussed in this book because it is still allowed in some states. There are serious professional and ethical issues as well as liability issues in using corporal punishment. Further, physical activity specialists who support the use of corporal punishment must comply "with the authoritative social values and moral codes set forth by their own professional organizations" (Albrecht, 2009, p. 475). How can we expect to develop well-disciplined students and players with all the positive qualities we want them to have through the use of punishment?
Requiring Physical Activity
A technique used far too often in physical activity settings - especially in coaching - is requiring a participant to perform a physical activity as a consequence of misbehavior. Participants have been required to perform extreme physical activity extending beyond their physical capacity, resulting in medical conditions such as heat stroke, renal failure, or even death. When a participant is required to do exercise as punishment, such as doing squat thrusts, running wind sprints, doing push-ups, running laps, and so on, the message sent is that this activity is something that is aversive and should be avoided. Even as early as 1992, Hart indicated that excessive physical activity used as punishment is not only risky but outdated. This is particularly true if not carried out with the appropriate supervision to ensure there is no emotional or physical injury.
Further, some states have stipulated that using physical activity as punishment is considered a form of corporal punishment and is illegal. In the web resource see California's policy on the use of physical activity. In addition, the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) opposes administering or withholding physical activity as a form of punishment or behavior management. For a summary of this policy see figure 4.7. Because of the possible negative effects of using physical activity to correct misbehavior, the authors do not condone the use of this technique. We caution physical activity professionals who may be contemplating its use to learn more about the possible negative consequences and be sure to consult your state's office of education to determine the legality of the use of this technique.
It has been suggested that there is a double standard relative to corporal punishment: "[T]eachers [coaches] who detect unusual bruises on children's bodies are required to report suspected abuses to authorities, but parents who see the same thing on their children as a result of educators' [coaches] disciplinary procedures get little to no back up from the law" (as cited in Rico, 2002, p. 356). For example, if physical educators or coaches follow school policy related to punishment, they could receive qualified immunity, but parents and guardians may be liable for violating the same state statutes. Again, though, corporal punishment, including requiring physical activity, cannot be excessive and must be reasonable, or the physical educators and coaches may be subject to the same civil and criminal liability as parents and guardians in virtually all states.
Remember that as of 2014, 31 state legislatures have passed laws prohibiting the use of corporal punishment in schools. For a list of these states, see figure 4.5. Also in that chapter is a discussion of many negative side effects of using severe corrective methods for managing behaviors.
If we as physical activity professionals want to develop strong connections with our participants and create a positive, nurturing environment for them to grow and learn, there are many other proactive and positive ways to manage their behavior than using corporal punishment. Therefore, we believe that it is never appropriate to use corporal punishment!
Time-Out
The use of time-out has been debated by experts for decades. Some believe that if it is used correctly and consistently, a student or player learns to control himself or herself, and a trusting and respectful relationship between that participant and the physical activity professional will be maintained. There are other experts who believe the use of time-out strategies that remove a participant from positive reinforcement is overused and counterintuitive to sound educational practices because that participant is removed from an environment where he or she had an opportunity to practice or learn. For example, in one strategy a participant may be removed from a possible reinforcing environment for a minute or two for each year of his or her age. For older participants this could be more than half the instructional class period or practice!
Once, one of the authors of this text was visiting a physical education class and a student came in late from another class. That student was required to sit out the entire class. Later, it was determined that it was not the student's fault that he was late; the teacher in his previous class had held him after class. A teacher must know why the student came in late first before punishing him or her for a behavior that he or she had no control over. A more proactive technique would be to include that student immediately into the class. Then, once class was over, determine the reason why he or she was late. In this case the possible solution may be to meet after school with the other teacher to rectify the problem so the student is not held back in total or in part from your class.
Another issue in using time-out, besides the potentially excessive length of time involved, is the type of time-out. If a participant is sent to another setting that is away from the actual activity setting, this is referred to as seclusion time-out. Many school districts and other organizations do not allow seclusion time-out because all students must be supervised. It is easy for a physical activity professional to forget about the participant in seclusion and leave him or her out of class or team activity for a long time, thus depriving that student or player from participating and learning.
Alternatives to the Use of Corrective Methods
Most experts believe that a proactive behavior management program should always be in place to stop or reduce behavioral problems and thus avert the need for corrective techniques. For example, the physical activity professional continually must put away the free weights after the weight lifting class. He is considering not letting the students use the free weights for class next week. He decides to first post signs in the weight room asking that the weights be put back on the appropriate rack immediately after use, or the weights will be removed for 2 weeks in the future.
Sometimes the problem may be that participants are violating an expected program standard that seems to be common sense to the physical activity professional. Or there may be a communication problem in that a standard was just not clearly explained. Once recognized, that problem can be solved immediately by explaining the standard more clearly to participants; the violation will most likely not occur again and no punishment will be needed.
Another proactive technique is the use of cues to signal what behavior is expected. For instance, a verbal warning cue could be a statement such as "The game will be over in 5 minutes" or "Billy, when I blow my whistle, you need to start lining up in your squad." Many other proactive techniques are discussed in chapter 3.
If the proactive strategies are not enough to manage behavior, try including intrinsic reinforcers such as fun and exciting activities that meet your essential class or practice objectives and are also activities that participants enjoy doing. There will, however, be some participants who do not believe an activity has any functional value or that an activity is repetitive and boring. To bridge the gap between performance and learning, a more powerful extrinsic reinforcement may be required initially to engage those who may not be intrinsically motivated to participate. The goal is always to fade out extrinsic reinforcers and move to intrinsic reinforcers as soon as possible.
Sometimes these positive proactive and reinforcement strategies (Martens, 2004) may have little influence on effective learning and performance. Therefore, mild corrective techniques matched with positive reinforcers for demonstrating the appropriate behavior may need to be used in order to eliminate behaviors that are interfering with the performance and learning of a participant or a group. Clearly, it is a serious ethical issue for physical activity professionals when deciding whether to incorporate different levels of corrective techniques into their programs for educational purposes. This is particularly true when a professional is considering the use of the more punitive corrective techniques such as time-out or a corporal punishment that includes the use of physical activity. See chapter 4 for more information related to methods that can be used to redirect and decrease inappropriate behavior.
This is not to say that what are generally considered mild forms of punishment should be taken lightly. What would be considered mild by some people may not have the same punishment effect when perceived by a physical activity professional. For example, you may have met the wrath of a teacher or coach just by how he or she said no! when you did something incorrectly. You may still remember this incident today, particularly if that professional was respected and considered a role model.
On the other hand, one of the authors of this text had a friend who was always getting in trouble with a physical educator and was required to run laps, which is generally considered a form of corporal punishment. This student did not care to participate in many team-based activities but loved to jog. Running laps was a positive reinforcer to him, not a punishment at all. Most professionals believe that physical activity should be enjoyable, fun, and continued throughout someone's lifetime. If you professionally believe this, physical activity should not be related to punishment (see checklist 10.3).
Learn more about Positive Behavior Management in Physical Activity Settings, Third Edition.
Bullying in the Physical Activity Environment
Bullying occurs more frequently in school environments such as locker rooms, showers, restrooms, on the playground and behind buildings, in the cafeteria, in the hallways, on the bus, and at the bus stop (Bradshaw, Waasdorp, O’Brennan, Gulemetova, & Henderson, 2011; Farrington & Ttofi, 2009).
Bullying occurs more frequently in school environments such as locker rooms, showers, restrooms, on the playground and behind buildings, in the cafeteria, in the hallways, on the bus, and at the bus stop (Bradshaw, Waasdorp, O'Brennan, Gulemetova, & Henderson, 2011; Farrington & Ttofi, 2009). School-based physical activity settings are common locations for bullying (Roman & Taylor, 2013). The incidence of bullying in physical education classes was reported in a study of 10th-grade students in Canada. In this study, 11.1% of the students reported experiencing physical bullying, 13.6% experienced verbal bullying, and 12.8% experienced social bullying. Bullying was one of the major reasons students dropped out of physical education (Hurley & Mandigo, 2010).
Often, a physical activity professional is not even aware that bullying is occurring in his or her environment because class or team groups are typically large, and there is often a high level of competition and physical contact in the activities, so physical contact is likely the norm. In these settings physical contact may be used to intimidate others (Biggs, Simpson, & Gaus, 2010). Physical activity professionals may also be unaware of the undercurrent of social status and peer pressure in their programs and may inadvertently allow some participants to wield their power over others. This may occur when participants are allowed to choose teams, leading to social exclusion; tease or call names, thereby intimidating others; or even encourage other participants to engage in rough physical play that may get out of hand (Fuller, Gulbrandson, & Herman-Ukasic, 2013). We must do something about this problem because we do not want participants to be traumatized in our programs and quit coming or not enroll in them at all (Huber, 2010; Hurley & Mandigo, 2010).
It may be that a physical activity professional is the first adult to recognize that a participant's social and emotional problems have developed through continually being bullied. When a participant is bullied, a physical activity professional is often the person the victim feels comfortable talking with about what happened. As physical activity professionals, we have a responsibility to understand what bullying is; be aware of the signs of bullying; be involved in the development and implementation of programs to prevent bullying; intervene; and develop a safe environment where students and players can participate, enjoy physical activity, and feel safe.
Teachers play a key role in preventing and intervening in bullying at school, yet they receive little if any help or training in identifying the warning signs, preventing bullying, or effectively intervening (Juvonen, Graham, & Schuster, 2003). When a bullying problem becomes serious and is not effectively managed, we need to work in partnership with other teachers (e.g., general physical educators, special educators) coaches, staff (e.g., social workers, school counselors, school psychologists), parents and guardians, and administrators to solve the problem as soon as possible (Olweus, 2006). See checklist 8.1 to make sure you are recognizing bullies and bullying behaviors.
Learn more about Positive Behavior Management in Physical Activity Settings, Third Edition.
School-Age Overweight and Obesity Issues
Childhood obesity is a serious medical condition in which a child or adolescent is significantly above the normal weight based on his or her age and height (Mayo Clinic, n.d.).
Childhood obesity is a serious medical condition in which a child or adolescent is significantly above the normal weight based on his or her age and height (Mayo Clinic, n.d.). The prevalence of childhood obesity has reached epidemic proportions in the United States and in many other industrialized countries in the world since the 1980s (Ogden, Caroll, Curtin, Lamb, & Flegal, 2010). It is quickly becoming the leading cause of death in the United States.
The concern is that childhood obesity is associated with numerous physiological and psychological comorbidities. Childhood obesity has been reported in some instances as a disease (Wallace & Ray, 2009) and in other sources as what might be an educational disability (French, Sanborn, Stephens, & DiMarco, in press). Childhood obesity is often misunderstood and stigmatized; currently, it is not recognized as a disability, and so services are not always provided. Some possible common behaviorsassociated with being overweight and obese along with a list of a few illustrative teaching strategies are provided in table 9.5.
There are numerous program modifications and strategies that a physical activity specialist may consider to more effectively engage children and youth who are underweight, overweight, or obese in physical activity programs. The following are a few proactive modifications and strategies that may be considered. The first two are safety considerations.
- Ensure the physical activities are within a participant's medical margin of safety. For example, appropriate weight-bearing activities may need to be included. In addition, students who are classified as morbidly obese need a physician's written consent to participate in physical activity (French, Sanborn, Stephens, & DiMarco, in press).
- Consider the use of heart rate monitors. Children and youth who are obese carry a lot more weight than those within a usually recommended weight range. Even if obese students are among the slowest in class, they may have the highest heart rates because of the extra weight they are carrying.
- Consider peer tutors for instructional (e.g., achieving healthy diet and physical activity goals) and emotional - social support.
- Use differentiated instruction to accommodate multiple levels of performance and learning. Using stations may be a useful strategy. In the station activities consider the use of health video games as well as exercise games that are fun and motivating (e.g., Dance Dance Revolution, Wii, Play Station) as motivational techniques. This strategy can also be used for homework assignments. Commercially available health video games have been used as a motivational intervention strategy for students who are overweight or obese (Lu, Kharrazi, Gharghabi, & Thompson, 2013).
- Use staff training, collaborate with families and students and community leaders, and adopt school-wide programs to reduce stigmatization of those who are overweight or obese.
- Model trusting and caring behavior for children or youth who are overweight or obese and for others who are participating in physical activity. All children and youth deserve to be respected and be learners. Sometimes, even with the best intentions, a physical activity professional could actually be increasing guilt, stigmatizing a child or youth who is obese, and negatively affecting a student's body image and self-esteem. For example, a physical activity professional may be overprotective and not ask an overweight or obese child or youth to be accountable for performing and learning at his or her appropriate level (Rovegno & Bandhauer, 2013).
- Evaluate the program to determine whether inactivity can be reduced (e.g., transitions between activities, standing in lines).
- Be a resource to parents, guardians, children, and youth regarding your physical activity program. Consider using e-mail or Twitter to provide initial support for programs in which a child with weight issues and his or her parents may be involved. Consider a community-based program the first time one of your students with weight issues attends.
- Observe the recess program and provide ways to motivate students to take part in activities and encourage those with weight issues to do the same.
- Focus on helping students meet manageable and achievable goals in an enjoyable environment (e.g., increase number of steps a day, monitor results, and provide intrinsic and extrinsic reinforcers [see chapter 3]).
- Encourage participation with others through small groups or teams to provide peer instructions and motivation to all members of the small group or team.
- The physical activity environment is the most logical place for programs that address obesity prevention and intervention in children and youth (Richards, Shimabukuro, Combs, & Kreuter, 2004). Some of the advantages in using the physical activity environment are that both preventive and intervention programs can be provided; large numbers of students can be provided continuous and concentrated intervention; and the costs to parents and guardians are minimal (Brownell & Kay, 1982). To date there have been mixed results on the effectiveness of school-based weight-gain programs and the retention of losses over time (Shaya, Flores, Gbarayer, & Wang, 2008). One of the major components of the most effective programs is the use of appropriate behavior management strategies with a focus on a participant within a class or team (Brownell & Kaye, 1982).
Learn more about Positive Behavior Management in Physical Activity Settings, Third Edition.
Professional Ethics and the Use of Punishment in Physical Activity Environments
There are professionals and organizations who believe there must be an ethical consideration when manipulating participant or group behavior to perform, learn, reduce, or eliminate a behavior (see checklist 10.2).
There are professionals and organizations who believe there must be an ethical consideration when manipulating participant or group behavior to perform, learn, reduce, or eliminate a behavior (see checklist 10.2). The focus should not be just on solving an immediate behavioral problem that negatively affects not only the level of motivation of children to attend and respond but also helps to increase their level of physical performance and learning. The focus at the same time should be on more than the teacher teaching or the coach coaching - it should be on the bigger picture. Professionally and ethically, there must be an attempt to positively affect students' lives. Because of this, physical activity professionals must exhibit moral courage, unshakable ethical standards, and consideration for the dignity of children and youth, which may involve challenges of their professional ethics by parents, guardians, administrators, and others in a community (Bagley, 1907).
Discipline and Punishment
Discipline is the control that is gained by requiring that rules or orders be obeyed and punishing bad behavior. Based on Carson (2014), there is both positive and negative discipline. Positive discipline focuses on modeling positive behavior and ensures student or player input in the development of class or team rules. Negative discipline relates to students running laps or performing other tasks as a result of misbehaving. It is generally a reactive behavior when something negative happens and relays a message the teacher or coach is mad or angry. Punishment is a term often used to describe consequences that are implemented to decrease the future occurrence of a behavior. Broadly, punishment may include suffering, pain, or loss that serves as retribution and severe, rough, or disastrous treatment. Seifried (2008) defined punishment as a moral concept for disobedience to an authority or a set of rules relating to right and wrong that is intended to reduce or eliminate the disobedient behavior. The authors believe that this term is too harsh for educational settings, so we have chosen to use the term corrective methods. Corrective methods are intervention procedures in which a pleasurable stimulus is removed or an aversive stimulus is presented as a consequence of a behavior in order to decrease the future frequency of occurrence of that inappropriate behavior. See chapter 4 for more discussion on corrective methods and punishment.
Corrective techniques are the most widely used behavioral strategies to control behavior because they reduce the inappropriate behavior quickly. However, we believe that corrective techniques have many negative side effects and should only be used minimally to manage behavior. As Gallahue (1978) indicated, corrective techniques serve to repress the inappropriate behavior but they do nothing to determine and solve the cause of that behavior.
Corporal punishment is using physical force with the intention of causing a person to experience pain, but not injury, for the purpose of correction or behavior control. Some school districts define corporal punishment as touching someone for the purpose of discipline, starting with putting your arm on that person's shoulders to discuss a problem and including dragging that person into time-out. Corporal punishment is prohibited in schools in all developed countries except in 19 states in the United States, parts of Canada, and 1 state in Australia. See chapter 4 for more details on the use of corporal punishment in schools. Corporal punishment is the most severe corrective method and is discussed in this book because it is still allowed in some states. There are serious professional and ethical issues as well as liability issues in using corporal punishment. Further, physical activity specialists who support the use of corporal punishment must comply "with the authoritative social values and moral codes set forth by their own professional organizations" (Albrecht, 2009, p. 475). How can we expect to develop well-disciplined students and players with all the positive qualities we want them to have through the use of punishment?
Requiring Physical Activity
A technique used far too often in physical activity settings - especially in coaching - is requiring a participant to perform a physical activity as a consequence of misbehavior. Participants have been required to perform extreme physical activity extending beyond their physical capacity, resulting in medical conditions such as heat stroke, renal failure, or even death. When a participant is required to do exercise as punishment, such as doing squat thrusts, running wind sprints, doing push-ups, running laps, and so on, the message sent is that this activity is something that is aversive and should be avoided. Even as early as 1992, Hart indicated that excessive physical activity used as punishment is not only risky but outdated. This is particularly true if not carried out with the appropriate supervision to ensure there is no emotional or physical injury.
Further, some states have stipulated that using physical activity as punishment is considered a form of corporal punishment and is illegal. In the web resource see California's policy on the use of physical activity. In addition, the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) opposes administering or withholding physical activity as a form of punishment or behavior management. For a summary of this policy see figure 4.7. Because of the possible negative effects of using physical activity to correct misbehavior, the authors do not condone the use of this technique. We caution physical activity professionals who may be contemplating its use to learn more about the possible negative consequences and be sure to consult your state's office of education to determine the legality of the use of this technique.
