A short video/audio monologue by Ming (Agents of Speech) arguing that intermittent rewards reinforce problematic behaviors in children with delayed speech or autism. Uses B.F. Skinner’s pigeon experiments as an analogy: random or partial reinforcement maintains and increases unwanted behaviors such as tantrums, biting, and hitting because occasional rewards sustain them.
Children who don't speak as well as their peers get into a lot of problematic behavior like biting, hitting, scratching, tantrums that you cannot calm them down. I want to use an analogy of a case study done in the 50s by scientists called Skinner. Some behaviors can be studied and understood universally throughout, like human and animals. This type of study actually highlights how similar behaviors can be so. In this study, Dr. Skinner rewards a pigeon very quickly. The pigeon learns that whenever they peck, they get a reward. So later on, he decided to re reward pigeons randomly rather than giving them a very systematic approach. What happens is it becomes so random that the pigeon starts to do random stuff. They went around flying around, pecking, everything, trying to get more reward. So what does this mean to you and your child? What I mean is all the tantrum, all the bad behavior has been rewarded some way somehow inside the household or inside the therapy room or inside the school. And just because they've been rewarded 1% of the time, they would take that chance and keep on doing the behavior over and over just so they get what they want.
