ABSTRACT
Total Programming Our treatment approach assumes that significant aspects of the child's behavior either are or can be brought under the control of his immediate environment. The day-long living situation of the residential treatment center provides an endless series of opportunities to stimulate and reinforce desirable behavior patterns. To accomplish this goal, however, the clinician must determine each of the events which occur in that day-long environment. "Therapy" does not occur just during a specified hour when the child is in a playroom with the "therapist.'' Education does not occur solely when the child is sitting in a classroom with a "teacher." Behavior is being shaped just as much when the child is brushing his teeth or watching the cook prepare a meaL Presumably, whoever is spending time with the child can have a direct effect on his behavior and learning. It is likely that the effect any one person or setting has on the child's behavior is a direct function of the length of time the child spends with that person or in that setting. Thus, the real therapists in a treatment center are those persons (i.e., the childcare staff) who spend the most time with that child. Hence, the behavior of the child-care staff must occur according to treatment plans in order to have the desired results in the child's behavior.