It has been suggested that there is a double standard relative to corporal punishment: "[T]eachers [coaches] who detect unusual bruises on children's bodies are required to report suspected abuses to authorities, but parents who see the same thing on their children as a result of educators' [coaches] disciplinary procedures get little to no back up from the law" (as cited in Rico, 2002, p. 356). For example, if physical educators or coaches follow school policy related to punishment, they could receive qualified immunity, but parents and guardians may be liable for violating the same state statutes. Again, though, corporal punishment, including requiring physical activity, cannot be excessive and must be reasonable, or the physical educators and coaches may be subject to the same civil and criminal liability as parents and guardians in virtually all states.
Remember that as of 2014, 31 state legislatures have passed laws prohibiting the use of corporal punishment in schools. For a list of these states, see figure 4.5. Also in that chapter is a discussion of many negative side effects of using severe corrective methods for managing behaviors.
If we as physical activity professionals want to develop strong connections with our participants and create a positive, nurturing environment for them to grow and learn, there are many other proactive and positive ways to manage their behavior than using corporal punishment. Therefore, we believe that it is never appropriate to use corporal punishment!
Time-Out
The use of time-out has been debated by experts for decades. Some believe that if it is used correctly and consistently, a student or player learns to control himself or herself, and a trusting and respectful relationship between that participant and the physical activity professional will be maintained. There are other experts who believe the use of time-out strategies that remove a participant from positive reinforcement is overused and counterintuitive to sound educational practices because that participant is removed from an environment where he or she had an opportunity to practice or learn. For example, in one strategy a participant may be removed from a possible reinforcing environment for a minute or two for each year of his or her age. For older participants this could be more than half the instructional class period or practice!
Once, one of the authors of this text was visiting a physical education class and a student came in late from another class. That student was required to sit out the entire class. Later, it was determined that it was not the student's fault that he was late; the teacher in his previous class had held him after class. A teacher must know why the student came in late first before punishing him or her for a behavior that he or she had no control over. A more proactive technique would be to include that student immediately into the class. Then, once class was over, determine the reason why he or she was late. In this case the possible solution may be to meet after school with the other teacher to rectify the problem so the student is not held back in total or in part from your class.
Another issue in using time-out, besides the potentially excessive length of time involved, is the type of time-out. If a participant is sent to another setting that is away from the actual activity setting, this is referred to as seclusion time-out. Many school districts and other organizations do not allow seclusion time-out because all students must be supervised. It is easy for a physical activity professional to forget about the participant in seclusion and leave him or her out of class or team activity for a long time, thus depriving that student or player from participating and learning.
Alternatives to the Use of Corrective Methods
Most experts believe that a proactive behavior management program should always be in place to stop or reduce behavioral problems and thus avert the need for corrective techniques. For example, the physical activity professional continually must put away the free weights after the weight lifting class. He is considering not letting the students use the free weights for class next week. He decides to first post signs in the weight room asking that the weights be put back on the appropriate rack immediately after use, or the weights will be removed for 2 weeks in the future.
Sometimes the problem may be that participants are violating an expected program standard that seems to be common sense to the physical activity professional. Or there may be a communication problem in that a standard was just not clearly explained. Once recognized, that problem can be solved immediately by explaining the standard more clearly to participants; the violation will most likely not occur again and no punishment will be needed.
Another proactive technique is the use of cues to signal what behavior is expected. For instance, a verbal warning cue could be a statement such as "The game will be over in 5 minutes" or "Billy, when I blow my whistle, you need to start lining up in your squad." Many other proactive techniques are discussed in chapter 3.
If the proactive strategies are not enough to manage behavior, try including intrinsic reinforcers such as fun and exciting activities that meet your essential class or practice objectives and are also activities that participants enjoy doing. There will, however, be some participants who do not believe an activity has any functional value or that an activity is repetitive and boring. To bridge the gap between performance and learning, a more powerful extrinsic reinforcement may be required initially to engage those who may not be intrinsically motivated to participate. The goal is always to fade out extrinsic reinforcers and move to intrinsic reinforcers as soon as possible.
Sometimes these positive proactive and reinforcement strategies (Martens, 2004) may have little influence on effective learning and performance. Therefore, mild corrective techniques matched with positive reinforcers for demonstrating the appropriate behavior may need to be used in order to eliminate behaviors that are interfering with the performance and learning of a participant or a group. Clearly, it is a serious ethical issue for physical activity professionals when deciding whether to incorporate different levels of corrective techniques into their programs for educational purposes. This is particularly true when a professional is considering the use of the more punitive corrective techniques such as time-out or a corporal punishment that includes the use of physical activity. See chapter 4 for more information related to methods that can be used to redirect and decrease inappropriate behavior.
This is not to say that what are generally considered mild forms of punishment should be taken lightly. What would be considered mild by some people may not have the same punishment effect when perceived by a physical activity professional. For example, you may have met the wrath of a teacher or coach just by how he or she said no! when you did something incorrectly. You may still remember this incident today, particularly if that professional was respected and considered a role model.
On the other hand, one of the authors of this text had a friend who was always getting in trouble with a physical educator and was required to run laps, which is generally considered a form of corporal punishment. This student did not care to participate in many team-based activities but loved to jog. Running laps was a positive reinforcer to him, not a punishment at all. Most professionals believe that physical activity should be enjoyable, fun, and continued throughout someone's lifetime. If you professionally believe this, physical activity should not be related to punishment (see checklist 10.3).
Learn more about Positive Behavior Management in Physical Activity Settings, Third Edition.
Bullying in the Physical Activity Environment
Bullying occurs more frequently in school environments such as locker rooms, showers, restrooms, on the playground and behind buildings, in the cafeteria, in the hallways, on the bus, and at the bus stop (Bradshaw, Waasdorp, O’Brennan, Gulemetova, & Henderson, 2011; Farrington & Ttofi, 2009).
Bullying occurs more frequently in school environments such as locker rooms, showers, restrooms, on the playground and behind buildings, in the cafeteria, in the hallways, on the bus, and at the bus stop (Bradshaw, Waasdorp, O'Brennan, Gulemetova, & Henderson, 2011; Farrington & Ttofi, 2009). School-based physical activity settings are common locations for bullying (Roman & Taylor, 2013). The incidence of bullying in physical education classes was reported in a study of 10th-grade students in Canada. In this study, 11.1% of the students reported experiencing physical bullying, 13.6% experienced verbal bullying, and 12.8% experienced social bullying. Bullying was one of the major reasons students dropped out of physical education (Hurley & Mandigo, 2010).
Often, a physical activity professional is not even aware that bullying is occurring in his or her environment because class or team groups are typically large, and there is often a high level of competition and physical contact in the activities, so physical contact is likely the norm. In these settings physical contact may be used to intimidate others (Biggs, Simpson, & Gaus, 2010). Physical activity professionals may also be unaware of the undercurrent of social status and peer pressure in their programs and may inadvertently allow some participants to wield their power over others. This may occur when participants are allowed to choose teams, leading to social exclusion; tease or call names, thereby intimidating others; or even encourage other participants to engage in rough physical play that may get out of hand (Fuller, Gulbrandson, & Herman-Ukasic, 2013). We must do something about this problem because we do not want participants to be traumatized in our programs and quit coming or not enroll in them at all (Huber, 2010; Hurley & Mandigo, 2010).
It may be that a physical activity professional is the first adult to recognize that a participant's social and emotional problems have developed through continually being bullied. When a participant is bullied, a physical activity professional is often the person the victim feels comfortable talking with about what happened. As physical activity professionals, we have a responsibility to understand what bullying is; be aware of the signs of bullying; be involved in the development and implementation of programs to prevent bullying; intervene; and develop a safe environment where students and players can participate, enjoy physical activity, and feel safe.
Teachers play a key role in preventing and intervening in bullying at school, yet they receive little if any help or training in identifying the warning signs, preventing bullying, or effectively intervening (Juvonen, Graham, & Schuster, 2003). When a bullying problem becomes serious and is not effectively managed, we need to work in partnership with other teachers (e.g., general physical educators, special educators) coaches, staff (e.g., social workers, school counselors, school psychologists), parents and guardians, and administrators to solve the problem as soon as possible (Olweus, 2006). See checklist 8.1 to make sure you are recognizing bullies and bullying behaviors.
Learn more about Positive Behavior Management in Physical Activity Settings, Third Edition.
School-Age Overweight and Obesity Issues
Childhood obesity is a serious medical condition in which a child or adolescent is significantly above the normal weight based on his or her age and height (Mayo Clinic, n.d.).
Childhood obesity is a serious medical condition in which a child or adolescent is significantly above the normal weight based on his or her age and height (Mayo Clinic, n.d.). The prevalence of childhood obesity has reached epidemic proportions in the United States and in many other industrialized countries in the world since the 1980s (Ogden, Caroll, Curtin, Lamb, & Flegal, 2010). It is quickly becoming the leading cause of death in the United States.
The concern is that childhood obesity is associated with numerous physiological and psychological comorbidities. Childhood obesity has been reported in some instances as a disease (Wallace & Ray, 2009) and in other sources as what might be an educational disability (French, Sanborn, Stephens, & DiMarco, in press). Childhood obesity is often misunderstood and stigmatized; currently, it is not recognized as a disability, and so services are not always provided. Some possible common behaviorsassociated with being overweight and obese along with a list of a few illustrative teaching strategies are provided in table 9.5.
There are numerous program modifications and strategies that a physical activity specialist may consider to more effectively engage children and youth who are underweight, overweight, or obese in physical activity programs. The following are a few proactive modifications and strategies that may be considered. The first two are safety considerations.
- Ensure the physical activities are within a participant's medical margin of safety. For example, appropriate weight-bearing activities may need to be included. In addition, students who are classified as morbidly obese need a physician's written consent to participate in physical activity (French, Sanborn, Stephens, & DiMarco, in press).
- Consider the use of heart rate monitors. Children and youth who are obese carry a lot more weight than those within a usually recommended weight range. Even if obese students are among the slowest in class, they may have the highest heart rates because of the extra weight they are carrying.
- Consider peer tutors for instructional (e.g., achieving healthy diet and physical activity goals) and emotional - social support.
- Use differentiated instruction to accommodate multiple levels of performance and learning. Using stations may be a useful strategy. In the station activities consider the use of health video games as well as exercise games that are fun and motivating (e.g., Dance Dance Revolution, Wii, Play Station) as motivational techniques. This strategy can also be used for homework assignments. Commercially available health video games have been used as a motivational intervention strategy for students who are overweight or obese (Lu, Kharrazi, Gharghabi, & Thompson, 2013).
- Use staff training, collaborate with families and students and community leaders, and adopt school-wide programs to reduce stigmatization of those who are overweight or obese.
- Model trusting and caring behavior for children or youth who are overweight or obese and for others who are participating in physical activity. All children and youth deserve to be respected and be learners. Sometimes, even with the best intentions, a physical activity professional could actually be increasing guilt, stigmatizing a child or youth who is obese, and negatively affecting a student's body image and self-esteem. For example, a physical activity professional may be overprotective and not ask an overweight or obese child or youth to be accountable for performing and learning at his or her appropriate level (Rovegno & Bandhauer, 2013).
- Evaluate the program to determine whether inactivity can be reduced (e.g., transitions between activities, standing in lines).
- Be a resource to parents, guardians, children, and youth regarding your physical activity program. Consider using e-mail or Twitter to provide initial support for programs in which a child with weight issues and his or her parents may be involved. Consider a community-based program the first time one of your students with weight issues attends.
- Observe the recess program and provide ways to motivate students to take part in activities and encourage those with weight issues to do the same.
- Focus on helping students meet manageable and achievable goals in an enjoyable environment (e.g., increase number of steps a day, monitor results, and provide intrinsic and extrinsic reinforcers [see chapter 3]).
- Encourage participation with others through small groups or teams to provide peer instructions and motivation to all members of the small group or team.
- The physical activity environment is the most logical place for programs that address obesity prevention and intervention in children and youth (Richards, Shimabukuro, Combs, & Kreuter, 2004). Some of the advantages in using the physical activity environment are that both preventive and intervention programs can be provided; large numbers of students can be provided continuous and concentrated intervention; and the costs to parents and guardians are minimal (Brownell & Kay, 1982). To date there have been mixed results on the effectiveness of school-based weight-gain programs and the retention of losses over time (Shaya, Flores, Gbarayer, & Wang, 2008). One of the major components of the most effective programs is the use of appropriate behavior management strategies with a focus on a participant within a class or team (Brownell & Kaye, 1982).
Learn more about Positive Behavior Management in Physical Activity Settings, Third Edition.
Professional Ethics and the Use of Punishment in Physical Activity Environments
There are professionals and organizations who believe there must be an ethical consideration when manipulating participant or group behavior to perform, learn, reduce, or eliminate a behavior (see checklist 10.2).
There are professionals and organizations who believe there must be an ethical consideration when manipulating participant or group behavior to perform, learn, reduce, or eliminate a behavior (see checklist 10.2). The focus should not be just on solving an immediate behavioral problem that negatively affects not only the level of motivation of children to attend and respond but also helps to increase their level of physical performance and learning. The focus at the same time should be on more than the teacher teaching or the coach coaching - it should be on the bigger picture. Professionally and ethically, there must be an attempt to positively affect students' lives. Because of this, physical activity professionals must exhibit moral courage, unshakable ethical standards, and consideration for the dignity of children and youth, which may involve challenges of their professional ethics by parents, guardians, administrators, and others in a community (Bagley, 1907).
Discipline and Punishment
Discipline is the control that is gained by requiring that rules or orders be obeyed and punishing bad behavior. Based on Carson (2014), there is both positive and negative discipline. Positive discipline focuses on modeling positive behavior and ensures student or player input in the development of class or team rules. Negative discipline relates to students running laps or performing other tasks as a result of misbehaving. It is generally a reactive behavior when something negative happens and relays a message the teacher or coach is mad or angry. Punishment is a term often used to describe consequences that are implemented to decrease the future occurrence of a behavior. Broadly, punishment may include suffering, pain, or loss that serves as retribution and severe, rough, or disastrous treatment. Seifried (2008) defined punishment as a moral concept for disobedience to an authority or a set of rules relating to right and wrong that is intended to reduce or eliminate the disobedient behavior. The authors believe that this term is too harsh for educational settings, so we have chosen to use the term corrective methods. Corrective methods are intervention procedures in which a pleasurable stimulus is removed or an aversive stimulus is presented as a consequence of a behavior in order to decrease the future frequency of occurrence of that inappropriate behavior. See chapter 4 for more discussion on corrective methods and punishment.
Corrective techniques are the most widely used behavioral strategies to control behavior because they reduce the inappropriate behavior quickly. However, we believe that corrective techniques have many negative side effects and should only be used minimally to manage behavior. As Gallahue (1978) indicated, corrective techniques serve to repress the inappropriate behavior but they do nothing to determine and solve the cause of that behavior.
Corporal punishment is using physical force with the intention of causing a person to experience pain, but not injury, for the purpose of correction or behavior control. Some school districts define corporal punishment as touching someone for the purpose of discipline, starting with putting your arm on that person's shoulders to discuss a problem and including dragging that person into time-out. Corporal punishment is prohibited in schools in all developed countries except in 19 states in the United States, parts of Canada, and 1 state in Australia. See chapter 4 for more details on the use of corporal punishment in schools. Corporal punishment is the most severe corrective method and is discussed in this book because it is still allowed in some states. There are serious professional and ethical issues as well as liability issues in using corporal punishment. Further, physical activity specialists who support the use of corporal punishment must comply "with the authoritative social values and moral codes set forth by their own professional organizations" (Albrecht, 2009, p. 475). How can we expect to develop well-disciplined students and players with all the positive qualities we want them to have through the use of punishment?
Requiring Physical Activity
A technique used far too often in physical activity settings - especially in coaching - is requiring a participant to perform a physical activity as a consequence of misbehavior. Participants have been required to perform extreme physical activity extending beyond their physical capacity, resulting in medical conditions such as heat stroke, renal failure, or even death. When a participant is required to do exercise as punishment, such as doing squat thrusts, running wind sprints, doing push-ups, running laps, and so on, the message sent is that this activity is something that is aversive and should be avoided. Even as early as 1992, Hart indicated that excessive physical activity used as punishment is not only risky but outdated. This is particularly true if not carried out with the appropriate supervision to ensure there is no emotional or physical injury.
Further, some states have stipulated that using physical activity as punishment is considered a form of corporal punishment and is illegal. In the web resource see California's policy on the use of physical activity. In addition, the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) opposes administering or withholding physical activity as a form of punishment or behavior management. For a summary of this policy see figure 4.7. Because of the possible negative effects of using physical activity to correct misbehavior, the authors do not condone the use of this technique. We caution physical activity professionals who may be contemplating its use to learn more about the possible negative consequences and be sure to consult your state's office of education to determine the legality of the use of this technique.
It has been suggested that there is a double standard relative to corporal punishment: "[T]eachers [coaches] who detect unusual bruises on children's bodies are required to report suspected abuses to authorities, but parents who see the same thing on their children as a result of educators' [coaches] disciplinary procedures get little to no back up from the law" (as cited in Rico, 2002, p. 356). For example, if physical educators or coaches follow school policy related to punishment, they could receive qualified immunity, but parents and guardians may be liable for violating the same state statutes. Again, though, corporal punishment, including requiring physical activity, cannot be excessive and must be reasonable, or the physical educators and coaches may be subject to the same civil and criminal liability as parents and guardians in virtually all states.
Remember that as of 2014, 31 state legislatures have passed laws prohibiting the use of corporal punishment in schools. For a list of these states, see figure 4.5. Also in that chapter is a discussion of many negative side effects of using severe corrective methods for managing behaviors.
If we as physical activity professionals want to develop strong connections with our participants and create a positive, nurturing environment for them to grow and learn, there are many other proactive and positive ways to manage their behavior than using corporal punishment. Therefore, we believe that it is never appropriate to use corporal punishment!
Time-Out
The use of time-out has been debated by experts for decades. Some believe that if it is used correctly and consistently, a student or player learns to control himself or herself, and a trusting and respectful relationship between that participant and the physical activity professional will be maintained. There are other experts who believe the use of time-out strategies that remove a participant from positive reinforcement is overused and counterintuitive to sound educational practices because that participant is removed from an environment where he or she had an opportunity to practice or learn. For example, in one strategy a participant may be removed from a possible reinforcing environment for a minute or two for each year of his or her age. For older participants this could be more than half the instructional class period or practice!
Once, one of the authors of this text was visiting a physical education class and a student came in late from another class. That student was required to sit out the entire class. Later, it was determined that it was not the student's fault that he was late; the teacher in his previous class had held him after class. A teacher must know why the student came in late first before punishing him or her for a behavior that he or she had no control over. A more proactive technique would be to include that student immediately into the class. Then, once class was over, determine the reason why he or she was late. In this case the possible solution may be to meet after school with the other teacher to rectify the problem so the student is not held back in total or in part from your class.
