Many students as large as it can be remembered have confessed to having ever made their teacher go crazy with pen tapping behavior in the classroom. Pen tapping is a very common behavior, not only in the classroom environment, but also, many other adult individuals in conferences and meeting in workplaces have ever found themselves drawing the attention of many people by tapping their pens against their table. Pen tapping is very similar to one of the behaviors which many teachers have complained about, the pen spinning. This too has been common behaviors in both classroom environment and also in many officers in the workplace. It is worth noting that pen tapping behavior has not reached a level of pen spinning among the students. However, pen tapping is one of the most common behaviors among the primary school kids. It is even surprising that there is an increase in a number of the primary school kids who have made it a hobby of producing some funny rhythms using nothing actually but the writing instrument in the classroom. Many students have taken it as fun and the teachers are getting frustrated by this kind of behavior every day. However, what the teachers, as well as the parents, need to know is that pen tapping is not an intentional kind of action. The children who tap pen on the top of the desk are not rude; they suffer from a condition known as the hyperactive disorder. The children who suffer from this kind of disorder are always in constant motion, and it is very difficult to have them managed at home or at school. So, what constitutes this particular behavior? What is the reality behind this behavior? This paper present behavior modification project and the main behavior under modification is the tapping of pen on the desk.
Description of the Behavior
Pen tapping is a common behavior and many teachers as a well as students have confessed that is one of the most frustrating behaviors in the classroom. To those who are fond of this behavior and those who have also made it a hobby, they can be in agreements with the author of this article that this behavior is very easy. Pen tapping involves simple steps, many people call it the pen style, this is where the victim uses either a thick or thin writing materials such as a pen, hold it in the middle of the fingers, the wrist of the finger is the bass, then use click the end of the pen against the table or a desk. This produces a funny sound which has entire class or meeting disrupted. Pen tapping is a very notorious kind of behavior since it occurs frequently. These persons who have hyperactive disorders are very notorious, and it will only take them some minutes before repeating the mistake as long as the mistake is tied to the issue of motion. In fact, many studies have suggested that student who suffers from the hyperactive condition can move around the class eight-time those who have not. It thus means that pen tapping can be done almost immediately after warning. Pen taping occurs as long as the student or the person tapping the pen has lost control of him or herself. It can take two to four minutes unless the person is interrupted by either reminding them that they are disturbing the peace of others or by striking them using an object to awaken their sense. It is also very paramount to know that as the person who is doing the pen tapping is losing their concentration and find themselves in their world, the intensity of the tapping may increase. It is worth remembering that the pen tapping is not an intentional behavior. It means that controlling it including its intensity is beyond the doer; it relies on the energy that has come with the stimuli. It means that its intensity varies.
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Ecological Analysis
It is very critical to note that pen tapping behavior is not an intention-behavior; it is a condition which needs to be put under control. It further means that it has some factors which will influence the rate and the intensity of the behaviors on such kind of individuals. Hyperactive disorder when out under medication reduces the rate of pen taping behavior. There are specific medications which are given to such individuals so that they reduce the frequency stimuli reactivity on their bodies. These drugs are essential since they reduce the rate at which pen tapping can take place. The sleep cycle also affects the behavior by reducing the number of incidence of this behavior in a day. There are those children or individuals who suffer from the hyperactive condition, but also like sleeping. It has been revealed that pen tapping behavior on this kind of individuals is less frequents. The next issue is that eating routine has less impact on pen tapping behavior. The physical environment is the primary factor behind the pen tapping behavior. A good example is the classroom layout. In a classroom where the desks are everywhere, the students cannot concentrate due to poor, arrangement; the issue of pen hitting will be the primary notorious behavior. It shows that the students are bored with that kind of environment and change is needed to have the situations adjusted for the better. The next factor is the interpersonal environment. In this case, also, it has been noted that pen tapping mostly occur an environment where the relationship between the victims and the others around him or her is positive. For instance, there is likeliness of pen tapping when such students attend a class where the tutor is always very friendly to him or her. The last aspect is that when such kind of people are exposed to other factors such as activities, where they can direct their energy, then their high chances that pen tapping behavior can be contained.
