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When first thinking about how to reduce challenging behavior there are two questions you must ask yourself:
When first thinking about how to reduce challenging behavior there are two questions you must ask yourself:
- What are they getting by acting like this?
- How can they tell me want this in an appropriate way?
To answer these questions you must know the four main reasons individuals do what they do. Those four functions are: attention, access, escape, and sensory.
To answer these questions you must know the four main reasons individuals do what they do. Those four functions are: attention, access, escape, and sensory.
Once you can answer these 2 questions, you have to heavily reinforce each instance you see them using the appropriate way.
Once you can answer these 2 questions, you have to heavily reinforce each instance you see them using the appropriate way.
This is a simplified explanation of what Behavior Analysts call Functional Communication. However, no matter what you call it, it is an import part of decreasing challenging behavior; as telling a learner to stop, or expecting them to simply disengage in the challenging behavior, won't likely get you the results you want.
This youtube video is a fun five minute visual of the four functions of behavior (e.g., attention, access, avoidance, and sensory).
Click the video to see more!
This is a ten minute video explaining what functional communication is, different forms communication can take on (i.e., PECS, Dedicated Devices, ALS, etc) , and how to reinforce functional communication.
This youtube video shows how to teach students to escape a situation appropriately (i.e., without aggressive or disruptive behavior).
This is a link to a practical guide for how to go about teaching functional communication, and research supporting it to help decrease challenging behavior.
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