Another issue in using time-out, besides the potentially excessive length of time involved, is the type of time-out. If a participant is sent to another setting that is away from the actual activity setting, this is referred to as seclusion time-out. Many school districts and other organizations do not allow seclusion time-out because all students must be supervised. It is easy for a physical activity professional to forget about the participant in seclusion and leave him or her out of class or team activity for a long time, thus depriving that student or player from participating and learning.
Alternatives to the Use of Corrective Methods
Most experts believe that a proactive behavior management program should always be in place to stop or reduce behavioral problems and thus avert the need for corrective techniques. For example, the physical activity professional continually must put away the free weights after the weight lifting class. He is considering not letting the students use the free weights for class next week. He decides to first post signs in the weight room asking that the weights be put back on the appropriate rack immediately after use, or the weights will be removed for 2 weeks in the future.
Sometimes the problem may be that participants are violating an expected program standard that seems to be common sense to the physical activity professional. Or there may be a communication problem in that a standard was just not clearly explained. Once recognized, that problem can be solved immediately by explaining the standard more clearly to participants; the violation will most likely not occur again and no punishment will be needed.
Another proactive technique is the use of cues to signal what behavior is expected. For instance, a verbal warning cue could be a statement such as "The game will be over in 5 minutes" or "Billy, when I blow my whistle, you need to start lining up in your squad." Many other proactive techniques are discussed in chapter 3.
If the proactive strategies are not enough to manage behavior, try including intrinsic reinforcers such as fun and exciting activities that meet your essential class or practice objectives and are also activities that participants enjoy doing. There will, however, be some participants who do not believe an activity has any functional value or that an activity is repetitive and boring. To bridge the gap between performance and learning, a more powerful extrinsic reinforcement may be required initially to engage those who may not be intrinsically motivated to participate. The goal is always to fade out extrinsic reinforcers and move to intrinsic reinforcers as soon as possible.
Sometimes these positive proactive and reinforcement strategies (Martens, 2004) may have little influence on effective learning and performance. Therefore, mild corrective techniques matched with positive reinforcers for demonstrating the appropriate behavior may need to be used in order to eliminate behaviors that are interfering with the performance and learning of a participant or a group. Clearly, it is a serious ethical issue for physical activity professionals when deciding whether to incorporate different levels of corrective techniques into their programs for educational purposes. This is particularly true when a professional is considering the use of the more punitive corrective techniques such as time-out or a corporal punishment that includes the use of physical activity. See chapter 4 for more information related to methods that can be used to redirect and decrease inappropriate behavior.
This is not to say that what are generally considered mild forms of punishment should be taken lightly. What would be considered mild by some people may not have the same punishment effect when perceived by a physical activity professional. For example, you may have met the wrath of a teacher or coach just by how he or she said no! when you did something incorrectly. You may still remember this incident today, particularly if that professional was respected and considered a role model.
On the other hand, one of the authors of this text had a friend who was always getting in trouble with a physical educator and was required to run laps, which is generally considered a form of corporal punishment. This student did not care to participate in many team-based activities but loved to jog. Running laps was a positive reinforcer to him, not a punishment at all. Most professionals believe that physical activity should be enjoyable, fun, and continued throughout someone's lifetime. If you professionally believe this, physical activity should not be related to punishment (see checklist 10.3).
Learn more about Positive Behavior Management in Physical Activity Settings, Third Edition.
Bullying in the Physical Activity Environment
Bullying occurs more frequently in school environments such as locker rooms, showers, restrooms, on the playground and behind buildings, in the cafeteria, in the hallways, on the bus, and at the bus stop (Bradshaw, Waasdorp, O’Brennan, Gulemetova, & Henderson, 2011; Farrington & Ttofi, 2009).
Bullying occurs more frequently in school environments such as locker rooms, showers, restrooms, on the playground and behind buildings, in the cafeteria, in the hallways, on the bus, and at the bus stop (Bradshaw, Waasdorp, O'Brennan, Gulemetova, & Henderson, 2011; Farrington & Ttofi, 2009). School-based physical activity settings are common locations for bullying (Roman & Taylor, 2013). The incidence of bullying in physical education classes was reported in a study of 10th-grade students in Canada. In this study, 11.1% of the students reported experiencing physical bullying, 13.6% experienced verbal bullying, and 12.8% experienced social bullying. Bullying was one of the major reasons students dropped out of physical education (Hurley & Mandigo, 2010).
Often, a physical activity professional is not even aware that bullying is occurring in his or her environment because class or team groups are typically large, and there is often a high level of competition and physical contact in the activities, so physical contact is likely the norm. In these settings physical contact may be used to intimidate others (Biggs, Simpson, & Gaus, 2010). Physical activity professionals may also be unaware of the undercurrent of social status and peer pressure in their programs and may inadvertently allow some participants to wield their power over others. This may occur when participants are allowed to choose teams, leading to social exclusion; tease or call names, thereby intimidating others; or even encourage other participants to engage in rough physical play that may get out of hand (Fuller, Gulbrandson, & Herman-Ukasic, 2013). We must do something about this problem because we do not want participants to be traumatized in our programs and quit coming or not enroll in them at all (Huber, 2010; Hurley & Mandigo, 2010).
It may be that a physical activity professional is the first adult to recognize that a participant's social and emotional problems have developed through continually being bullied. When a participant is bullied, a physical activity professional is often the person the victim feels comfortable talking with about what happened. As physical activity professionals, we have a responsibility to understand what bullying is; be aware of the signs of bullying; be involved in the development and implementation of programs to prevent bullying; intervene; and develop a safe environment where students and players can participate, enjoy physical activity, and feel safe.
Teachers play a key role in preventing and intervening in bullying at school, yet they receive little if any help or training in identifying the warning signs, preventing bullying, or effectively intervening (Juvonen, Graham, & Schuster, 2003). When a bullying problem becomes serious and is not effectively managed, we need to work in partnership with other teachers (e.g., general physical educators, special educators) coaches, staff (e.g., social workers, school counselors, school psychologists), parents and guardians, and administrators to solve the problem as soon as possible (Olweus, 2006). See checklist 8.1 to make sure you are recognizing bullies and bullying behaviors.
Learn more about Positive Behavior Management in Physical Activity Settings, Third Edition.
School-Age Overweight and Obesity Issues
Childhood obesity is a serious medical condition in which a child or adolescent is significantly above the normal weight based on his or her age and height (Mayo Clinic, n.d.).
Childhood obesity is a serious medical condition in which a child or adolescent is significantly above the normal weight based on his or her age and height (Mayo Clinic, n.d.). The prevalence of childhood obesity has reached epidemic proportions in the United States and in many other industrialized countries in the world since the 1980s (Ogden, Caroll, Curtin, Lamb, & Flegal, 2010). It is quickly becoming the leading cause of death in the United States.
The concern is that childhood obesity is associated with numerous physiological and psychological comorbidities. Childhood obesity has been reported in some instances as a disease (Wallace & Ray, 2009) and in other sources as what might be an educational disability (French, Sanborn, Stephens, & DiMarco, in press). Childhood obesity is often misunderstood and stigmatized; currently, it is not recognized as a disability, and so services are not always provided. Some possible common behaviorsassociated with being overweight and obese along with a list of a few illustrative teaching strategies are provided in table 9.5.
There are numerous program modifications and strategies that a physical activity specialist may consider to more effectively engage children and youth who are underweight, overweight, or obese in physical activity programs. The following are a few proactive modifications and strategies that may be considered. The first two are safety considerations.
- Ensure the physical activities are within a participant's medical margin of safety. For example, appropriate weight-bearing activities may need to be included. In addition, students who are classified as morbidly obese need a physician's written consent to participate in physical activity (French, Sanborn, Stephens, & DiMarco, in press).
- Consider the use of heart rate monitors. Children and youth who are obese carry a lot more weight than those within a usually recommended weight range. Even if obese students are among the slowest in class, they may have the highest heart rates because of the extra weight they are carrying.
- Consider peer tutors for instructional (e.g., achieving healthy diet and physical activity goals) and emotional - social support.
- Use differentiated instruction to accommodate multiple levels of performance and learning. Using stations may be a useful strategy. In the station activities consider the use of health video games as well as exercise games that are fun and motivating (e.g., Dance Dance Revolution, Wii, Play Station) as motivational techniques. This strategy can also be used for homework assignments. Commercially available health video games have been used as a motivational intervention strategy for students who are overweight or obese (Lu, Kharrazi, Gharghabi, & Thompson, 2013).
- Use staff training, collaborate with families and students and community leaders, and adopt school-wide programs to reduce stigmatization of those who are overweight or obese.
- Model trusting and caring behavior for children or youth who are overweight or obese and for others who are participating in physical activity. All children and youth deserve to be respected and be learners. Sometimes, even with the best intentions, a physical activity professional could actually be increasing guilt, stigmatizing a child or youth who is obese, and negatively affecting a student's body image and self-esteem. For example, a physical activity professional may be overprotective and not ask an overweight or obese child or youth to be accountable for performing and learning at his or her appropriate level (Rovegno & Bandhauer, 2013).
- Evaluate the program to determine whether inactivity can be reduced (e.g., transitions between activities, standing in lines).
- Be a resource to parents, guardians, children, and youth regarding your physical activity program. Consider using e-mail or Twitter to provide initial support for programs in which a child with weight issues and his or her parents may be involved. Consider a community-based program the first time one of your students with weight issues attends.
- Observe the recess program and provide ways to motivate students to take part in activities and encourage those with weight issues to do the same.
- Focus on helping students meet manageable and achievable goals in an enjoyable environment (e.g., increase number of steps a day, monitor results, and provide intrinsic and extrinsic reinforcers [see chapter 3]).
- Encourage participation with others through small groups or teams to provide peer instructions and motivation to all members of the small group or team.
- The physical activity environment is the most logical place for programs that address obesity prevention and intervention in children and youth (Richards, Shimabukuro, Combs, & Kreuter, 2004). Some of the advantages in using the physical activity environment are that both preventive and intervention programs can be provided; large numbers of students can be provided continuous and concentrated intervention; and the costs to parents and guardians are minimal (Brownell & Kay, 1982). To date there have been mixed results on the effectiveness of school-based weight-gain programs and the retention of losses over time (Shaya, Flores, Gbarayer, & Wang, 2008). One of the major components of the most effective programs is the use of appropriate behavior management strategies with a focus on a participant within a class or team (Brownell & Kaye, 1982).
Learn more about Positive Behavior Management in Physical Activity Settings, Third Edition.
Professional Ethics and the Use of Punishment in Physical Activity Environments
There are professionals and organizations who believe there must be an ethical consideration when manipulating participant or group behavior to perform, learn, reduce, or eliminate a behavior (see checklist 10.2).
There are professionals and organizations who believe there must be an ethical consideration when manipulating participant or group behavior to perform, learn, reduce, or eliminate a behavior (see checklist 10.2). The focus should not be just on solving an immediate behavioral problem that negatively affects not only the level of motivation of children to attend and respond but also helps to increase their level of physical performance and learning. The focus at the same time should be on more than the teacher teaching or the coach coaching - it should be on the bigger picture. Professionally and ethically, there must be an attempt to positively affect students' lives. Because of this, physical activity professionals must exhibit moral courage, unshakable ethical standards, and consideration for the dignity of children and youth, which may involve challenges of their professional ethics by parents, guardians, administrators, and others in a community (Bagley, 1907).
Discipline and Punishment
Discipline is the control that is gained by requiring that rules or orders be obeyed and punishing bad behavior. Based on Carson (2014), there is both positive and negative discipline. Positive discipline focuses on modeling positive behavior and ensures student or player input in the development of class or team rules. Negative discipline relates to students running laps or performing other tasks as a result of misbehaving. It is generally a reactive behavior when something negative happens and relays a message the teacher or coach is mad or angry. Punishment is a term often used to describe consequences that are implemented to decrease the future occurrence of a behavior. Broadly, punishment may include suffering, pain, or loss that serves as retribution and severe, rough, or disastrous treatment. Seifried (2008) defined punishment as a moral concept for disobedience to an authority or a set of rules relating to right and wrong that is intended to reduce or eliminate the disobedient behavior. The authors believe that this term is too harsh for educational settings, so we have chosen to use the term corrective methods. Corrective methods are intervention procedures in which a pleasurable stimulus is removed or an aversive stimulus is presented as a consequence of a behavior in order to decrease the future frequency of occurrence of that inappropriate behavior. See chapter 4 for more discussion on corrective methods and punishment.
Corrective techniques are the most widely used behavioral strategies to control behavior because they reduce the inappropriate behavior quickly. However, we believe that corrective techniques have many negative side effects and should only be used minimally to manage behavior. As Gallahue (1978) indicated, corrective techniques serve to repress the inappropriate behavior but they do nothing to determine and solve the cause of that behavior.
Corporal punishment is using physical force with the intention of causing a person to experience pain, but not injury, for the purpose of correction or behavior control. Some school districts define corporal punishment as touching someone for the purpose of discipline, starting with putting your arm on that person's shoulders to discuss a problem and including dragging that person into time-out. Corporal punishment is prohibited in schools in all developed countries except in 19 states in the United States, parts of Canada, and 1 state in Australia. See chapter 4 for more details on the use of corporal punishment in schools. Corporal punishment is the most severe corrective method and is discussed in this book because it is still allowed in some states. There are serious professional and ethical issues as well as liability issues in using corporal punishment. Further, physical activity specialists who support the use of corporal punishment must comply "with the authoritative social values and moral codes set forth by their own professional organizations" (Albrecht, 2009, p. 475). How can we expect to develop well-disciplined students and players with all the positive qualities we want them to have through the use of punishment?
Requiring Physical Activity
A technique used far too often in physical activity settings - especially in coaching - is requiring a participant to perform a physical activity as a consequence of misbehavior. Participants have been required to perform extreme physical activity extending beyond their physical capacity, resulting in medical conditions such as heat stroke, renal failure, or even death. When a participant is required to do exercise as punishment, such as doing squat thrusts, running wind sprints, doing push-ups, running laps, and so on, the message sent is that this activity is something that is aversive and should be avoided. Even as early as 1992, Hart indicated that excessive physical activity used as punishment is not only risky but outdated. This is particularly true if not carried out with the appropriate supervision to ensure there is no emotional or physical injury.
Further, some states have stipulated that using physical activity as punishment is considered a form of corporal punishment and is illegal. In the web resource see California's policy on the use of physical activity. In addition, the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) opposes administering or withholding physical activity as a form of punishment or behavior management. For a summary of this policy see figure 4.7. Because of the possible negative effects of using physical activity to correct misbehavior, the authors do not condone the use of this technique. We caution physical activity professionals who may be contemplating its use to learn more about the possible negative consequences and be sure to consult your state's office of education to determine the legality of the use of this technique.
It has been suggested that there is a double standard relative to corporal punishment: "[T]eachers [coaches] who detect unusual bruises on children's bodies are required to report suspected abuses to authorities, but parents who see the same thing on their children as a result of educators' [coaches] disciplinary procedures get little to no back up from the law" (as cited in Rico, 2002, p. 356). For example, if physical educators or coaches follow school policy related to punishment, they could receive qualified immunity, but parents and guardians may be liable for violating the same state statutes. Again, though, corporal punishment, including requiring physical activity, cannot be excessive and must be reasonable, or the physical educators and coaches may be subject to the same civil and criminal liability as parents and guardians in virtually all states.
Remember that as of 2014, 31 state legislatures have passed laws prohibiting the use of corporal punishment in schools. For a list of these states, see figure 4.5. Also in that chapter is a discussion of many negative side effects of using severe corrective methods for managing behaviors.
If we as physical activity professionals want to develop strong connections with our participants and create a positive, nurturing environment for them to grow and learn, there are many other proactive and positive ways to manage their behavior than using corporal punishment. Therefore, we believe that it is never appropriate to use corporal punishment!
Time-Out
The use of time-out has been debated by experts for decades. Some believe that if it is used correctly and consistently, a student or player learns to control himself or herself, and a trusting and respectful relationship between that participant and the physical activity professional will be maintained. There are other experts who believe the use of time-out strategies that remove a participant from positive reinforcement is overused and counterintuitive to sound educational practices because that participant is removed from an environment where he or she had an opportunity to practice or learn. For example, in one strategy a participant may be removed from a possible reinforcing environment for a minute or two for each year of his or her age. For older participants this could be more than half the instructional class period or practice!
Once, one of the authors of this text was visiting a physical education class and a student came in late from another class. That student was required to sit out the entire class. Later, it was determined that it was not the student's fault that he was late; the teacher in his previous class had held him after class. A teacher must know why the student came in late first before punishing him or her for a behavior that he or she had no control over. A more proactive technique would be to include that student immediately into the class. Then, once class was over, determine the reason why he or she was late. In this case the possible solution may be to meet after school with the other teacher to rectify the problem so the student is not held back in total or in part from your class.
Another issue in using time-out, besides the potentially excessive length of time involved, is the type of time-out. If a participant is sent to another setting that is away from the actual activity setting, this is referred to as seclusion time-out. Many school districts and other organizations do not allow seclusion time-out because all students must be supervised. It is easy for a physical activity professional to forget about the participant in seclusion and leave him or her out of class or team activity for a long time, thus depriving that student or player from participating and learning.
Alternatives to the Use of Corrective Methods
Most experts believe that a proactive behavior management program should always be in place to stop or reduce behavioral problems and thus avert the need for corrective techniques. For example, the physical activity professional continually must put away the free weights after the weight lifting class. He is considering not letting the students use the free weights for class next week. He decides to first post signs in the weight room asking that the weights be put back on the appropriate rack immediately after use, or the weights will be removed for 2 weeks in the future.
Sometimes the problem may be that participants are violating an expected program standard that seems to be common sense to the physical activity professional. Or there may be a communication problem in that a standard was just not clearly explained. Once recognized, that problem can be solved immediately by explaining the standard more clearly to participants; the violation will most likely not occur again and no punishment will be needed.
Another proactive technique is the use of cues to signal what behavior is expected. For instance, a verbal warning cue could be a statement such as "The game will be over in 5 minutes" or "Billy, when I blow my whistle, you need to start lining up in your squad." Many other proactive techniques are discussed in chapter 3.
If the proactive strategies are not enough to manage behavior, try including intrinsic reinforcers such as fun and exciting activities that meet your essential class or practice objectives and are also activities that participants enjoy doing. There will, however, be some participants who do not believe an activity has any functional value or that an activity is repetitive and boring. To bridge the gap between performance and learning, a more powerful extrinsic reinforcement may be required initially to engage those who may not be intrinsically motivated to participate. The goal is always to fade out extrinsic reinforcers and move to intrinsic reinforcers as soon as possible.
