Well, Happy New Year! I took a bit of a break from blogging while I was enjoying the holidays in the US. I have been back home for about a week and only now and back to my regular routine!
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In my last post, I discussed the fact that there are only
two reasons, or functions, as to why a child mis-behaves. By understanding these two reasons and
analyzing behavior based on them, children with challenging behaviors seem to
be easier to plan and accommodate for.
Do you remember to the two functions that behaviors can be
attributed to?
- To Gain Something
- To Avoid Something
For a quick review on these functions, please refer back to
the previous post. Got it? Great!
Now ,let’s talk about how to figure out the WHY.
I often find that once I help people become aware of the two
functions of behavior, they are quick to assign a “label” to a child’s
behaviors without the appropriate, necessary data collection. I can’t emphasize enough, the importance of
collecting meaningful data to not only determine the WHY, but also any other factors
that could be contributing to a child’s behaviors. If you know WHY a child may be behaving in a
certain way, you can start to develop the WHAT to do about it.
How do you know the WHY?
It starts with data collection and data collection starts
with the understanding that it takes time and quantity to appropriately analyze
behaviors. Too often we are too quick in
determining the function and we go right to the intervention. This is dangerous on a few levels. First of all without the proper knowledge
only obtained by accurate observation and data collection over time, our
interventions could actually be reinforcing the problem rather than correcting
it. Secondly, interventions without
sound data behind the reason for their implementation could do damage to a
child’s academic, social or emotional growth.
The most common and arguably most basic form of data
collection involves using an ABC chart.
A (Antecedent, or what happened directly before the behavior occurred),
B (Behavior: What was the actual behavior the child exhibited?), and C
(Consequence, as in what happened directly AFTER the behavior occurred). Although there are many more aspects and
components that one should consider when analyzing behavior, these are the most
common and practical for a teacher, parent or paraprofessional to report
on.
Please click here for a printable ABC reporting form. My next
post will go into detail as to how to complete such documents.
Finally, as part of Yale’s FREE lecture series on Autism on
iTunes, one such lecture deals with behavior and data collection (Lecture #9, "Behavioral Treatments") in a very
similar way to what I am discussing in these posts. The behavior data collection techniques I
describe are applicable to children with multiple diagnoses, and although this
Yale lecture is focused on Autism, it can be also applied to a variety of
students and situations. It is just over
an hour long, so grab a cup of tea and plan to listen for a while, but after
reading these posts as a way to build background knowledge, this lecture will
be very interesting and helpful to you! Click here to access the iTunes link!
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