Attention is one of the most powerful tools parents have to influence their child’s behavior. In this video, Dr. Kazdin explains two complementary techniques: attending—deliberately paying positive attention to behaviors you want to increase—and planned ignoring—deliberately withholding attention from behaviors you want to decrease. When used together effectively, these methods can promote lasting behavior change by reinforcing good behavior while reducing unwanted actions. Learn how timing, consistency, and focus on positive behavior make attention a precise and practical behavior change strategy.
🎯 Learning Objectives
• Understand how attention affects child behavior and its dual role in reinforcing both positive and negative behaviors
• Define attending and planned ignoring and why they work best together
• Learn the four essential conditions for effective attending: defining target behaviors, choosing types of attention, immediacy, and frequency
• Understand how to implement planned ignoring consistently and effectively to reduce unwanted behaviors
• Recognize the importance of attending to positive opposite behaviors when using planned ignoring
• Identify common challenges in applying these techniques and strategies to overcome them
• Apply these methods to real-life examples such as reducing whining, arguing, and promoting cooperative play
📚 About the Course
Everyday Parenting gives you access to a toolkit of behavior-change techniques that will make your typical day in the home easier as you develop the behaviors you would like to see in your child. The lessons provide step-by-step instructions and demonstrations to improve your course of action with both children and adolescents. Among many techniques, you will learn how even simple modifications to tone of voice and phrasing can lead to more compliance. The course will also shed light on many parenting misconceptions and ineffective strategies that are routinely used.
The key to the course is practice. It is not enough to know the strategies; you have to do them to reap the rewards. Using the techniques on a temporary basis will lead to permanent change.
Chances are your parenting is perfectly fine and working the way you would like. But if you have any frustrations with your child or would like improve your effectiveness in changing your child’s behavior, these videos will be a very useful guide.
📺 Watch the full playlist on YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLh9mgdi4rNeyEGNxBvNdOVlianDYgWuc9&si=WvX4JltzYzj7faKi
🎓 Enroll on Coursera for assessments and a certificate: https://www.coursera.org/learn/everyday-parenting
🌐 Explore more learning opportunities on Yale Online: https://online.yale.edu/courses/everyday-parenting-abcs-child-rearing