Sometimes these positive proactive and reinforcement strategies (Martens, 2004) may have little influence on effective learning and performance. Therefore, mild corrective techniques matched with positive reinforcers for demonstrating the appropriate behavior may need to be used in order to eliminate behaviors that are interfering with the performance and learning of a participant or a group. Clearly, it is a serious ethical issue for physical activity professionals when deciding whether to incorporate different levels of corrective techniques into their programs for educational purposes. This is particularly true when a professional is considering the use of the more punitive corrective techniques such as time-out or a corporal punishment that includes the use of physical activity. See chapter 4 for more information related to methods that can be used to redirect and decrease inappropriate behavior.
This is not to say that what are generally considered mild forms of punishment should be taken lightly. What would be considered mild by some people may not have the same punishment effect when perceived by a physical activity professional. For example, you may have met the wrath of a teacher or coach just by how he or she said no! when you did something incorrectly. You may still remember this incident today, particularly if that professional was respected and considered a role model.
On the other hand, one of the authors of this text had a friend who was always getting in trouble with a physical educator and was required to run laps, which is generally considered a form of corporal punishment. This student did not care to participate in many team-based activities but loved to jog. Running laps was a positive reinforcer to him, not a punishment at all. Most professionals believe that physical activity should be enjoyable, fun, and continued throughout someone's lifetime. If you professionally believe this, physical activity should not be related to punishment (see checklist 10.3).
Learn more about Positive Behavior Management in Physical Activity Settings, Third Edition.
Bullying in the Physical Activity Environment
Bullying occurs more frequently in school environments such as locker rooms, showers, restrooms, on the playground and behind buildings, in the cafeteria, in the hallways, on the bus, and at the bus stop (Bradshaw, Waasdorp, O’Brennan, Gulemetova, & Henderson, 2011; Farrington & Ttofi, 2009).
Bullying occurs more frequently in school environments such as locker rooms, showers, restrooms, on the playground and behind buildings, in the cafeteria, in the hallways, on the bus, and at the bus stop (Bradshaw, Waasdorp, O'Brennan, Gulemetova, & Henderson, 2011; Farrington & Ttofi, 2009). School-based physical activity settings are common locations for bullying (Roman & Taylor, 2013). The incidence of bullying in physical education classes was reported in a study of 10th-grade students in Canada. In this study, 11.1% of the students reported experiencing physical bullying, 13.6% experienced verbal bullying, and 12.8% experienced social bullying. Bullying was one of the major reasons students dropped out of physical education (Hurley & Mandigo, 2010).
Often, a physical activity professional is not even aware that bullying is occurring in his or her environment because class or team groups are typically large, and there is often a high level of competition and physical contact in the activities, so physical contact is likely the norm. In these settings physical contact may be used to intimidate others (Biggs, Simpson, & Gaus, 2010). Physical activity professionals may also be unaware of the undercurrent of social status and peer pressure in their programs and may inadvertently allow some participants to wield their power over others. This may occur when participants are allowed to choose teams, leading to social exclusion; tease or call names, thereby intimidating others; or even encourage other participants to engage in rough physical play that may get out of hand (Fuller, Gulbrandson, & Herman-Ukasic, 2013). We must do something about this problem because we do not want participants to be traumatized in our programs and quit coming or not enroll in them at all (Huber, 2010; Hurley & Mandigo, 2010).
It may be that a physical activity professional is the first adult to recognize that a participant's social and emotional problems have developed through continually being bullied. When a participant is bullied, a physical activity professional is often the person the victim feels comfortable talking with about what happened. As physical activity professionals, we have a responsibility to understand what bullying is; be aware of the signs of bullying; be involved in the development and implementation of programs to prevent bullying; intervene; and develop a safe environment where students and players can participate, enjoy physical activity, and feel safe.
Teachers play a key role in preventing and intervening in bullying at school, yet they receive little if any help or training in identifying the warning signs, preventing bullying, or effectively intervening (Juvonen, Graham, & Schuster, 2003). When a bullying problem becomes serious and is not effectively managed, we need to work in partnership with other teachers (e.g., general physical educators, special educators) coaches, staff (e.g., social workers, school counselors, school psychologists), parents and guardians, and administrators to solve the problem as soon as possible (Olweus, 2006). See checklist 8.1 to make sure you are recognizing bullies and bullying behaviors.
Learn more about Positive Behavior Management in Physical Activity Settings, Third Edition.
School-Age Overweight and Obesity Issues
Childhood obesity is a serious medical condition in which a child or adolescent is significantly above the normal weight based on his or her age and height (Mayo Clinic, n.d.).
Childhood obesity is a serious medical condition in which a child or adolescent is significantly above the normal weight based on his or her age and height (Mayo Clinic, n.d.). The prevalence of childhood obesity has reached epidemic proportions in the United States and in many other industrialized countries in the world since the 1980s (Ogden, Caroll, Curtin, Lamb, & Flegal, 2010). It is quickly becoming the leading cause of death in the United States.
The concern is that childhood obesity is associated with numerous physiological and psychological comorbidities. Childhood obesity has been reported in some instances as a disease (Wallace & Ray, 2009) and in other sources as what might be an educational disability (French, Sanborn, Stephens, & DiMarco, in press). Childhood obesity is often misunderstood and stigmatized; currently, it is not recognized as a disability, and so services are not always provided. Some possible common behaviorsassociated with being overweight and obese along with a list of a few illustrative teaching strategies are provided in table 9.5.
There are numerous program modifications and strategies that a physical activity specialist may consider to more effectively engage children and youth who are underweight, overweight, or obese in physical activity programs. The following are a few proactive modifications and strategies that may be considered. The first two are safety considerations.
- Ensure the physical activities are within a participant's medical margin of safety. For example, appropriate weight-bearing activities may need to be included. In addition, students who are classified as morbidly obese need a physician's written consent to participate in physical activity (French, Sanborn, Stephens, & DiMarco, in press).
- Consider the use of heart rate monitors. Children and youth who are obese carry a lot more weight than those within a usually recommended weight range. Even if obese students are among the slowest in class, they may have the highest heart rates because of the extra weight they are carrying.
- Consider peer tutors for instructional (e.g., achieving healthy diet and physical activity goals) and emotional - social support.
- Use differentiated instruction to accommodate multiple levels of performance and learning. Using stations may be a useful strategy. In the station activities consider the use of health video games as well as exercise games that are fun and motivating (e.g., Dance Dance Revolution, Wii, Play Station) as motivational techniques. This strategy can also be used for homework assignments. Commercially available health video games have been used as a motivational intervention strategy for students who are overweight or obese (Lu, Kharrazi, Gharghabi, & Thompson, 2013).
- Use staff training, collaborate with families and students and community leaders, and adopt school-wide programs to reduce stigmatization of those who are overweight or obese.
- Model trusting and caring behavior for children or youth who are overweight or obese and for others who are participating in physical activity. All children and youth deserve to be respected and be learners. Sometimes, even with the best intentions, a physical activity professional could actually be increasing guilt, stigmatizing a child or youth who is obese, and negatively affecting a student's body image and self-esteem. For example, a physical activity professional may be overprotective and not ask an overweight or obese child or youth to be accountable for performing and learning at his or her appropriate level (Rovegno & Bandhauer, 2013).
- Evaluate the program to determine whether inactivity can be reduced (e.g., transitions between activities, standing in lines).
- Be a resource to parents, guardians, children, and youth regarding your physical activity program. Consider using e-mail or Twitter to provide initial support for programs in which a child with weight issues and his or her parents may be involved. Consider a community-based program the first time one of your students with weight issues attends.
- Observe the recess program and provide ways to motivate students to take part in activities and encourage those with weight issues to do the same.
- Focus on helping students meet manageable and achievable goals in an enjoyable environment (e.g., increase number of steps a day, monitor results, and provide intrinsic and extrinsic reinforcers [see chapter 3]).
- Encourage participation with others through small groups or teams to provide peer instructions and motivation to all members of the small group or team.
- The physical activity environment is the most logical place for programs that address obesity prevention and intervention in children and youth (Richards, Shimabukuro, Combs, & Kreuter, 2004). Some of the advantages in using the physical activity environment are that both preventive and intervention programs can be provided; large numbers of students can be provided continuous and concentrated intervention; and the costs to parents and guardians are minimal (Brownell & Kay, 1982). To date there have been mixed results on the effectiveness of school-based weight-gain programs and the retention of losses over time (Shaya, Flores, Gbarayer, & Wang, 2008). One of the major components of the most effective programs is the use of appropriate behavior management strategies with a focus on a participant within a class or team (Brownell & Kaye, 1982).
Learn more about Positive Behavior Management in Physical Activity Settings, Third Edition.
Professional Ethics and the Use of Punishment in Physical Activity Environments
There are professionals and organizations who believe there must be an ethical consideration when manipulating participant or group behavior to perform, learn, reduce, or eliminate a behavior (see checklist 10.2).
There are professionals and organizations who believe there must be an ethical consideration when manipulating participant or group behavior to perform, learn, reduce, or eliminate a behavior (see checklist 10.2). The focus should not be just on solving an immediate behavioral problem that negatively affects not only the level of motivation of children to attend and respond but also helps to increase their level of physical performance and learning. The focus at the same time should be on more than the teacher teaching or the coach coaching - it should be on the bigger picture. Professionally and ethically, there must be an attempt to positively affect students' lives. Because of this, physical activity professionals must exhibit moral courage, unshakable ethical standards, and consideration for the dignity of children and youth, which may involve challenges of their professional ethics by parents, guardians, administrators, and others in a community (Bagley, 1907).
Discipline and Punishment
Discipline is the control that is gained by requiring that rules or orders be obeyed and punishing bad behavior. Based on Carson (2014), there is both positive and negative discipline. Positive discipline focuses on modeling positive behavior and ensures student or player input in the development of class or team rules. Negative discipline relates to students running laps or performing other tasks as a result of misbehaving. It is generally a reactive behavior when something negative happens and relays a message the teacher or coach is mad or angry. Punishment is a term often used to describe consequences that are implemented to decrease the future occurrence of a behavior. Broadly, punishment may include suffering, pain, or loss that serves as retribution and severe, rough, or disastrous treatment. Seifried (2008) defined punishment as a moral concept for disobedience to an authority or a set of rules relating to right and wrong that is intended to reduce or eliminate the disobedient behavior. The authors believe that this term is too harsh for educational settings, so we have chosen to use the term corrective methods. Corrective methods are intervention procedures in which a pleasurable stimulus is removed or an aversive stimulus is presented as a consequence of a behavior in order to decrease the future frequency of occurrence of that inappropriate behavior. See chapter 4 for more discussion on corrective methods and punishment.
Corrective techniques are the most widely used behavioral strategies to control behavior because they reduce the inappropriate behavior quickly. However, we believe that corrective techniques have many negative side effects and should only be used minimally to manage behavior. As Gallahue (1978) indicated, corrective techniques serve to repress the inappropriate behavior but they do nothing to determine and solve the cause of that behavior.
Corporal punishment is using physical force with the intention of causing a person to experience pain, but not injury, for the purpose of correction or behavior control. Some school districts define corporal punishment as touching someone for the purpose of discipline, starting with putting your arm on that person's shoulders to discuss a problem and including dragging that person into time-out. Corporal punishment is prohibited in schools in all developed countries except in 19 states in the United States, parts of Canada, and 1 state in Australia. See chapter 4 for more details on the use of corporal punishment in schools. Corporal punishment is the most severe corrective method and is discussed in this book because it is still allowed in some states. There are serious professional and ethical issues as well as liability issues in using corporal punishment. Further, physical activity specialists who support the use of corporal punishment must comply "with the authoritative social values and moral codes set forth by their own professional organizations" (Albrecht, 2009, p. 475). How can we expect to develop well-disciplined students and players with all the positive qualities we want them to have through the use of punishment?
Requiring Physical Activity
A technique used far too often in physical activity settings - especially in coaching - is requiring a participant to perform a physical activity as a consequence of misbehavior. Participants have been required to perform extreme physical activity extending beyond their physical capacity, resulting in medical conditions such as heat stroke, renal failure, or even death. When a participant is required to do exercise as punishment, such as doing squat thrusts, running wind sprints, doing push-ups, running laps, and so on, the message sent is that this activity is something that is aversive and should be avoided. Even as early as 1992, Hart indicated that excessive physical activity used as punishment is not only risky but outdated. This is particularly true if not carried out with the appropriate supervision to ensure there is no emotional or physical injury.
Further, some states have stipulated that using physical activity as punishment is considered a form of corporal punishment and is illegal. In the web resource see California's policy on the use of physical activity. In addition, the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) opposes administering or withholding physical activity as a form of punishment or behavior management. For a summary of this policy see figure 4.7. Because of the possible negative effects of using physical activity to correct misbehavior, the authors do not condone the use of this technique. We caution physical activity professionals who may be contemplating its use to learn more about the possible negative consequences and be sure to consult your state's office of education to determine the legality of the use of this technique.
It has been suggested that there is a double standard relative to corporal punishment: "[T]eachers [coaches] who detect unusual bruises on children's bodies are required to report suspected abuses to authorities, but parents who see the same thing on their children as a result of educators' [coaches] disciplinary procedures get little to no back up from the law" (as cited in Rico, 2002, p. 356). For example, if physical educators or coaches follow school policy related to punishment, they could receive qualified immunity, but parents and guardians may be liable for violating the same state statutes. Again, though, corporal punishment, including requiring physical activity, cannot be excessive and must be reasonable, or the physical educators and coaches may be subject to the same civil and criminal liability as parents and guardians in virtually all states.
Remember that as of 2014, 31 state legislatures have passed laws prohibiting the use of corporal punishment in schools. For a list of these states, see figure 4.5. Also in that chapter is a discussion of many negative side effects of using severe corrective methods for managing behaviors.
If we as physical activity professionals want to develop strong connections with our participants and create a positive, nurturing environment for them to grow and learn, there are many other proactive and positive ways to manage their behavior than using corporal punishment. Therefore, we believe that it is never appropriate to use corporal punishment!
Time-Out
The use of time-out has been debated by experts for decades. Some believe that if it is used correctly and consistently, a student or player learns to control himself or herself, and a trusting and respectful relationship between that participant and the physical activity professional will be maintained. There are other experts who believe the use of time-out strategies that remove a participant from positive reinforcement is overused and counterintuitive to sound educational practices because that participant is removed from an environment where he or she had an opportunity to practice or learn. For example, in one strategy a participant may be removed from a possible reinforcing environment for a minute or two for each year of his or her age. For older participants this could be more than half the instructional class period or practice!
Once, one of the authors of this text was visiting a physical education class and a student came in late from another class. That student was required to sit out the entire class. Later, it was determined that it was not the student's fault that he was late; the teacher in his previous class had held him after class. A teacher must know why the student came in late first before punishing him or her for a behavior that he or she had no control over. A more proactive technique would be to include that student immediately into the class. Then, once class was over, determine the reason why he or she was late. In this case the possible solution may be to meet after school with the other teacher to rectify the problem so the student is not held back in total or in part from your class.
Another issue in using time-out, besides the potentially excessive length of time involved, is the type of time-out. If a participant is sent to another setting that is away from the actual activity setting, this is referred to as seclusion time-out. Many school districts and other organizations do not allow seclusion time-out because all students must be supervised. It is easy for a physical activity professional to forget about the participant in seclusion and leave him or her out of class or team activity for a long time, thus depriving that student or player from participating and learning.
Alternatives to the Use of Corrective Methods
Most experts believe that a proactive behavior management program should always be in place to stop or reduce behavioral problems and thus avert the need for corrective techniques. For example, the physical activity professional continually must put away the free weights after the weight lifting class. He is considering not letting the students use the free weights for class next week. He decides to first post signs in the weight room asking that the weights be put back on the appropriate rack immediately after use, or the weights will be removed for 2 weeks in the future.
Sometimes the problem may be that participants are violating an expected program standard that seems to be common sense to the physical activity professional. Or there may be a communication problem in that a standard was just not clearly explained. Once recognized, that problem can be solved immediately by explaining the standard more clearly to participants; the violation will most likely not occur again and no punishment will be needed.
Another proactive technique is the use of cues to signal what behavior is expected. For instance, a verbal warning cue could be a statement such as "The game will be over in 5 minutes" or "Billy, when I blow my whistle, you need to start lining up in your squad." Many other proactive techniques are discussed in chapter 3.
If the proactive strategies are not enough to manage behavior, try including intrinsic reinforcers such as fun and exciting activities that meet your essential class or practice objectives and are also activities that participants enjoy doing. There will, however, be some participants who do not believe an activity has any functional value or that an activity is repetitive and boring. To bridge the gap between performance and learning, a more powerful extrinsic reinforcement may be required initially to engage those who may not be intrinsically motivated to participate. The goal is always to fade out extrinsic reinforcers and move to intrinsic reinforcers as soon as possible.
Sometimes these positive proactive and reinforcement strategies (Martens, 2004) may have little influence on effective learning and performance. Therefore, mild corrective techniques matched with positive reinforcers for demonstrating the appropriate behavior may need to be used in order to eliminate behaviors that are interfering with the performance and learning of a participant or a group. Clearly, it is a serious ethical issue for physical activity professionals when deciding whether to incorporate different levels of corrective techniques into their programs for educational purposes. This is particularly true when a professional is considering the use of the more punitive corrective techniques such as time-out or a corporal punishment that includes the use of physical activity. See chapter 4 for more information related to methods that can be used to redirect and decrease inappropriate behavior.
This is not to say that what are generally considered mild forms of punishment should be taken lightly. What would be considered mild by some people may not have the same punishment effect when perceived by a physical activity professional. For example, you may have met the wrath of a teacher or coach just by how he or she said no! when you did something incorrectly. You may still remember this incident today, particularly if that professional was respected and considered a role model.
On the other hand, one of the authors of this text had a friend who was always getting in trouble with a physical educator and was required to run laps, which is generally considered a form of corporal punishment. This student did not care to participate in many team-based activities but loved to jog. Running laps was a positive reinforcer to him, not a punishment at all. Most professionals believe that physical activity should be enjoyable, fun, and continued throughout someone's lifetime. If you professionally believe this, physical activity should not be related to punishment (see checklist 10.3).
Learn more about Positive Behavior Management in Physical Activity Settings, Third Edition.
