So should it be the same reward or consequence each time or is it the kind of thing like the time should fit the crime?
It could be consistent, or somewhat flexible. Just off the top of my head I thought it might be a good practice to start a timer during a tantrum and the subject knows that for every minute of a tantrum, they will later need to spend a minute in time out. or there could be a formula, like every 10 seconds of tantrum is a minute of time out. The consequence should not be a surprise, though, it should be established ahead of time and the subject knows about it. For example if I had a subject who had a temper tantrum with me for the first time in a group setting, the next day I might approach the class with a discussion.
"So yesterday, we had a little incident where one of our group got upset and started screaming and throwing things. I understand we get upset sometimes. We might not like the task we have to do, or there are lots of things in life that can happen that are upsetting, like our favorite toy getting broken or our best friend gets mad at us. I'd like to talk about this with everyone, because screaming at others is not appropriate behavior, and will have consequences in the future. First, I'd like to go around the room and we can share our ideas about something that upsets us, and what we can do when we are feeling frustrated or upset. I'll start. Something that upsets me is when my students are unhappy, because I care about them and want them to have the best possible learning experience. Something I can do when my students are upset is ask them to calmly tell me what is bothering them so I can understand and help. Okay, who wants to go next?"
Have a group discussion/sharing, then after:
"Okay, so next I want to talk about consequences for disruptive behavior. I've decided that if someone in our group participates in disruptive behavior like screaming at others, they will be asked to go into time out for 2 minutes. If they can control themselves and do that, we can talk about what upset them after the 2 minutes. If they refuse to go into time out and cannot control themselves, then I will start a timer, and for every 15 seconds or portion thereof they cannot control themselves, they will get an additional minute of time out. Even 1 second of 15 seconds counts. So for example, 1-15 seconds means one minute extra, 16-30 seconds means 2 minutes extra, and so on. Okay, so who can tell me how many extra minutes of time out you would earn if you had a tantrum lasting 44 seconds? (give a couple more examples/math quizzes)."
I do want to add that I am not a teacher, well other than unofficial impromptu stuff, and some experience coaching snowboarders and martial artists. These are just some ideas off the top of my head and you would obviously adjust to your own style, what works and what doesn't, talk to other teachers, do research on others who have dealt with the same issues, work within the parameters of your school policies and procedures, &c, &c.
