What is Positive Discipline and Positive Behavior Supports?

Sensory Strategies| Social Skills| Music Strategies| Communication

June 20, 2020•1 min read

Positive Discipline is a parenting program designed to teach young people to become responsible, respectful, and resourceful members of their communities. The program teaches hundreds of non-punitive parenting tools.

The 5 Criteria of Positive Discipline

1. Kind and Firm

2. Help children feel a sense of belonging and significance

3. Provide non-punitive tools that work long term instead of short term

4. Teach valuable social and life skills

5. Help children develop a sense that they are capable

Positive Discipline is a program that helps you teach your children to manage themselves so you don't have to constantly manage their behavior.

Positive Behavioral Supports (PBS) is a behavior management system used to understand what maintains your child's challenging behavior (i.e. whining, hitting, refusing to listen, etc.). The PBS system allows you to understand why your child does what they do and know how to use positive reinforcement to change the negative behavior into a positive one.

Positive reinforcement is when a motivating item is given to your child after he engages in a positive behavior instead of a negative one. For example, you tell your son that he can have computer time after he unloads the dishwasher. The computer time is the positive reinforcement for his positive behavior of unloading the dishwasher.

Samantha Foote

Samantha’s mission is to strengthen, guide, and empower parents, children, and adults to develop emotional awareness, improve social skills, and gain effective coping skills resulting in improved peer relationships, increased family harmony, and a calmer & more relaxed demeanor. She is a board-certified music therapist, a Positive Discipline Parent Educator, and a registered Music Together teacher. She obtained a Bachelor of Science degree from Utah State University and completed her Masters of Music with a specialization in Music Therapy degree from Colorado State University. She is a Neurological Music Therapy Fellow and a Dialectical Behavior Therapy-informed Music Therapist. When she is not working, Samantha enjoys spending time with her husband, children, and extended family. They enjoy fishing, camping, and other outdoor adventures.

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