Bullying in the Physical Activity Environment
Bullying occurs more frequently in school environments such as locker rooms, showers, restrooms, on the playground and behind buildings, in the cafeteria, in the hallways, on the bus, and at the bus stop (Bradshaw, Waasdorp, O’Brennan, Gulemetova, & Henderson, 2011; Farrington & Ttofi, 2009).
Bullying occurs more frequently in school environments such as locker rooms, showers, restrooms, on the playground and behind buildings, in the cafeteria, in the hallways, on the bus, and at the bus stop (Bradshaw, Waasdorp, O'Brennan, Gulemetova, & Henderson, 2011; Farrington & Ttofi, 2009). School-based physical activity settings are common locations for bullying (Roman & Taylor, 2013). The incidence of bullying in physical education classes was reported in a study of 10th-grade students in Canada. In this study, 11.1% of the students reported experiencing physical bullying, 13.6% experienced verbal bullying, and 12.8% experienced social bullying. Bullying was one of the major reasons students dropped out of physical education (Hurley & Mandigo, 2010).
Often, a physical activity professional is not even aware that bullying is occurring in his or her environment because class or team groups are typically large, and there is often a high level of competition and physical contact in the activities, so physical contact is likely the norm. In these settings physical contact may be used to intimidate others (Biggs, Simpson, & Gaus, 2010). Physical activity professionals may also be unaware of the undercurrent of social status and peer pressure in their programs and may inadvertently allow some participants to wield their power over others. This may occur when participants are allowed to choose teams, leading to social exclusion; tease or call names, thereby intimidating others; or even encourage other participants to engage in rough physical play that may get out of hand (Fuller, Gulbrandson, & Herman-Ukasic, 2013). We must do something about this problem because we do not want participants to be traumatized in our programs and quit coming or not enroll in them at all (Huber, 2010; Hurley & Mandigo, 2010).
It may be that a physical activity professional is the first adult to recognize that a participant's social and emotional problems have developed through continually being bullied. When a participant is bullied, a physical activity professional is often the person the victim feels comfortable talking with about what happened. As physical activity professionals, we have a responsibility to understand what bullying is; be aware of the signs of bullying; be involved in the development and implementation of programs to prevent bullying; intervene; and develop a safe environment where students and players can participate, enjoy physical activity, and feel safe.
Teachers play a key role in preventing and intervening in bullying at school, yet they receive little if any help or training in identifying the warning signs, preventing bullying, or effectively intervening (Juvonen, Graham, & Schuster, 2003). When a bullying problem becomes serious and is not effectively managed, we need to work in partnership with other teachers (e.g., general physical educators, special educators) coaches, staff (e.g., social workers, school counselors, school psychologists), parents and guardians, and administrators to solve the problem as soon as possible (Olweus, 2006). See checklist 8.1 to make sure you are recognizing bullies and bullying behaviors.
Learn more about Positive Behavior Management in Physical Activity Settings, Third Edition.
School-Age Overweight and Obesity Issues
Childhood obesity is a serious medical condition in which a child or adolescent is significantly above the normal weight based on his or her age and height (Mayo Clinic, n.d.).
Childhood obesity is a serious medical condition in which a child or adolescent is significantly above the normal weight based on his or her age and height (Mayo Clinic, n.d.). The prevalence of childhood obesity has reached epidemic proportions in the United States and in many other industrialized countries in the world since the 1980s (Ogden, Caroll, Curtin, Lamb, & Flegal, 2010). It is quickly becoming the leading cause of death in the United States.
The concern is that childhood obesity is associated with numerous physiological and psychological comorbidities. Childhood obesity has been reported in some instances as a disease (Wallace & Ray, 2009) and in other sources as what might be an educational disability (French, Sanborn, Stephens, & DiMarco, in press). Childhood obesity is often misunderstood and stigmatized; currently, it is not recognized as a disability, and so services are not always provided. Some possible common behaviorsassociated with being overweight and obese along with a list of a few illustrative teaching strategies are provided in table 9.5.
There are numerous program modifications and strategies that a physical activity specialist may consider to more effectively engage children and youth who are underweight, overweight, or obese in physical activity programs. The following are a few proactive modifications and strategies that may be considered. The first two are safety considerations.
- Ensure the physical activities are within a participant's medical margin of safety. For example, appropriate weight-bearing activities may need to be included. In addition, students who are classified as morbidly obese need a physician's written consent to participate in physical activity (French, Sanborn, Stephens, & DiMarco, in press).
- Consider the use of heart rate monitors. Children and youth who are obese carry a lot more weight than those within a usually recommended weight range. Even if obese students are among the slowest in class, they may have the highest heart rates because of the extra weight they are carrying.
- Consider peer tutors for instructional (e.g., achieving healthy diet and physical activity goals) and emotional - social support.
- Use differentiated instruction to accommodate multiple levels of performance and learning. Using stations may be a useful strategy. In the station activities consider the use of health video games as well as exercise games that are fun and motivating (e.g., Dance Dance Revolution, Wii, Play Station) as motivational techniques. This strategy can also be used for homework assignments. Commercially available health video games have been used as a motivational intervention strategy for students who are overweight or obese (Lu, Kharrazi, Gharghabi, & Thompson, 2013).
- Use staff training, collaborate with families and students and community leaders, and adopt school-wide programs to reduce stigmatization of those who are overweight or obese.
- Model trusting and caring behavior for children or youth who are overweight or obese and for others who are participating in physical activity. All children and youth deserve to be respected and be learners. Sometimes, even with the best intentions, a physical activity professional could actually be increasing guilt, stigmatizing a child or youth who is obese, and negatively affecting a student's body image and self-esteem. For example, a physical activity professional may be overprotective and not ask an overweight or obese child or youth to be accountable for performing and learning at his or her appropriate level (Rovegno & Bandhauer, 2013).
- Evaluate the program to determine whether inactivity can be reduced (e.g., transitions between activities, standing in lines).
- Be a resource to parents, guardians, children, and youth regarding your physical activity program. Consider using e-mail or Twitter to provide initial support for programs in which a child with weight issues and his or her parents may be involved. Consider a community-based program the first time one of your students with weight issues attends.
- Observe the recess program and provide ways to motivate students to take part in activities and encourage those with weight issues to do the same.
- Focus on helping students meet manageable and achievable goals in an enjoyable environment (e.g., increase number of steps a day, monitor results, and provide intrinsic and extrinsic reinforcers [see chapter 3]).
- Encourage participation with others through small groups or teams to provide peer instructions and motivation to all members of the small group or team.
- The physical activity environment is the most logical place for programs that address obesity prevention and intervention in children and youth (Richards, Shimabukuro, Combs, & Kreuter, 2004). Some of the advantages in using the physical activity environment are that both preventive and intervention programs can be provided; large numbers of students can be provided continuous and concentrated intervention; and the costs to parents and guardians are minimal (Brownell & Kay, 1982). To date there have been mixed results on the effectiveness of school-based weight-gain programs and the retention of losses over time (Shaya, Flores, Gbarayer, & Wang, 2008). One of the major components of the most effective programs is the use of appropriate behavior management strategies with a focus on a participant within a class or team (Brownell & Kaye, 1982).
Learn more about Positive Behavior Management in Physical Activity Settings, Third Edition.
Professional Ethics and the Use of Punishment in Physical Activity Environments
There are professionals and organizations who believe there must be an ethical consideration when manipulating participant or group behavior to perform, learn, reduce, or eliminate a behavior (see checklist 10.2).
There are professionals and organizations who believe there must be an ethical consideration when manipulating participant or group behavior to perform, learn, reduce, or eliminate a behavior (see checklist 10.2). The focus should not be just on solving an immediate behavioral problem that negatively affects not only the level of motivation of children to attend and respond but also helps to increase their level of physical performance and learning. The focus at the same time should be on more than the teacher teaching or the coach coaching - it should be on the bigger picture. Professionally and ethically, there must be an attempt to positively affect students' lives. Because of this, physical activity professionals must exhibit moral courage, unshakable ethical standards, and consideration for the dignity of children and youth, which may involve challenges of their professional ethics by parents, guardians, administrators, and others in a community (Bagley, 1907).
Discipline and Punishment
Discipline is the control that is gained by requiring that rules or orders be obeyed and punishing bad behavior. Based on Carson (2014), there is both positive and negative discipline. Positive discipline focuses on modeling positive behavior and ensures student or player input in the development of class or team rules. Negative discipline relates to students running laps or performing other tasks as a result of misbehaving. It is generally a reactive behavior when something negative happens and relays a message the teacher or coach is mad or angry. Punishment is a term often used to describe consequences that are implemented to decrease the future occurrence of a behavior. Broadly, punishment may include suffering, pain, or loss that serves as retribution and severe, rough, or disastrous treatment. Seifried (2008) defined punishment as a moral concept for disobedience to an authority or a set of rules relating to right and wrong that is intended to reduce or eliminate the disobedient behavior. The authors believe that this term is too harsh for educational settings, so we have chosen to use the term corrective methods. Corrective methods are intervention procedures in which a pleasurable stimulus is removed or an aversive stimulus is presented as a consequence of a behavior in order to decrease the future frequency of occurrence of that inappropriate behavior. See chapter 4 for more discussion on corrective methods and punishment.
Corrective techniques are the most widely used behavioral strategies to control behavior because they reduce the inappropriate behavior quickly. However, we believe that corrective techniques have many negative side effects and should only be used minimally to manage behavior. As Gallahue (1978) indicated, corrective techniques serve to repress the inappropriate behavior but they do nothing to determine and solve the cause of that behavior.
Corporal punishment is using physical force with the intention of causing a person to experience pain, but not injury, for the purpose of correction or behavior control. Some school districts define corporal punishment as touching someone for the purpose of discipline, starting with putting your arm on that person's shoulders to discuss a problem and including dragging that person into time-out. Corporal punishment is prohibited in schools in all developed countries except in 19 states in the United States, parts of Canada, and 1 state in Australia. See chapter 4 for more details on the use of corporal punishment in schools. Corporal punishment is the most severe corrective method and is discussed in this book because it is still allowed in some states. There are serious professional and ethical issues as well as liability issues in using corporal punishment. Further, physical activity specialists who support the use of corporal punishment must comply "with the authoritative social values and moral codes set forth by their own professional organizations" (Albrecht, 2009, p. 475). How can we expect to develop well-disciplined students and players with all the positive qualities we want them to have through the use of punishment?
Requiring Physical Activity
A technique used far too often in physical activity settings - especially in coaching - is requiring a participant to perform a physical activity as a consequence of misbehavior. Participants have been required to perform extreme physical activity extending beyond their physical capacity, resulting in medical conditions such as heat stroke, renal failure, or even death. When a participant is required to do exercise as punishment, such as doing squat thrusts, running wind sprints, doing push-ups, running laps, and so on, the message sent is that this activity is something that is aversive and should be avoided. Even as early as 1992, Hart indicated that excessive physical activity used as punishment is not only risky but outdated. This is particularly true if not carried out with the appropriate supervision to ensure there is no emotional or physical injury.
Further, some states have stipulated that using physical activity as punishment is considered a form of corporal punishment and is illegal. In the web resource see California's policy on the use of physical activity. In addition, the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) opposes administering or withholding physical activity as a form of punishment or behavior management. For a summary of this policy see figure 4.7. Because of the possible negative effects of using physical activity to correct misbehavior, the authors do not condone the use of this technique. We caution physical activity professionals who may be contemplating its use to learn more about the possible negative consequences and be sure to consult your state's office of education to determine the legality of the use of this technique.
It has been suggested that there is a double standard relative to corporal punishment: "[T]eachers [coaches] who detect unusual bruises on children's bodies are required to report suspected abuses to authorities, but parents who see the same thing on their children as a result of educators' [coaches] disciplinary procedures get little to no back up from the law" (as cited in Rico, 2002, p. 356). For example, if physical educators or coaches follow school policy related to punishment, they could receive qualified immunity, but parents and guardians may be liable for violating the same state statutes. Again, though, corporal punishment, including requiring physical activity, cannot be excessive and must be reasonable, or the physical educators and coaches may be subject to the same civil and criminal liability as parents and guardians in virtually all states.
Remember that as of 2014, 31 state legislatures have passed laws prohibiting the use of corporal punishment in schools. For a list of these states, see figure 4.5. Also in that chapter is a discussion of many negative side effects of using severe corrective methods for managing behaviors.
If we as physical activity professionals want to develop strong connections with our participants and create a positive, nurturing environment for them to grow and learn, there are many other proactive and positive ways to manage their behavior than using corporal punishment. Therefore, we believe that it is never appropriate to use corporal punishment!
Time-Out
The use of time-out has been debated by experts for decades. Some believe that if it is used correctly and consistently, a student or player learns to control himself or herself, and a trusting and respectful relationship between that participant and the physical activity professional will be maintained. There are other experts who believe the use of time-out strategies that remove a participant from positive reinforcement is overused and counterintuitive to sound educational practices because that participant is removed from an environment where he or she had an opportunity to practice or learn. For example, in one strategy a participant may be removed from a possible reinforcing environment for a minute or two for each year of his or her age. For older participants this could be more than half the instructional class period or practice!
Once, one of the authors of this text was visiting a physical education class and a student came in late from another class. That student was required to sit out the entire class. Later, it was determined that it was not the student's fault that he was late; the teacher in his previous class had held him after class. A teacher must know why the student came in late first before punishing him or her for a behavior that he or she had no control over. A more proactive technique would be to include that student immediately into the class. Then, once class was over, determine the reason why he or she was late. In this case the possible solution may be to meet after school with the other teacher to rectify the problem so the student is not held back in total or in part from your class.
Another issue in using time-out, besides the potentially excessive length of time involved, is the type of time-out. If a participant is sent to another setting that is away from the actual activity setting, this is referred to as seclusion time-out. Many school districts and other organizations do not allow seclusion time-out because all students must be supervised. It is easy for a physical activity professional to forget about the participant in seclusion and leave him or her out of class or team activity for a long time, thus depriving that student or player from participating and learning.
Alternatives to the Use of Corrective Methods
Most experts believe that a proactive behavior management program should always be in place to stop or reduce behavioral problems and thus avert the need for corrective techniques. For example, the physical activity professional continually must put away the free weights after the weight lifting class. He is considering not letting the students use the free weights for class next week. He decides to first post signs in the weight room asking that the weights be put back on the appropriate rack immediately after use, or the weights will be removed for 2 weeks in the future.
Sometimes the problem may be that participants are violating an expected program standard that seems to be common sense to the physical activity professional. Or there may be a communication problem in that a standard was just not clearly explained. Once recognized, that problem can be solved immediately by explaining the standard more clearly to participants; the violation will most likely not occur again and no punishment will be needed.
Another proactive technique is the use of cues to signal what behavior is expected. For instance, a verbal warning cue could be a statement such as "The game will be over in 5 minutes" or "Billy, when I blow my whistle, you need to start lining up in your squad." Many other proactive techniques are discussed in chapter 3.
If the proactive strategies are not enough to manage behavior, try including intrinsic reinforcers such as fun and exciting activities that meet your essential class or practice objectives and are also activities that participants enjoy doing. There will, however, be some participants who do not believe an activity has any functional value or that an activity is repetitive and boring. To bridge the gap between performance and learning, a more powerful extrinsic reinforcement may be required initially to engage those who may not be intrinsically motivated to participate. The goal is always to fade out extrinsic reinforcers and move to intrinsic reinforcers as soon as possible.
Sometimes these positive proactive and reinforcement strategies (Martens, 2004) may have little influence on effective learning and performance. Therefore, mild corrective techniques matched with positive reinforcers for demonstrating the appropriate behavior may need to be used in order to eliminate behaviors that are interfering with the performance and learning of a participant or a group. Clearly, it is a serious ethical issue for physical activity professionals when deciding whether to incorporate different levels of corrective techniques into their programs for educational purposes. This is particularly true when a professional is considering the use of the more punitive corrective techniques such as time-out or a corporal punishment that includes the use of physical activity. See chapter 4 for more information related to methods that can be used to redirect and decrease inappropriate behavior.
This is not to say that what are generally considered mild forms of punishment should be taken lightly. What would be considered mild by some people may not have the same punishment effect when perceived by a physical activity professional. For example, you may have met the wrath of a teacher or coach just by how he or she said no! when you did something incorrectly. You may still remember this incident today, particularly if that professional was respected and considered a role model.
On the other hand, one of the authors of this text had a friend who was always getting in trouble with a physical educator and was required to run laps, which is generally considered a form of corporal punishment. This student did not care to participate in many team-based activities but loved to jog. Running laps was a positive reinforcer to him, not a punishment at all. Most professionals believe that physical activity should be enjoyable, fun, and continued throughout someone's lifetime. If you professionally believe this, physical activity should not be related to punishment (see checklist 10.3).
Learn more about Positive Behavior Management in Physical Activity Settings, Third Edition.
Bullying in the Physical Activity Environment
Bullying occurs more frequently in school environments such as locker rooms, showers, restrooms, on the playground and behind buildings, in the cafeteria, in the hallways, on the bus, and at the bus stop (Bradshaw, Waasdorp, O’Brennan, Gulemetova, & Henderson, 2011; Farrington & Ttofi, 2009).
Bullying occurs more frequently in school environments such as locker rooms, showers, restrooms, on the playground and behind buildings, in the cafeteria, in the hallways, on the bus, and at the bus stop (Bradshaw, Waasdorp, O'Brennan, Gulemetova, & Henderson, 2011; Farrington & Ttofi, 2009). School-based physical activity settings are common locations for bullying (Roman & Taylor, 2013). The incidence of bullying in physical education classes was reported in a study of 10th-grade students in Canada. In this study, 11.1% of the students reported experiencing physical bullying, 13.6% experienced verbal bullying, and 12.8% experienced social bullying. Bullying was one of the major reasons students dropped out of physical education (Hurley & Mandigo, 2010).
Often, a physical activity professional is not even aware that bullying is occurring in his or her environment because class or team groups are typically large, and there is often a high level of competition and physical contact in the activities, so physical contact is likely the norm. In these settings physical contact may be used to intimidate others (Biggs, Simpson, & Gaus, 2010). Physical activity professionals may also be unaware of the undercurrent of social status and peer pressure in their programs and may inadvertently allow some participants to wield their power over others. This may occur when participants are allowed to choose teams, leading to social exclusion; tease or call names, thereby intimidating others; or even encourage other participants to engage in rough physical play that may get out of hand (Fuller, Gulbrandson, & Herman-Ukasic, 2013). We must do something about this problem because we do not want participants to be traumatized in our programs and quit coming or not enroll in them at all (Huber, 2010; Hurley & Mandigo, 2010).
