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Behaviral Tools

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Behavioral tools are used by human service workers to assist individuals in developing, organizing, and maintaining changes to improve a quality of life. There are approaches service workers may find helpful when working with various clients and working in different situations. To focus on creating healthy behaviors, this report on behavioral tools looks at effective methods of implementing change through the following: client centered approaches, grounding techniques, and operant conditioning through positive and negative reinforcements. The report will also assist human service workers identify some situations that the stated approaches may be used for.
Client Centered Approach The client centered approach is a behavioral tool that …show more content…

The principle of operant conditioning and reinforcement is to repeat a response to a given stimulus. For the behavior modification to be successful, it is important to select a reinforcement that will strengthen the desired behavior (Rasnake, 1993). Positive and negative reinforcement can be used in simple cases as well as the more challenging cases to modify a behavior. Human service workers and parents can use operant conditioning to change the way a child acts in the classroom. If a child continues to interrupt the classroom environment, negative reinforcement such as placing the child by his or herself instead of with friends can be used to deter the behavior. Likewise, if the desired behavior is acknowledged or rewarded, the good behavior will likely continue. This behavioral modification technique also can be used with someone looking to overcome substance abuse. The individual should have a stimulus that he or she can focus on to make the change. If one is trying to overcome substance abuse to gain custody of his or her children for example, positive reinforcement can be used when the individual reaches certain desirable goals. Negative reinforcement, such as losing the opportunity to see the children if there is a slip on recovery can give that person the incentive to quit the negative behavior and work toward bettering his or her life. The importance of behavioral tools is to help create healthy behaviors in individuals. Human service workers

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