Behaviour change can and should be designed for children in a residential care setting/s. The achievement of these behavioural goals will be contingent on the skills of the cottage parents.

The purpose of this paper is to describe a planned ‘change’ programme for a behaviour problem child in a residential cottage home.

It should be noted that this is an outline of treatment for the specific behaviour problems displayed by a young child and in no way discounts the importance of fulfilling the physical and emotional needs of the child.

We will be looking at the specific skills required in modifying behaviour, how they are applied to both extinction of inappropriate behaviour and teaching of new and appropriate behaviour.