It may be that a physical activity professional is the first adult to recognize that a participant's social and emotional problems have developed through continually being bullied. When a participant is bullied, a physical activity professional is often the person the victim feels comfortable talking with about what happened. As physical activity professionals, we have a responsibility to understand what bullying is; be aware of the signs of bullying; be involved in the development and implementation of programs to prevent bullying; intervene; and develop a safe environment where students and players can participate, enjoy physical activity, and feel safe.
Teachers play a key role in preventing and intervening in bullying at school, yet they receive little if any help or training in identifying the warning signs, preventing bullying, or effectively intervening (Juvonen, Graham, & Schuster, 2003). When a bullying problem becomes serious and is not effectively managed, we need to work in partnership with other teachers (e.g., general physical educators, special educators) coaches, staff (e.g., social workers, school counselors, school psychologists), parents and guardians, and administrators to solve the problem as soon as possible (Olweus, 2006). See checklist 8.1 to make sure you are recognizing bullies and bullying behaviors.
Learn more about Positive Behavior Management in Physical Activity Settings, Third Edition.
School-Age Overweight and Obesity Issues
Childhood obesity is a serious medical condition in which a child or adolescent is significantly above the normal weight based on his or her age and height (Mayo Clinic, n.d.).
Childhood obesity is a serious medical condition in which a child or adolescent is significantly above the normal weight based on his or her age and height (Mayo Clinic, n.d.). The prevalence of childhood obesity has reached epidemic proportions in the United States and in many other industrialized countries in the world since the 1980s (Ogden, Caroll, Curtin, Lamb, & Flegal, 2010). It is quickly becoming the leading cause of death in the United States.
The concern is that childhood obesity is associated with numerous physiological and psychological comorbidities. Childhood obesity has been reported in some instances as a disease (Wallace & Ray, 2009) and in other sources as what might be an educational disability (French, Sanborn, Stephens, & DiMarco, in press). Childhood obesity is often misunderstood and stigmatized; currently, it is not recognized as a disability, and so services are not always provided. Some possible common behaviorsassociated with being overweight and obese along with a list of a few illustrative teaching strategies are provided in table 9.5.
There are numerous program modifications and strategies that a physical activity specialist may consider to more effectively engage children and youth who are underweight, overweight, or obese in physical activity programs. The following are a few proactive modifications and strategies that may be considered. The first two are safety considerations.
- Ensure the physical activities are within a participant's medical margin of safety. For example, appropriate weight-bearing activities may need to be included. In addition, students who are classified as morbidly obese need a physician's written consent to participate in physical activity (French, Sanborn, Stephens, & DiMarco, in press).
- Consider the use of heart rate monitors. Children and youth who are obese carry a lot more weight than those within a usually recommended weight range. Even if obese students are among the slowest in class, they may have the highest heart rates because of the extra weight they are carrying.
- Consider peer tutors for instructional (e.g., achieving healthy diet and physical activity goals) and emotional - social support.
- Use differentiated instruction to accommodate multiple levels of performance and learning. Using stations may be a useful strategy. In the station activities consider the use of health video games as well as exercise games that are fun and motivating (e.g., Dance Dance Revolution, Wii, Play Station) as motivational techniques. This strategy can also be used for homework assignments. Commercially available health video games have been used as a motivational intervention strategy for students who are overweight or obese (Lu, Kharrazi, Gharghabi, & Thompson, 2013).
- Use staff training, collaborate with families and students and community leaders, and adopt school-wide programs to reduce stigmatization of those who are overweight or obese.
- Model trusting and caring behavior for children or youth who are overweight or obese and for others who are participating in physical activity. All children and youth deserve to be respected and be learners. Sometimes, even with the best intentions, a physical activity professional could actually be increasing guilt, stigmatizing a child or youth who is obese, and negatively affecting a student's body image and self-esteem. For example, a physical activity professional may be overprotective and not ask an overweight or obese child or youth to be accountable for performing and learning at his or her appropriate level (Rovegno & Bandhauer, 2013).
- Evaluate the program to determine whether inactivity can be reduced (e.g., transitions between activities, standing in lines).
- Be a resource to parents, guardians, children, and youth regarding your physical activity program. Consider using e-mail or Twitter to provide initial support for programs in which a child with weight issues and his or her parents may be involved. Consider a community-based program the first time one of your students with weight issues attends.
- Observe the recess program and provide ways to motivate students to take part in activities and encourage those with weight issues to do the same.
- Focus on helping students meet manageable and achievable goals in an enjoyable environment (e.g., increase number of steps a day, monitor results, and provide intrinsic and extrinsic reinforcers [see chapter 3]).
- Encourage participation with others through small groups or teams to provide peer instructions and motivation to all members of the small group or team.
- The physical activity environment is the most logical place for programs that address obesity prevention and intervention in children and youth (Richards, Shimabukuro, Combs, & Kreuter, 2004). Some of the advantages in using the physical activity environment are that both preventive and intervention programs can be provided; large numbers of students can be provided continuous and concentrated intervention; and the costs to parents and guardians are minimal (Brownell & Kay, 1982). To date there have been mixed results on the effectiveness of school-based weight-gain programs and the retention of losses over time (Shaya, Flores, Gbarayer, & Wang, 2008). One of the major components of the most effective programs is the use of appropriate behavior management strategies with a focus on a participant within a class or team (Brownell & Kaye, 1982).
Learn more about Positive Behavior Management in Physical Activity Settings, Third Edition.
Professional Ethics and the Use of Punishment in Physical Activity Environments
There are professionals and organizations who believe there must be an ethical consideration when manipulating participant or group behavior to perform, learn, reduce, or eliminate a behavior (see checklist 10.2).
There are professionals and organizations who believe there must be an ethical consideration when manipulating participant or group behavior to perform, learn, reduce, or eliminate a behavior (see checklist 10.2). The focus should not be just on solving an immediate behavioral problem that negatively affects not only the level of motivation of children to attend and respond but also helps to increase their level of physical performance and learning. The focus at the same time should be on more than the teacher teaching or the coach coaching - it should be on the bigger picture. Professionally and ethically, there must be an attempt to positively affect students' lives. Because of this, physical activity professionals must exhibit moral courage, unshakable ethical standards, and consideration for the dignity of children and youth, which may involve challenges of their professional ethics by parents, guardians, administrators, and others in a community (Bagley, 1907).
Discipline and Punishment
Discipline is the control that is gained by requiring that rules or orders be obeyed and punishing bad behavior. Based on Carson (2014), there is both positive and negative discipline. Positive discipline focuses on modeling positive behavior and ensures student or player input in the development of class or team rules. Negative discipline relates to students running laps or performing other tasks as a result of misbehaving. It is generally a reactive behavior when something negative happens and relays a message the teacher or coach is mad or angry. Punishment is a term often used to describe consequences that are implemented to decrease the future occurrence of a behavior. Broadly, punishment may include suffering, pain, or loss that serves as retribution and severe, rough, or disastrous treatment. Seifried (2008) defined punishment as a moral concept for disobedience to an authority or a set of rules relating to right and wrong that is intended to reduce or eliminate the disobedient behavior. The authors believe that this term is too harsh for educational settings, so we have chosen to use the term corrective methods. Corrective methods are intervention procedures in which a pleasurable stimulus is removed or an aversive stimulus is presented as a consequence of a behavior in order to decrease the future frequency of occurrence of that inappropriate behavior. See chapter 4 for more discussion on corrective methods and punishment.
Corrective techniques are the most widely used behavioral strategies to control behavior because they reduce the inappropriate behavior quickly. However, we believe that corrective techniques have many negative side effects and should only be used minimally to manage behavior. As Gallahue (1978) indicated, corrective techniques serve to repress the inappropriate behavior but they do nothing to determine and solve the cause of that behavior.
Corporal punishment is using physical force with the intention of causing a person to experience pain, but not injury, for the purpose of correction or behavior control. Some school districts define corporal punishment as touching someone for the purpose of discipline, starting with putting your arm on that person's shoulders to discuss a problem and including dragging that person into time-out. Corporal punishment is prohibited in schools in all developed countries except in 19 states in the United States, parts of Canada, and 1 state in Australia. See chapter 4 for more details on the use of corporal punishment in schools. Corporal punishment is the most severe corrective method and is discussed in this book because it is still allowed in some states. There are serious professional and ethical issues as well as liability issues in using corporal punishment. Further, physical activity specialists who support the use of corporal punishment must comply "with the authoritative social values and moral codes set forth by their own professional organizations" (Albrecht, 2009, p. 475). How can we expect to develop well-disciplined students and players with all the positive qualities we want them to have through the use of punishment?
Requiring Physical Activity
A technique used far too often in physical activity settings - especially in coaching - is requiring a participant to perform a physical activity as a consequence of misbehavior. Participants have been required to perform extreme physical activity extending beyond their physical capacity, resulting in medical conditions such as heat stroke, renal failure, or even death. When a participant is required to do exercise as punishment, such as doing squat thrusts, running wind sprints, doing push-ups, running laps, and so on, the message sent is that this activity is something that is aversive and should be avoided. Even as early as 1992, Hart indicated that excessive physical activity used as punishment is not only risky but outdated. This is particularly true if not carried out with the appropriate supervision to ensure there is no emotional or physical injury.
Further, some states have stipulated that using physical activity as punishment is considered a form of corporal punishment and is illegal. In the web resource see California's policy on the use of physical activity. In addition, the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) opposes administering or withholding physical activity as a form of punishment or behavior management. For a summary of this policy see figure 4.7. Because of the possible negative effects of using physical activity to correct misbehavior, the authors do not condone the use of this technique. We caution physical activity professionals who may be contemplating its use to learn more about the possible negative consequences and be sure to consult your state's office of education to determine the legality of the use of this technique.
It has been suggested that there is a double standard relative to corporal punishment: "[T]eachers [coaches] who detect unusual bruises on children's bodies are required to report suspected abuses to authorities, but parents who see the same thing on their children as a result of educators' [coaches] disciplinary procedures get little to no back up from the law" (as cited in Rico, 2002, p. 356). For example, if physical educators or coaches follow school policy related to punishment, they could receive qualified immunity, but parents and guardians may be liable for violating the same state statutes. Again, though, corporal punishment, including requiring physical activity, cannot be excessive and must be reasonable, or the physical educators and coaches may be subject to the same civil and criminal liability as parents and guardians in virtually all states.
Remember that as of 2014, 31 state legislatures have passed laws prohibiting the use of corporal punishment in schools. For a list of these states, see figure 4.5. Also in that chapter is a discussion of many negative side effects of using severe corrective methods for managing behaviors.
If we as physical activity professionals want to develop strong connections with our participants and create a positive, nurturing environment for them to grow and learn, there are many other proactive and positive ways to manage their behavior than using corporal punishment. Therefore, we believe that it is never appropriate to use corporal punishment!
Time-Out
The use of time-out has been debated by experts for decades. Some believe that if it is used correctly and consistently, a student or player learns to control himself or herself, and a trusting and respectful relationship between that participant and the physical activity professional will be maintained. There are other experts who believe the use of time-out strategies that remove a participant from positive reinforcement is overused and counterintuitive to sound educational practices because that participant is removed from an environment where he or she had an opportunity to practice or learn. For example, in one strategy a participant may be removed from a possible reinforcing environment for a minute or two for each year of his or her age. For older participants this could be more than half the instructional class period or practice!
Once, one of the authors of this text was visiting a physical education class and a student came in late from another class. That student was required to sit out the entire class. Later, it was determined that it was not the student's fault that he was late; the teacher in his previous class had held him after class. A teacher must know why the student came in late first before punishing him or her for a behavior that he or she had no control over. A more proactive technique would be to include that student immediately into the class. Then, once class was over, determine the reason why he or she was late. In this case the possible solution may be to meet after school with the other teacher to rectify the problem so the student is not held back in total or in part from your class.
Another issue in using time-out, besides the potentially excessive length of time involved, is the type of time-out. If a participant is sent to another setting that is away from the actual activity setting, this is referred to as seclusion time-out. Many school districts and other organizations do not allow seclusion time-out because all students must be supervised. It is easy for a physical activity professional to forget about the participant in seclusion and leave him or her out of class or team activity for a long time, thus depriving that student or player from participating and learning.
Alternatives to the Use of Corrective Methods
Most experts believe that a proactive behavior management program should always be in place to stop or reduce behavioral problems and thus avert the need for corrective techniques. For example, the physical activity professional continually must put away the free weights after the weight lifting class. He is considering not letting the students use the free weights for class next week. He decides to first post signs in the weight room asking that the weights be put back on the appropriate rack immediately after use, or the weights will be removed for 2 weeks in the future.
Sometimes the problem may be that participants are violating an expected program standard that seems to be common sense to the physical activity professional. Or there may be a communication problem in that a standard was just not clearly explained. Once recognized, that problem can be solved immediately by explaining the standard more clearly to participants; the violation will most likely not occur again and no punishment will be needed.
Another proactive technique is the use of cues to signal what behavior is expected. For instance, a verbal warning cue could be a statement such as "The game will be over in 5 minutes" or "Billy, when I blow my whistle, you need to start lining up in your squad." Many other proactive techniques are discussed in chapter 3.
If the proactive strategies are not enough to manage behavior, try including intrinsic reinforcers such as fun and exciting activities that meet your essential class or practice objectives and are also activities that participants enjoy doing. There will, however, be some participants who do not believe an activity has any functional value or that an activity is repetitive and boring. To bridge the gap between performance and learning, a more powerful extrinsic reinforcement may be required initially to engage those who may not be intrinsically motivated to participate. The goal is always to fade out extrinsic reinforcers and move to intrinsic reinforcers as soon as possible.
Sometimes these positive proactive and reinforcement strategies (Martens, 2004) may have little influence on effective learning and performance. Therefore, mild corrective techniques matched with positive reinforcers for demonstrating the appropriate behavior may need to be used in order to eliminate behaviors that are interfering with the performance and learning of a participant or a group. Clearly, it is a serious ethical issue for physical activity professionals when deciding whether to incorporate different levels of corrective techniques into their programs for educational purposes. This is particularly true when a professional is considering the use of the more punitive corrective techniques such as time-out or a corporal punishment that includes the use of physical activity. See chapter 4 for more information related to methods that can be used to redirect and decrease inappropriate behavior.
This is not to say that what are generally considered mild forms of punishment should be taken lightly. What would be considered mild by some people may not have the same punishment effect when perceived by a physical activity professional. For example, you may have met the wrath of a teacher or coach just by how he or she said no! when you did something incorrectly. You may still remember this incident today, particularly if that professional was respected and considered a role model.
On the other hand, one of the authors of this text had a friend who was always getting in trouble with a physical educator and was required to run laps, which is generally considered a form of corporal punishment. This student did not care to participate in many team-based activities but loved to jog. Running laps was a positive reinforcer to him, not a punishment at all. Most professionals believe that physical activity should be enjoyable, fun, and continued throughout someone's lifetime. If you professionally believe this, physical activity should not be related to punishment (see checklist 10.3).
Learn more about Positive Behavior Management in Physical Activity Settings, Third Edition.
Bullying in the Physical Activity Environment
Bullying occurs more frequently in school environments such as locker rooms, showers, restrooms, on the playground and behind buildings, in the cafeteria, in the hallways, on the bus, and at the bus stop (Bradshaw, Waasdorp, O’Brennan, Gulemetova, & Henderson, 2011; Farrington & Ttofi, 2009).
Bullying occurs more frequently in school environments such as locker rooms, showers, restrooms, on the playground and behind buildings, in the cafeteria, in the hallways, on the bus, and at the bus stop (Bradshaw, Waasdorp, O'Brennan, Gulemetova, & Henderson, 2011; Farrington & Ttofi, 2009). School-based physical activity settings are common locations for bullying (Roman & Taylor, 2013). The incidence of bullying in physical education classes was reported in a study of 10th-grade students in Canada. In this study, 11.1% of the students reported experiencing physical bullying, 13.6% experienced verbal bullying, and 12.8% experienced social bullying. Bullying was one of the major reasons students dropped out of physical education (Hurley & Mandigo, 2010).
Often, a physical activity professional is not even aware that bullying is occurring in his or her environment because class or team groups are typically large, and there is often a high level of competition and physical contact in the activities, so physical contact is likely the norm. In these settings physical contact may be used to intimidate others (Biggs, Simpson, & Gaus, 2010). Physical activity professionals may also be unaware of the undercurrent of social status and peer pressure in their programs and may inadvertently allow some participants to wield their power over others. This may occur when participants are allowed to choose teams, leading to social exclusion; tease or call names, thereby intimidating others; or even encourage other participants to engage in rough physical play that may get out of hand (Fuller, Gulbrandson, & Herman-Ukasic, 2013). We must do something about this problem because we do not want participants to be traumatized in our programs and quit coming or not enroll in them at all (Huber, 2010; Hurley & Mandigo, 2010).
It may be that a physical activity professional is the first adult to recognize that a participant's social and emotional problems have developed through continually being bullied. When a participant is bullied, a physical activity professional is often the person the victim feels comfortable talking with about what happened. As physical activity professionals, we have a responsibility to understand what bullying is; be aware of the signs of bullying; be involved in the development and implementation of programs to prevent bullying; intervene; and develop a safe environment where students and players can participate, enjoy physical activity, and feel safe.
Teachers play a key role in preventing and intervening in bullying at school, yet they receive little if any help or training in identifying the warning signs, preventing bullying, or effectively intervening (Juvonen, Graham, & Schuster, 2003). When a bullying problem becomes serious and is not effectively managed, we need to work in partnership with other teachers (e.g., general physical educators, special educators) coaches, staff (e.g., social workers, school counselors, school psychologists), parents and guardians, and administrators to solve the problem as soon as possible (Olweus, 2006). See checklist 8.1 to make sure you are recognizing bullies and bullying behaviors.
Learn more about Positive Behavior Management in Physical Activity Settings, Third Edition.
School-Age Overweight and Obesity Issues
Childhood obesity is a serious medical condition in which a child or adolescent is significantly above the normal weight based on his or her age and height (Mayo Clinic, n.d.).
Childhood obesity is a serious medical condition in which a child or adolescent is significantly above the normal weight based on his or her age and height (Mayo Clinic, n.d.). The prevalence of childhood obesity has reached epidemic proportions in the United States and in many other industrialized countries in the world since the 1980s (Ogden, Caroll, Curtin, Lamb, & Flegal, 2010). It is quickly becoming the leading cause of death in the United States.