Antecedent Analysis
Pen tapping behavior is so common; many studies in the field of psychology and sciences have revealed that this behavior is more often when the victim is bored. Many studies also revealed that in the case of the school going age, most children tap their pen around midday. This is the time when the kids get tired and hungry and thus lose concentration in the classroom. It is at this point that their stimuli take a good part of them and they find themselves involved in such behavior. Further, it has been proven beyond reasonable doubt that the environment also influences the pen tapping behavior. Take for instance a classroom. In a classroom where the teacher's arrangement is congested, and the teachers are not accessing the children in a proper way which can enhance monitoring them, the children may tend to think that they are not being seen. They will thus drift their attention to other things and may not be following what the teacher is trying to communicate. Such children may find themselves tapping the desk using their pen because they shall have lost the much-needed concentration. Further, in an environment where there is laxity, and the teacher does not care if the students are engaged in answering questions, the student is most likely to pen tap because they will be more relaxed and this will even lose concentration. This will lead them to such behaviors (Leafgren, 2013).
Pen tapping is a behavior which is most likely ties to a certain type of condition called the hyperactive disorder. It means that any of individuals who suffer from this kind of condition will behave this way. This is a guarantee! However, there are those who do not sufferer from this condition. In this case, such people are less likely to pen tap. It is very difficult to avoid this kind of behavior since it is not self-stimulant kind of behavior. This behavior is auto-stimuli and thus takes place automatically especially when one has lost concentration. Maybe the best thing which such individuals should avoid is becoming idle or losing attention to other unnecessary issues when in class. This can have some impact since it may at least do other things. This can be done by having many cheeky friends who have stories to tell or by engaging in answering questions in the classroom.
Function of the Undesirable Behavior
One of the undesirable behaviors of this kind of individuals is the intensities of the pen tapping. There are those individuals who when engaging in this behavior goes an extra-mile of losing themselves to the behavior and find themselves making a lot of noise from the behavior. This kind of action is very undesirable in the classroom and other places. Most scholars have shown that pen tappers get comfort as well as amusements from this kind of behavior (Miller et al., 2014). At this point, this is what they need to have their extreme energy released. This, therefore, gives them relief. However, it has also been noted that such kind of people avoids a lot of noise as they pen tap. Some of the scholars find it funny that, even though such kind of people lose concentration and do pen tapping, they are always cautious not to make a lot of noise due to fear of the teacher or fear of shunning from other staff or other students who also share the same class.
Reinforcement Analysis
One of the behaviors which this particular individual requires is an action which can bring them back to concentration. It has been noted many scholars that in case of the classroom, these students lose concentration and start by idling, for instance, flipping their pens after which this behavior develop to pan tapping. They need an activity which can help them hold firm to their concentration level. This will help them not divert their attention to such behavior and thus will reduce the pen tapping behavior in the classroom. The student in this case thus need another student or perfect or leaders or a teacher who can take charge of the behavior and make the child, or the student concentrates again. In case of the working palace, it needs the supervisor to make the worker know that they are not behaving in a manner that impresses all people within the room. The best activity, in this case, is the activity which will enhance concentration, for instance, the teacher may engage the student in answering questions to bring back their concentration. They can be given other work to do so that they may channel their energy into more productive kind of work than disturbing people.
Teaching Strategies
There are many things to keep in primary in case one wants to deal with this particular behavior. In the classroom, the teacher has to know that this student may lag behind others in the social maturity. The teacher must think of such student as two years younger than others in the class and give them special attention. They should give them time to move within the school so that they calm down. The teacher can also try some kind and low energy lesson to assess where the student fit. The setting pattern in the classroom must have an alternative which can be relayed upon in case the current or the existing methods achieve less. At home, the parents should recognize that this kind of people needs freedom of movement. They should thus enhance physical activity to capture the attention of the children. They should be done even before the child leave home for schools. These and many interactivities, as well as strategies when put in place, can be very paramount in helping this kind of individuals to reduce the pen tapping behavior.
The inconstant behavior is shouting at the kid. This may not help the kid but may play a useful part in worsening off their condition. What need be done is to understand them. They should be understood that they are not behaving strangely as per their wish; it is a condition they are suffering from. The recording may be done on a bar graph. The record can be taken on the time of day when it is very high. For instance, the graph below is a representation of the pen tapping by the time of the day. The result shows that an afternoon, the tapping is extreme due to tiredness and loses concentration.
References
Leafgren, S. (2013). This Is Not a Pencil: a Deleuzoguattarian re-imagining of the classroom milieu. Global Studies of Childhood , 3 (3), 276-288.
Miller, I., Crosland, K. A., & Clark, H. B. R. (2014). Behavioral skills training with teachers: Booster training for improved maintenance. Child & Family Behavior Therapy , 36 (1), 19-32.
