(a) Behavior guidance shall be:

1. (1) Individualized and consistent for each child; and
2. (2) Appropriate to the child’s level of understanding.

(b) Use of behavior guidance shall:

1. (1) Show that the caregiver understands each child’s needs; and
2. (2) Promote self-discipline and good behavior.

(c) Acceptable behavior guidance techniques include:

1. (1) Look for appropriate behavior and reinforce the children with praise and encouragement when they are behaving well;
2. (2) Remind the children daily of the rules by using clear, positive statements of how they are expected to behave rather than what they are not supposed to do;
3. (3) Attempt to ignore minor inappropriate behaviors and concentrate on what the child is doing properly;
4. (4) Use brief supervised separation from the group only when the child does not respond to a verbal command that instructs the child as to how he or she is supposed to behave;
5. (5) When a misbehaving child begins to behave appropriately, encourage and praise small positive steps rather than waiting until the child has behaved well for a long period of time;
6. (6) Attend to the children who are behaving appropriately, and other children will follow their example in order to obtain your attention; and
7. (7) When the entire group is behaving well, reward them with an activity they enjoy.

(f)

1. (1) The following activities are unacceptable as behavior guidance measures and shall not be used.

2. (2) These include but are not limited to:

   1. (A)

(i) Using restraints.

1. (ii) Restraining a child briefly by holding the child is allowed when the child’s actions place the child or others at risk of injury;

   1. (B) Washing mouth with soap;
   2. (C) Taping or obstructing a child’s mouth;
   3. (D) Placing unpleasant or painful-tasting substances in mouth, on lips, etc.;
   4. (E) Using profane or abusive language;
   5. (F) Isolating a child without supervision;
   6. (G) Placing a child in a dark area;
   7. (H) Inflicting physical pain, hitting, pinching, pulling hair, slapping, kicking, twisting arms, biting or biting back, spatting, swatting, etc.;

   8. (I)

      1. (i) Yelling.
      2. (ii) This does not include a raised voice level to gain a child’s attention to protect the child from risk of harm;

   9. (J)

      1. (i) Forcing physical activity such as running laps, doing pushups, etc.
      2. (ii) This does not include planned group physical education activities that are not punitive in nature;

   10. (K) Associating punishment with:

       1. (i) Rest;
       2. (ii) Toilet training; or
       3. (iii) Illness;
   11. (L) Denying food, lunch or snacks, as punishment or punishing children for not eating;
   12. (M) Forcing or bribing a child to eat;
   13. (N) Shaming, humiliating, frightening, physically or mentally harming children, or labeling children; and
   14. (O) Covering the faces of children with blankets or similar items.

(g)

1. (1) Posted group behavior charts shall not be used.
2. (2) Individual behavior charts that are not viewable by children and individual charts used by therapists are allowable.