The concern is that childhood obesity is associated with numerous physiological and psychological comorbidities. Childhood obesity has been reported in some instances as a disease (Wallace & Ray, 2009) and in other sources as what might be an educational disability (French, Sanborn, Stephens, & DiMarco, in press). Childhood obesity is often misunderstood and stigmatized; currently, it is not recognized as a disability, and so services are not always provided. Some possible common behaviorsassociated with being overweight and obese along with a list of a few illustrative teaching strategies are provided in table 9.5.
There are numerous program modifications and strategies that a physical activity specialist may consider to more effectively engage children and youth who are underweight, overweight, or obese in physical activity programs. The following are a few proactive modifications and strategies that may be considered. The first two are safety considerations.
- Ensure the physical activities are within a participant's medical margin of safety. For example, appropriate weight-bearing activities may need to be included. In addition, students who are classified as morbidly obese need a physician's written consent to participate in physical activity (French, Sanborn, Stephens, & DiMarco, in press).
- Consider the use of heart rate monitors. Children and youth who are obese carry a lot more weight than those within a usually recommended weight range. Even if obese students are among the slowest in class, they may have the highest heart rates because of the extra weight they are carrying.
- Consider peer tutors for instructional (e.g., achieving healthy diet and physical activity goals) and emotional - social support.
- Use differentiated instruction to accommodate multiple levels of performance and learning. Using stations may be a useful strategy. In the station activities consider the use of health video games as well as exercise games that are fun and motivating (e.g., Dance Dance Revolution, Wii, Play Station) as motivational techniques. This strategy can also be used for homework assignments. Commercially available health video games have been used as a motivational intervention strategy for students who are overweight or obese (Lu, Kharrazi, Gharghabi, & Thompson, 2013).
- Use staff training, collaborate with families and students and community leaders, and adopt school-wide programs to reduce stigmatization of those who are overweight or obese.
- Model trusting and caring behavior for children or youth who are overweight or obese and for others who are participating in physical activity. All children and youth deserve to be respected and be learners. Sometimes, even with the best intentions, a physical activity professional could actually be increasing guilt, stigmatizing a child or youth who is obese, and negatively affecting a student's body image and self-esteem. For example, a physical activity professional may be overprotective and not ask an overweight or obese child or youth to be accountable for performing and learning at his or her appropriate level (Rovegno & Bandhauer, 2013).
- Evaluate the program to determine whether inactivity can be reduced (e.g., transitions between activities, standing in lines).
- Be a resource to parents, guardians, children, and youth regarding your physical activity program. Consider using e-mail or Twitter to provide initial support for programs in which a child with weight issues and his or her parents may be involved. Consider a community-based program the first time one of your students with weight issues attends.
- Observe the recess program and provide ways to motivate students to take part in activities and encourage those with weight issues to do the same.
- Focus on helping students meet manageable and achievable goals in an enjoyable environment (e.g., increase number of steps a day, monitor results, and provide intrinsic and extrinsic reinforcers [see chapter 3]).
- Encourage participation with others through small groups or teams to provide peer instructions and motivation to all members of the small group or team.
- The physical activity environment is the most logical place for programs that address obesity prevention and intervention in children and youth (Richards, Shimabukuro, Combs, & Kreuter, 2004). Some of the advantages in using the physical activity environment are that both preventive and intervention programs can be provided; large numbers of students can be provided continuous and concentrated intervention; and the costs to parents and guardians are minimal (Brownell & Kay, 1982). To date there have been mixed results on the effectiveness of school-based weight-gain programs and the retention of losses over time (Shaya, Flores, Gbarayer, & Wang, 2008). One of the major components of the most effective programs is the use of appropriate behavior management strategies with a focus on a participant within a class or team (Brownell & Kaye, 1982).
Learn more about Positive Behavior Management in Physical Activity Settings, Third Edition.
Professional Ethics and the Use of Punishment in Physical Activity Environments
There are professionals and organizations who believe there must be an ethical consideration when manipulating participant or group behavior to perform, learn, reduce, or eliminate a behavior (see checklist 10.2).
There are professionals and organizations who believe there must be an ethical consideration when manipulating participant or group behavior to perform, learn, reduce, or eliminate a behavior (see checklist 10.2). The focus should not be just on solving an immediate behavioral problem that negatively affects not only the level of motivation of children to attend and respond but also helps to increase their level of physical performance and learning. The focus at the same time should be on more than the teacher teaching or the coach coaching - it should be on the bigger picture. Professionally and ethically, there must be an attempt to positively affect students' lives. Because of this, physical activity professionals must exhibit moral courage, unshakable ethical standards, and consideration for the dignity of children and youth, which may involve challenges of their professional ethics by parents, guardians, administrators, and others in a community (Bagley, 1907).
Discipline and Punishment
Discipline is the control that is gained by requiring that rules or orders be obeyed and punishing bad behavior. Based on Carson (2014), there is both positive and negative discipline. Positive discipline focuses on modeling positive behavior and ensures student or player input in the development of class or team rules. Negative discipline relates to students running laps or performing other tasks as a result of misbehaving. It is generally a reactive behavior when something negative happens and relays a message the teacher or coach is mad or angry. Punishment is a term often used to describe consequences that are implemented to decrease the future occurrence of a behavior. Broadly, punishment may include suffering, pain, or loss that serves as retribution and severe, rough, or disastrous treatment. Seifried (2008) defined punishment as a moral concept for disobedience to an authority or a set of rules relating to right and wrong that is intended to reduce or eliminate the disobedient behavior. The authors believe that this term is too harsh for educational settings, so we have chosen to use the term corrective methods. Corrective methods are intervention procedures in which a pleasurable stimulus is removed or an aversive stimulus is presented as a consequence of a behavior in order to decrease the future frequency of occurrence of that inappropriate behavior. See chapter 4 for more discussion on corrective methods and punishment.
Corrective techniques are the most widely used behavioral strategies to control behavior because they reduce the inappropriate behavior quickly. However, we believe that corrective techniques have many negative side effects and should only be used minimally to manage behavior. As Gallahue (1978) indicated, corrective techniques serve to repress the inappropriate behavior but they do nothing to determine and solve the cause of that behavior.
Corporal punishment is using physical force with the intention of causing a person to experience pain, but not injury, for the purpose of correction or behavior control. Some school districts define corporal punishment as touching someone for the purpose of discipline, starting with putting your arm on that person's shoulders to discuss a problem and including dragging that person into time-out. Corporal punishment is prohibited in schools in all developed countries except in 19 states in the United States, parts of Canada, and 1 state in Australia. See chapter 4 for more details on the use of corporal punishment in schools. Corporal punishment is the most severe corrective method and is discussed in this book because it is still allowed in some states. There are serious professional and ethical issues as well as liability issues in using corporal punishment. Further, physical activity specialists who support the use of corporal punishment must comply "with the authoritative social values and moral codes set forth by their own professional organizations" (Albrecht, 2009, p. 475). How can we expect to develop well-disciplined students and players with all the positive qualities we want them to have through the use of punishment?
Requiring Physical Activity
A technique used far too often in physical activity settings - especially in coaching - is requiring a participant to perform a physical activity as a consequence of misbehavior. Participants have been required to perform extreme physical activity extending beyond their physical capacity, resulting in medical conditions such as heat stroke, renal failure, or even death. When a participant is required to do exercise as punishment, such as doing squat thrusts, running wind sprints, doing push-ups, running laps, and so on, the message sent is that this activity is something that is aversive and should be avoided. Even as early as 1992, Hart indicated that excessive physical activity used as punishment is not only risky but outdated. This is particularly true if not carried out with the appropriate supervision to ensure there is no emotional or physical injury.
Further, some states have stipulated that using physical activity as punishment is considered a form of corporal punishment and is illegal. In the web resource see California's policy on the use of physical activity. In addition, the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) opposes administering or withholding physical activity as a form of punishment or behavior management. For a summary of this policy see figure 4.7. Because of the possible negative effects of using physical activity to correct misbehavior, the authors do not condone the use of this technique. We caution physical activity professionals who may be contemplating its use to learn more about the possible negative consequences and be sure to consult your state's office of education to determine the legality of the use of this technique.
It has been suggested that there is a double standard relative to corporal punishment: "[T]eachers [coaches] who detect unusual bruises on children's bodies are required to report suspected abuses to authorities, but parents who see the same thing on their children as a result of educators' [coaches] disciplinary procedures get little to no back up from the law" (as cited in Rico, 2002, p. 356). For example, if physical educators or coaches follow school policy related to punishment, they could receive qualified immunity, but parents and guardians may be liable for violating the same state statutes. Again, though, corporal punishment, including requiring physical activity, cannot be excessive and must be reasonable, or the physical educators and coaches may be subject to the same civil and criminal liability as parents and guardians in virtually all states.
Remember that as of 2014, 31 state legislatures have passed laws prohibiting the use of corporal punishment in schools. For a list of these states, see figure 4.5. Also in that chapter is a discussion of many negative side effects of using severe corrective methods for managing behaviors.
If we as physical activity professionals want to develop strong connections with our participants and create a positive, nurturing environment for them to grow and learn, there are many other proactive and positive ways to manage their behavior than using corporal punishment. Therefore, we believe that it is never appropriate to use corporal punishment!
Time-Out
The use of time-out has been debated by experts for decades. Some believe that if it is used correctly and consistently, a student or player learns to control himself or herself, and a trusting and respectful relationship between that participant and the physical activity professional will be maintained. There are other experts who believe the use of time-out strategies that remove a participant from positive reinforcement is overused and counterintuitive to sound educational practices because that participant is removed from an environment where he or she had an opportunity to practice or learn. For example, in one strategy a participant may be removed from a possible reinforcing environment for a minute or two for each year of his or her age. For older participants this could be more than half the instructional class period or practice!
Once, one of the authors of this text was visiting a physical education class and a student came in late from another class. That student was required to sit out the entire class. Later, it was determined that it was not the student's fault that he was late; the teacher in his previous class had held him after class. A teacher must know why the student came in late first before punishing him or her for a behavior that he or she had no control over. A more proactive technique would be to include that student immediately into the class. Then, once class was over, determine the reason why he or she was late. In this case the possible solution may be to meet after school with the other teacher to rectify the problem so the student is not held back in total or in part from your class.
Another issue in using time-out, besides the potentially excessive length of time involved, is the type of time-out. If a participant is sent to another setting that is away from the actual activity setting, this is referred to as seclusion time-out. Many school districts and other organizations do not allow seclusion time-out because all students must be supervised. It is easy for a physical activity professional to forget about the participant in seclusion and leave him or her out of class or team activity for a long time, thus depriving that student or player from participating and learning.
Alternatives to the Use of Corrective Methods
Most experts believe that a proactive behavior management program should always be in place to stop or reduce behavioral problems and thus avert the need for corrective techniques. For example, the physical activity professional continually must put away the free weights after the weight lifting class. He is considering not letting the students use the free weights for class next week. He decides to first post signs in the weight room asking that the weights be put back on the appropriate rack immediately after use, or the weights will be removed for 2 weeks in the future.
Sometimes the problem may be that participants are violating an expected program standard that seems to be common sense to the physical activity professional. Or there may be a communication problem in that a standard was just not clearly explained. Once recognized, that problem can be solved immediately by explaining the standard more clearly to participants; the violation will most likely not occur again and no punishment will be needed.
Another proactive technique is the use of cues to signal what behavior is expected. For instance, a verbal warning cue could be a statement such as "The game will be over in 5 minutes" or "Billy, when I blow my whistle, you need to start lining up in your squad." Many other proactive techniques are discussed in chapter 3.
If the proactive strategies are not enough to manage behavior, try including intrinsic reinforcers such as fun and exciting activities that meet your essential class or practice objectives and are also activities that participants enjoy doing. There will, however, be some participants who do not believe an activity has any functional value or that an activity is repetitive and boring. To bridge the gap between performance and learning, a more powerful extrinsic reinforcement may be required initially to engage those who may not be intrinsically motivated to participate. The goal is always to fade out extrinsic reinforcers and move to intrinsic reinforcers as soon as possible.
Sometimes these positive proactive and reinforcement strategies (Martens, 2004) may have little influence on effective learning and performance. Therefore, mild corrective techniques matched with positive reinforcers for demonstrating the appropriate behavior may need to be used in order to eliminate behaviors that are interfering with the performance and learning of a participant or a group. Clearly, it is a serious ethical issue for physical activity professionals when deciding whether to incorporate different levels of corrective techniques into their programs for educational purposes. This is particularly true when a professional is considering the use of the more punitive corrective techniques such as time-out or a corporal punishment that includes the use of physical activity. See chapter 4 for more information related to methods that can be used to redirect and decrease inappropriate behavior.
This is not to say that what are generally considered mild forms of punishment should be taken lightly. What would be considered mild by some people may not have the same punishment effect when perceived by a physical activity professional. For example, you may have met the wrath of a teacher or coach just by how he or she said no! when you did something incorrectly. You may still remember this incident today, particularly if that professional was respected and considered a role model.
On the other hand, one of the authors of this text had a friend who was always getting in trouble with a physical educator and was required to run laps, which is generally considered a form of corporal punishment. This student did not care to participate in many team-based activities but loved to jog. Running laps was a positive reinforcer to him, not a punishment at all. Most professionals believe that physical activity should be enjoyable, fun, and continued throughout someone's lifetime. If you professionally believe this, physical activity should not be related to punishment (see checklist 10.3).
Learn more about Positive Behavior Management in Physical Activity Settings, Third Edition.
Bullying in the Physical Activity Environment
Bullying occurs more frequently in school environments such as locker rooms, showers, restrooms, on the playground and behind buildings, in the cafeteria, in the hallways, on the bus, and at the bus stop (Bradshaw, Waasdorp, O’Brennan, Gulemetova, & Henderson, 2011; Farrington & Ttofi, 2009).
Bullying occurs more frequently in school environments such as locker rooms, showers, restrooms, on the playground and behind buildings, in the cafeteria, in the hallways, on the bus, and at the bus stop (Bradshaw, Waasdorp, O'Brennan, Gulemetova, & Henderson, 2011; Farrington & Ttofi, 2009). School-based physical activity settings are common locations for bullying (Roman & Taylor, 2013). The incidence of bullying in physical education classes was reported in a study of 10th-grade students in Canada. In this study, 11.1% of the students reported experiencing physical bullying, 13.6% experienced verbal bullying, and 12.8% experienced social bullying. Bullying was one of the major reasons students dropped out of physical education (Hurley & Mandigo, 2010).
Often, a physical activity professional is not even aware that bullying is occurring in his or her environment because class or team groups are typically large, and there is often a high level of competition and physical contact in the activities, so physical contact is likely the norm. In these settings physical contact may be used to intimidate others (Biggs, Simpson, & Gaus, 2010). Physical activity professionals may also be unaware of the undercurrent of social status and peer pressure in their programs and may inadvertently allow some participants to wield their power over others. This may occur when participants are allowed to choose teams, leading to social exclusion; tease or call names, thereby intimidating others; or even encourage other participants to engage in rough physical play that may get out of hand (Fuller, Gulbrandson, & Herman-Ukasic, 2013). We must do something about this problem because we do not want participants to be traumatized in our programs and quit coming or not enroll in them at all (Huber, 2010; Hurley & Mandigo, 2010).
It may be that a physical activity professional is the first adult to recognize that a participant's social and emotional problems have developed through continually being bullied. When a participant is bullied, a physical activity professional is often the person the victim feels comfortable talking with about what happened. As physical activity professionals, we have a responsibility to understand what bullying is; be aware of the signs of bullying; be involved in the development and implementation of programs to prevent bullying; intervene; and develop a safe environment where students and players can participate, enjoy physical activity, and feel safe.
Teachers play a key role in preventing and intervening in bullying at school, yet they receive little if any help or training in identifying the warning signs, preventing bullying, or effectively intervening (Juvonen, Graham, & Schuster, 2003). When a bullying problem becomes serious and is not effectively managed, we need to work in partnership with other teachers (e.g., general physical educators, special educators) coaches, staff (e.g., social workers, school counselors, school psychologists), parents and guardians, and administrators to solve the problem as soon as possible (Olweus, 2006). See checklist 8.1 to make sure you are recognizing bullies and bullying behaviors.
Learn more about Positive Behavior Management in Physical Activity Settings, Third Edition.
School-Age Overweight and Obesity Issues
Childhood obesity is a serious medical condition in which a child or adolescent is significantly above the normal weight based on his or her age and height (Mayo Clinic, n.d.).
Childhood obesity is a serious medical condition in which a child or adolescent is significantly above the normal weight based on his or her age and height (Mayo Clinic, n.d.). The prevalence of childhood obesity has reached epidemic proportions in the United States and in many other industrialized countries in the world since the 1980s (Ogden, Caroll, Curtin, Lamb, & Flegal, 2010). It is quickly becoming the leading cause of death in the United States.
The concern is that childhood obesity is associated with numerous physiological and psychological comorbidities. Childhood obesity has been reported in some instances as a disease (Wallace & Ray, 2009) and in other sources as what might be an educational disability (French, Sanborn, Stephens, & DiMarco, in press). Childhood obesity is often misunderstood and stigmatized; currently, it is not recognized as a disability, and so services are not always provided. Some possible common behaviorsassociated with being overweight and obese along with a list of a few illustrative teaching strategies are provided in table 9.5.
There are numerous program modifications and strategies that a physical activity specialist may consider to more effectively engage children and youth who are underweight, overweight, or obese in physical activity programs. The following are a few proactive modifications and strategies that may be considered. The first two are safety considerations.
- Ensure the physical activities are within a participant's medical margin of safety. For example, appropriate weight-bearing activities may need to be included. In addition, students who are classified as morbidly obese need a physician's written consent to participate in physical activity (French, Sanborn, Stephens, & DiMarco, in press).
- Consider the use of heart rate monitors. Children and youth who are obese carry a lot more weight than those within a usually recommended weight range. Even if obese students are among the slowest in class, they may have the highest heart rates because of the extra weight they are carrying.
- Consider peer tutors for instructional (e.g., achieving healthy diet and physical activity goals) and emotional - social support.
- Use differentiated instruction to accommodate multiple levels of performance and learning. Using stations may be a useful strategy. In the station activities consider the use of health video games as well as exercise games that are fun and motivating (e.g., Dance Dance Revolution, Wii, Play Station) as motivational techniques. This strategy can also be used for homework assignments. Commercially available health video games have been used as a motivational intervention strategy for students who are overweight or obese (Lu, Kharrazi, Gharghabi, & Thompson, 2013).
- Use staff training, collaborate with families and students and community leaders, and adopt school-wide programs to reduce stigmatization of those who are overweight or obese.
