Behaviour analysis (Essay Sample)

Behaviour Analysis
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Behaviour Analysis
Generally counseling has an ultimate goal which is to teach the clients to be their own counselors by changing their behaviour to better meet their needs. They may suffer from anxiety, phobias, and obsessive thoughts or behave inappropriately. For this there are techniques for solving these problems; programming their own reinforcement schedules thereby self-managing and move from an extrinsic to an intrinsic reinforcement. This means pleasing oneself for the positive change that you want to achieve rather than constantly seeking others approval.
There are several the counseling methods that are used for the different groups; children, youth and families. There are also several methods that can be used effectively in counseling children. They include; behavioral counseling, contingency contracts, self management, shaping, behavioral momentum, modeling and role playing among others. For children the most effective counseling method I would use is the contingency contracting method (Banks & Thompson, 1995).
It is most effective especially when the children themselves are involved in writing them. The contract uses simple language for the children understanding, goals are clearly spelt out with as few steps as possible to meet them and cost-free readily available developmental appropriate rewards. They contracting process ahs several steps among them; both child and counselor identify the problem, counselor collect accurate data on the frequency of undesired behavior, setting of mutually acceptable goals and contingency plan, evaluation of observable changes and development of a maintenance plan if the contingency plan works (Thompson & Henderson, 2004).
The youth are aggressive, violent and resistant, consequently are approached a multimodal counseling method. This is because also unlike children they have a wide range of learning styles and complex personalities that cannot be treated easily with a single approach. Among the youth those who are aggressive and resistant will require interventions that include; expressive arts, stress management, modeling of social skills and conflict-resolution skills of negotiation and compromise. Unwilling youths should frequent group therapies with individual therapy as a contingency plan for those who refuse to participate in group therapy. They should also be given an option of terminating therapy after a number of sessions and allowed to know as much as possible about their cases. This will be by sharing their case records and tapes.
Adults are a totally different group to deal with. As a counselor it will be prudent to counseling that is compatible with cultures that prefer behavioral interventions over working with cognitive and effective parts of the problem to be solved. Focus of the counsel should be on the present behavior and short and achieving short-term behaviour changes. This should lead to attaining specific measurable goals. Care should be taken so that not too much influence is placed on the lives of the clients w...