Timeout duration and the suppression of deviant behavior in children.
Fifteen minutes of isolation timeout works just as well as thirty for cutting severe behavior in kids with ID.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team tested three timeout lengths: 1, 15, and 30 minutes. All kids lived in a state hospital and had intellectual disability. The design was ABAB: baseline, timeout, back to baseline, timeout again.
Each child stayed alone in a small room during timeout. Staff counted deviant acts like hitting or screaming.
What they found
Fifteen and thirty minutes both cut problem behavior by about one third. One minute worked only if it came first; later it did almost nothing.
In other words, doubling the time past fifteen minutes gave no extra benefit.
How this fits with other research
Leander et al. (1972) ran a sister study the same year. They also compared short (5 min) versus long (30 min) timeout in teens with ID. Longer time again beat shorter time, but the jump was bigger than in the target paper. The difference: the teens got 30 minutes, not 15, so the curve may flatten between 15 and 30 minutes.
McReynolds (1969) showed that just 30 seconds of timeout can work with preschoolers. The target paper pushes the minimum effective dose up to about 15 minutes for institutionalized kids with more severe behavior.
Capio et al. (2013) later made timeout shorter if the child complied quickly. Problem behavior still dropped, showing that you can keep the suppressive power while giving kids a way to earn an early exit.
Why it matters
You can safely cap timeout at 15 minutes for severe misbehavior in kids with ID. Going longer wastes time and may increase risk. If you work in a facility that still uses 30-minute rules, show this data to the team and propose a shorter, equally effective policy.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The effects of three different timeout durations were investigated in a group of 20 retarded, institutionalized subjects. Each subject received 1, 15, and 30 min of timeout in a design that was counterbalanced in terms of the order in which timeout durations were presented. Displays of deviant behavior-such as aggression, tantrums, and self-destruction-were followed by periods of isolation in a timeout room. A reversal design was employed such that return-to-baseline periods were instituted after each timeout period. The overall effect of timeout was to reduce significantly the rate of deviant behavior. On the average, 15 and 30 min produced a 35% decrease in deviant behavior with little difference between the effectiveness of 15 and 30 min. The range of effects in all timeout conditions varied widely. The sequence in which the 1-min duration was presented effected the direction of its effect. When it preceded the use of longer durations, 1 min was most effective. As it came later in the sequence, its suppressive characteristics became less reliable.
Journal of applied behavior analysis, 1972 · doi:10.1901/jaba.1972.5-111