- Model trusting and caring behavior for children or youth who are overweight or obese and for others who are participating in physical activity. All children and youth deserve to be respected and be learners. Sometimes, even with the best intentions, a physical activity professional could actually be increasing guilt, stigmatizing a child or youth who is obese, and negatively affecting a student's body image and self-esteem. For example, a physical activity professional may be overprotective and not ask an overweight or obese child or youth to be accountable for performing and learning at his or her appropriate level (Rovegno & Bandhauer, 2013).
- Evaluate the program to determine whether inactivity can be reduced (e.g., transitions between activities, standing in lines).
- Be a resource to parents, guardians, children, and youth regarding your physical activity program. Consider using e-mail or Twitter to provide initial support for programs in which a child with weight issues and his or her parents may be involved. Consider a community-based program the first time one of your students with weight issues attends.
- Observe the recess program and provide ways to motivate students to take part in activities and encourage those with weight issues to do the same.
- Focus on helping students meet manageable and achievable goals in an enjoyable environment (e.g., increase number of steps a day, monitor results, and provide intrinsic and extrinsic reinforcers [see chapter 3]).
- Encourage participation with others through small groups or teams to provide peer instructions and motivation to all members of the small group or team.
- The physical activity environment is the most logical place for programs that address obesity prevention and intervention in children and youth (Richards, Shimabukuro, Combs, & Kreuter, 2004). Some of the advantages in using the physical activity environment are that both preventive and intervention programs can be provided; large numbers of students can be provided continuous and concentrated intervention; and the costs to parents and guardians are minimal (Brownell & Kay, 1982). To date there have been mixed results on the effectiveness of school-based weight-gain programs and the retention of losses over time (Shaya, Flores, Gbarayer, & Wang, 2008). One of the major components of the most effective programs is the use of appropriate behavior management strategies with a focus on a participant within a class or team (Brownell & Kaye, 1982).
Learn more about Positive Behavior Management in Physical Activity Settings, Third Edition.
Professional Ethics and the Use of Punishment in Physical Activity Environments
There are professionals and organizations who believe there must be an ethical consideration when manipulating participant or group behavior to perform, learn, reduce, or eliminate a behavior (see checklist 10.2).
There are professionals and organizations who believe there must be an ethical consideration when manipulating participant or group behavior to perform, learn, reduce, or eliminate a behavior (see checklist 10.2). The focus should not be just on solving an immediate behavioral problem that negatively affects not only the level of motivation of children to attend and respond but also helps to increase their level of physical performance and learning. The focus at the same time should be on more than the teacher teaching or the coach coaching - it should be on the bigger picture. Professionally and ethically, there must be an attempt to positively affect students' lives. Because of this, physical activity professionals must exhibit moral courage, unshakable ethical standards, and consideration for the dignity of children and youth, which may involve challenges of their professional ethics by parents, guardians, administrators, and others in a community (Bagley, 1907).
Discipline and Punishment
Discipline is the control that is gained by requiring that rules or orders be obeyed and punishing bad behavior. Based on Carson (2014), there is both positive and negative discipline. Positive discipline focuses on modeling positive behavior and ensures student or player input in the development of class or team rules. Negative discipline relates to students running laps or performing other tasks as a result of misbehaving. It is generally a reactive behavior when something negative happens and relays a message the teacher or coach is mad or angry. Punishment is a term often used to describe consequences that are implemented to decrease the future occurrence of a behavior. Broadly, punishment may include suffering, pain, or loss that serves as retribution and severe, rough, or disastrous treatment. Seifried (2008) defined punishment as a moral concept for disobedience to an authority or a set of rules relating to right and wrong that is intended to reduce or eliminate the disobedient behavior. The authors believe that this term is too harsh for educational settings, so we have chosen to use the term corrective methods. Corrective methods are intervention procedures in which a pleasurable stimulus is removed or an aversive stimulus is presented as a consequence of a behavior in order to decrease the future frequency of occurrence of that inappropriate behavior. See chapter 4 for more discussion on corrective methods and punishment.
Corrective techniques are the most widely used behavioral strategies to control behavior because they reduce the inappropriate behavior quickly. However, we believe that corrective techniques have many negative side effects and should only be used minimally to manage behavior. As Gallahue (1978) indicated, corrective techniques serve to repress the inappropriate behavior but they do nothing to determine and solve the cause of that behavior.
Corporal punishment is using physical force with the intention of causing a person to experience pain, but not injury, for the purpose of correction or behavior control. Some school districts define corporal punishment as touching someone for the purpose of discipline, starting with putting your arm on that person's shoulders to discuss a problem and including dragging that person into time-out. Corporal punishment is prohibited in schools in all developed countries except in 19 states in the United States, parts of Canada, and 1 state in Australia. See chapter 4 for more details on the use of corporal punishment in schools. Corporal punishment is the most severe corrective method and is discussed in this book because it is still allowed in some states. There are serious professional and ethical issues as well as liability issues in using corporal punishment. Further, physical activity specialists who support the use of corporal punishment must comply "with the authoritative social values and moral codes set forth by their own professional organizations" (Albrecht, 2009, p. 475). How can we expect to develop well-disciplined students and players with all the positive qualities we want them to have through the use of punishment?
Requiring Physical Activity
A technique used far too often in physical activity settings - especially in coaching - is requiring a participant to perform a physical activity as a consequence of misbehavior. Participants have been required to perform extreme physical activity extending beyond their physical capacity, resulting in medical conditions such as heat stroke, renal failure, or even death. When a participant is required to do exercise as punishment, such as doing squat thrusts, running wind sprints, doing push-ups, running laps, and so on, the message sent is that this activity is something that is aversive and should be avoided. Even as early as 1992, Hart indicated that excessive physical activity used as punishment is not only risky but outdated. This is particularly true if not carried out with the appropriate supervision to ensure there is no emotional or physical injury.
Further, some states have stipulated that using physical activity as punishment is considered a form of corporal punishment and is illegal. In the web resource see California's policy on the use of physical activity. In addition, the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) opposes administering or withholding physical activity as a form of punishment or behavior management. For a summary of this policy see figure 4.7. Because of the possible negative effects of using physical activity to correct misbehavior, the authors do not condone the use of this technique. We caution physical activity professionals who may be contemplating its use to learn more about the possible negative consequences and be sure to consult your state's office of education to determine the legality of the use of this technique.
It has been suggested that there is a double standard relative to corporal punishment: "[T]eachers [coaches] who detect unusual bruises on children's bodies are required to report suspected abuses to authorities, but parents who see the same thing on their children as a result of educators' [coaches] disciplinary procedures get little to no back up from the law" (as cited in Rico, 2002, p. 356). For example, if physical educators or coaches follow school policy related to punishment, they could receive qualified immunity, but parents and guardians may be liable for violating the same state statutes. Again, though, corporal punishment, including requiring physical activity, cannot be excessive and must be reasonable, or the physical educators and coaches may be subject to the same civil and criminal liability as parents and guardians in virtually all states.
Remember that as of 2014, 31 state legislatures have passed laws prohibiting the use of corporal punishment in schools. For a list of these states, see figure 4.5. Also in that chapter is a discussion of many negative side effects of using severe corrective methods for managing behaviors.
If we as physical activity professionals want to develop strong connections with our participants and create a positive, nurturing environment for them to grow and learn, there are many other proactive and positive ways to manage their behavior than using corporal punishment. Therefore, we believe that it is never appropriate to use corporal punishment!
Time-Out
The use of time-out has been debated by experts for decades. Some believe that if it is used correctly and consistently, a student or player learns to control himself or herself, and a trusting and respectful relationship between that participant and the physical activity professional will be maintained. There are other experts who believe the use of time-out strategies that remove a participant from positive reinforcement is overused and counterintuitive to sound educational practices because that participant is removed from an environment where he or she had an opportunity to practice or learn. For example, in one strategy a participant may be removed from a possible reinforcing environment for a minute or two for each year of his or her age. For older participants this could be more than half the instructional class period or practice!
Once, one of the authors of this text was visiting a physical education class and a student came in late from another class. That student was required to sit out the entire class. Later, it was determined that it was not the student's fault that he was late; the teacher in his previous class had held him after class. A teacher must know why the student came in late first before punishing him or her for a behavior that he or she had no control over. A more proactive technique would be to include that student immediately into the class. Then, once class was over, determine the reason why he or she was late. In this case the possible solution may be to meet after school with the other teacher to rectify the problem so the student is not held back in total or in part from your class.
Another issue in using time-out, besides the potentially excessive length of time involved, is the type of time-out. If a participant is sent to another setting that is away from the actual activity setting, this is referred to as seclusion time-out. Many school districts and other organizations do not allow seclusion time-out because all students must be supervised. It is easy for a physical activity professional to forget about the participant in seclusion and leave him or her out of class or team activity for a long time, thus depriving that student or player from participating and learning.
Alternatives to the Use of Corrective Methods
Most experts believe that a proactive behavior management program should always be in place to stop or reduce behavioral problems and thus avert the need for corrective techniques. For example, the physical activity professional continually must put away the free weights after the weight lifting class. He is considering not letting the students use the free weights for class next week. He decides to first post signs in the weight room asking that the weights be put back on the appropriate rack immediately after use, or the weights will be removed for 2 weeks in the future.
Sometimes the problem may be that participants are violating an expected program standard that seems to be common sense to the physical activity professional. Or there may be a communication problem in that a standard was just not clearly explained. Once recognized, that problem can be solved immediately by explaining the standard more clearly to participants; the violation will most likely not occur again and no punishment will be needed.
Another proactive technique is the use of cues to signal what behavior is expected. For instance, a verbal warning cue could be a statement such as "The game will be over in 5 minutes" or "Billy, when I blow my whistle, you need to start lining up in your squad." Many other proactive techniques are discussed in chapter 3.
If the proactive strategies are not enough to manage behavior, try including intrinsic reinforcers such as fun and exciting activities that meet your essential class or practice objectives and are also activities that participants enjoy doing. There will, however, be some participants who do not believe an activity has any functional value or that an activity is repetitive and boring. To bridge the gap between performance and learning, a more powerful extrinsic reinforcement may be required initially to engage those who may not be intrinsically motivated to participate. The goal is always to fade out extrinsic reinforcers and move to intrinsic reinforcers as soon as possible.
Sometimes these positive proactive and reinforcement strategies (Martens, 2004) may have little influence on effective learning and performance. Therefore, mild corrective techniques matched with positive reinforcers for demonstrating the appropriate behavior may need to be used in order to eliminate behaviors that are interfering with the performance and learning of a participant or a group. Clearly, it is a serious ethical issue for physical activity professionals when deciding whether to incorporate different levels of corrective techniques into their programs for educational purposes. This is particularly true when a professional is considering the use of the more punitive corrective techniques such as time-out or a corporal punishment that includes the use of physical activity. See chapter 4 for more information related to methods that can be used to redirect and decrease inappropriate behavior.
This is not to say that what are generally considered mild forms of punishment should be taken lightly. What would be considered mild by some people may not have the same punishment effect when perceived by a physical activity professional. For example, you may have met the wrath of a teacher or coach just by how he or she said no! when you did something incorrectly. You may still remember this incident today, particularly if that professional was respected and considered a role model.
On the other hand, one of the authors of this text had a friend who was always getting in trouble with a physical educator and was required to run laps, which is generally considered a form of corporal punishment. This student did not care to participate in many team-based activities but loved to jog. Running laps was a positive reinforcer to him, not a punishment at all. Most professionals believe that physical activity should be enjoyable, fun, and continued throughout someone's lifetime. If you professionally believe this, physical activity should not be related to punishment (see checklist 10.3).
Learn more about Positive Behavior Management in Physical Activity Settings, Third Edition.
Bullying in the Physical Activity Environment
Bullying occurs more frequently in school environments such as locker rooms, showers, restrooms, on the playground and behind buildings, in the cafeteria, in the hallways, on the bus, and at the bus stop (Bradshaw, Waasdorp, O’Brennan, Gulemetova, & Henderson, 2011; Farrington & Ttofi, 2009).
Bullying occurs more frequently in school environments such as locker rooms, showers, restrooms, on the playground and behind buildings, in the cafeteria, in the hallways, on the bus, and at the bus stop (Bradshaw, Waasdorp, O'Brennan, Gulemetova, & Henderson, 2011; Farrington & Ttofi, 2009). School-based physical activity settings are common locations for bullying (Roman & Taylor, 2013). The incidence of bullying in physical education classes was reported in a study of 10th-grade students in Canada. In this study, 11.1% of the students reported experiencing physical bullying, 13.6% experienced verbal bullying, and 12.8% experienced social bullying. Bullying was one of the major reasons students dropped out of physical education (Hurley & Mandigo, 2010).
Often, a physical activity professional is not even aware that bullying is occurring in his or her environment because class or team groups are typically large, and there is often a high level of competition and physical contact in the activities, so physical contact is likely the norm. In these settings physical contact may be used to intimidate others (Biggs, Simpson, & Gaus, 2010). Physical activity professionals may also be unaware of the undercurrent of social status and peer pressure in their programs and may inadvertently allow some participants to wield their power over others. This may occur when participants are allowed to choose teams, leading to social exclusion; tease or call names, thereby intimidating others; or even encourage other participants to engage in rough physical play that may get out of hand (Fuller, Gulbrandson, & Herman-Ukasic, 2013). We must do something about this problem because we do not want participants to be traumatized in our programs and quit coming or not enroll in them at all (Huber, 2010; Hurley & Mandigo, 2010).
It may be that a physical activity professional is the first adult to recognize that a participant's social and emotional problems have developed through continually being bullied. When a participant is bullied, a physical activity professional is often the person the victim feels comfortable talking with about what happened. As physical activity professionals, we have a responsibility to understand what bullying is; be aware of the signs of bullying; be involved in the development and implementation of programs to prevent bullying; intervene; and develop a safe environment where students and players can participate, enjoy physical activity, and feel safe.
Teachers play a key role in preventing and intervening in bullying at school, yet they receive little if any help or training in identifying the warning signs, preventing bullying, or effectively intervening (Juvonen, Graham, & Schuster, 2003). When a bullying problem becomes serious and is not effectively managed, we need to work in partnership with other teachers (e.g., general physical educators, special educators) coaches, staff (e.g., social workers, school counselors, school psychologists), parents and guardians, and administrators to solve the problem as soon as possible (Olweus, 2006). See checklist 8.1 to make sure you are recognizing bullies and bullying behaviors.
Learn more about Positive Behavior Management in Physical Activity Settings, Third Edition.
School-Age Overweight and Obesity Issues
Childhood obesity is a serious medical condition in which a child or adolescent is significantly above the normal weight based on his or her age and height (Mayo Clinic, n.d.).
Childhood obesity is a serious medical condition in which a child or adolescent is significantly above the normal weight based on his or her age and height (Mayo Clinic, n.d.). The prevalence of childhood obesity has reached epidemic proportions in the United States and in many other industrialized countries in the world since the 1980s (Ogden, Caroll, Curtin, Lamb, & Flegal, 2010). It is quickly becoming the leading cause of death in the United States.
The concern is that childhood obesity is associated with numerous physiological and psychological comorbidities. Childhood obesity has been reported in some instances as a disease (Wallace & Ray, 2009) and in other sources as what might be an educational disability (French, Sanborn, Stephens, & DiMarco, in press). Childhood obesity is often misunderstood and stigmatized; currently, it is not recognized as a disability, and so services are not always provided. Some possible common behaviorsassociated with being overweight and obese along with a list of a few illustrative teaching strategies are provided in table 9.5.
There are numerous program modifications and strategies that a physical activity specialist may consider to more effectively engage children and youth who are underweight, overweight, or obese in physical activity programs. The following are a few proactive modifications and strategies that may be considered. The first two are safety considerations.
- Ensure the physical activities are within a participant's medical margin of safety. For example, appropriate weight-bearing activities may need to be included. In addition, students who are classified as morbidly obese need a physician's written consent to participate in physical activity (French, Sanborn, Stephens, & DiMarco, in press).
- Consider the use of heart rate monitors. Children and youth who are obese carry a lot more weight than those within a usually recommended weight range. Even if obese students are among the slowest in class, they may have the highest heart rates because of the extra weight they are carrying.
- Consider peer tutors for instructional (e.g., achieving healthy diet and physical activity goals) and emotional - social support.
- Use differentiated instruction to accommodate multiple levels of performance and learning. Using stations may be a useful strategy. In the station activities consider the use of health video games as well as exercise games that are fun and motivating (e.g., Dance Dance Revolution, Wii, Play Station) as motivational techniques. This strategy can also be used for homework assignments. Commercially available health video games have been used as a motivational intervention strategy for students who are overweight or obese (Lu, Kharrazi, Gharghabi, & Thompson, 2013).
- Use staff training, collaborate with families and students and community leaders, and adopt school-wide programs to reduce stigmatization of those who are overweight or obese.
- Model trusting and caring behavior for children or youth who are overweight or obese and for others who are participating in physical activity. All children and youth deserve to be respected and be learners. Sometimes, even with the best intentions, a physical activity professional could actually be increasing guilt, stigmatizing a child or youth who is obese, and negatively affecting a student's body image and self-esteem. For example, a physical activity professional may be overprotective and not ask an overweight or obese child or youth to be accountable for performing and learning at his or her appropriate level (Rovegno & Bandhauer, 2013).
- Evaluate the program to determine whether inactivity can be reduced (e.g., transitions between activities, standing in lines).
- Be a resource to parents, guardians, children, and youth regarding your physical activity program. Consider using e-mail or Twitter to provide initial support for programs in which a child with weight issues and his or her parents may be involved. Consider a community-based program the first time one of your students with weight issues attends.
- Observe the recess program and provide ways to motivate students to take part in activities and encourage those with weight issues to do the same.
- Focus on helping students meet manageable and achievable goals in an enjoyable environment (e.g., increase number of steps a day, monitor results, and provide intrinsic and extrinsic reinforcers [see chapter 3]).
- Encourage participation with others through small groups or teams to provide peer instructions and motivation to all members of the small group or team.
- The physical activity environment is the most logical place for programs that address obesity prevention and intervention in children and youth (Richards, Shimabukuro, Combs, & Kreuter, 2004). Some of the advantages in using the physical activity environment are that both preventive and intervention programs can be provided; large numbers of students can be provided continuous and concentrated intervention; and the costs to parents and guardians are minimal (Brownell & Kay, 1982). To date there have been mixed results on the effectiveness of school-based weight-gain programs and the retention of losses over time (Shaya, Flores, Gbarayer, & Wang, 2008). One of the major components of the most effective programs is the use of appropriate behavior management strategies with a focus on a participant within a class or team (Brownell & Kaye, 1982).
Learn more about Positive Behavior Management in Physical Activity Settings, Third Edition.
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