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Correcting Undesired Behavior with positive results
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 Read detailed explanations, examples, and role-playing experiences in the parent's manual to raising children in a positive way, The Power of Positive Parenting. |
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Child Behavior Topic of Thumbsucking |
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Chronic thumb sucking beyond age three should be eliminated if for no reason other than its harmful effects on dental development, including such problems as open bite, over jet, and crossbite dental malocclusions. Research has demonstrated conclusively that chronic thumb sucking can be eliminated during both a child's waking and sleeping hours. Suggested here are proven methods for eliminating chronic thumb sucking during daytime and nighttime hours. Nearly all children suck their thumbs to one extent or another. Children, from the moment of birth and before, learn that sucking is a very reinforcing thing to do. In fact, at the outset, their very lives depend on it! Consequently, parents shouldn't be alarmed if babies and little children suck their fists, fingers, and thumbs occasionally. By the same token, when they do suck their thumbs, particularly beyond age one, parents shouldn't do things that call attention to that behavior. Daytime thumb sucking should simply be ignored and non-thumb sucking behaviors should be selectively reinforced. Parents must be alert for opportunities to interact positively with their children when their behavior is laudable. This strategy is altogether sufficient for eliminating casual or chronic daytime thumb sucking. Chronic bedtime thumb suckers will have their thumbs in their mouths almost the instant their heads hit the pillow, or before, and the reinforcing effects to the child of such gratifying self-stimulation is immense. It can however, be eliminated by using a five-phase process called "response prevention strategy using constraints," as follows: Phase 1 Boxing glove restraint. Phase 2 Absorbent cotton restraint. Phase 3 Finger tip bandage restraint. Phase 4 No restraint. Phase 5 Follow-up. Please read chapter seventeen, "Eliminating Thumbsucking" in The Power of Positive Parenting for detailed descriptions of this five phase program, and remember, don't get excited or angry at a child's resistance to the program. If you calmly and systematically proceed you will calmly and systematically succeed. Product References Find more detailed examples, role-playing, experiences, and explanations in audio, visual, and printed media on our Products page. The Power of Positive Parenting (book); pp 239-247 |
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