A functional approach to challenging behaviours:

a workshop for educators

familycentred practices group

presents

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Presented by:

Tina Linton, M.Ed., BCBA Clinical Director

Family Centred Practices Group

and

Mariko Tachi, M.Ed., BCBA Senior Behavioural Consultant Family Centred Practices Group

Some of the purposes of today’s workshop are to:

!   Help you understand your student’s behaviours !   Support you to find out the function of your student’s behaviours !   Introduce potential strategies that may help you support your student !   Provide guidelines on how to implement these strategies

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Workshop Agenda:

!   Traditional view of behaviour vs. Functional view of behaviour !   The ABC model & Learning theory !   Principles of reinforcement !   Autism and its relation to challenging behaviours !   Functions of behaviours !   Developing a plan for challenging behaviour(s) !   Questions and answers

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The term ‘challenging behaviour’ was introduced in the 1980s to describe problematic behaviours in people with various types of disabilities. The widely accepted definition of ‘challenging behaviours’ is as follows:

“Culturally abnormal behaviour of such an intensity, frequency or duration that the physical safety of the person or others is likely to be placed in serious jeopardy, or behaviour which is likely to seriously limit use of, or result in the person being denied access to, ordinary community facilities”

– Emerson, 1995

Examples: tantrums, aggression, property damage, refusals to participate, self-injurious behaviours.

As educators, our goal is to support the integration of students with disabilities into the least restrictive learning environment, however, challenging behaviours can interfere with a student’s opportunities to participate/be included in valued activities (e.g., personally preferred, family, educational, community, etc.).

Examples of your student’s challenging behaviours:

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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Some of the characteristics of individuals with special needs may make it more likely for them to engage in challenging behaviours.

Difficulties with communication skills: !  Lack other means to express their wants and needs !  Difficulties with non-verbal communication

Difficulties with social skills: !  Use inappropriate behaviours to gain attention (even if it’s negative

attention) !   Lack more appropriate social skill for interaction !   Lack more appropriate means to escape or avoid less preferred tasks !  Usually not interested in social stimuli, not responsive to natural means to

reinforce appropriate behaviour when occurs !  May have inappropriate displays of emotions and/or lack understanding of

how others feel/express moods

Restricted interests: !  Some students with special needs, often students diagnosed with Autism,

often have limited range of interests !  More likely to engage in repetitive behaviours instead of functional play/

activities

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Traditional view:

Challenging Behaviours exhibited by a student are: !   Meaningless, nonfunctional !   Student/family’s problem !   Pathologized, seen as part of a disability !   Eliminated through ‘reactive’ consequence strategies (i.e., punishment)

Functional view:

Challenging Behaviour is purposeful, communicative.

We must consider: !   The student’s strengths, preferences, and limitations !   Behaviours may be his ‘best’ way to get wants and needs met !   Student-environment interactions

Understanding ‘function’ leads to a preventive approach: !   Teach replacement behaviours !   Modify the environment

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ABC model of behaviour is the foundation of Applied Behavioural Analysis (ABA) and it can be used as a basis of understanding all types of behaviours.

ABC model help us breaking down the student’s behaviour and allow us to replace a set of behaviours, such as challenging behaviours, with another set of behaviours that are more appropriate.

ABA is the science that studies human behaviours.

The ____________________________ underlies all behaviours and learning.

The basic components of the ABC model include the following: “A” refers to ___________________________ “B” refers to __________________________ “C” refers to ___________________________

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Behaviours are affected by changes in stimuli in the environment that occur prior to a behaviour (e.g., things you hear, see, feel, taste, and smell).

______________________ refer to environmental conditions or changes in stimuli that exist or occur immediately prior to a behaviour.

Behaviours do not occur randomly because they take place in the context of specific environmental and antecedent conditions. These antecedent conditions affect a student’s learning and motivation. It is important to remember that challenging behaviours also take place in the context of environmental conditions, and do not occur in isolation.

For example: !   A green light (antecedent) signals the driver to proceed through the

intersection (behaviour). !   A teacher saying to a student, “sit down” (antecedent), signals the

student to approach his seat and sit (behaviour). !   A worksheet presented (antecedent) signals the student to pick up a

pencil and begin writing (behaviour). !   Presenting a non-preferred task, such as multiplication drill sheet

(antecedent), signals the student to get up from his seat and wander the classroom (behaviour).

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_____________________ refers to an instance of a specific type of observable motor or verbal response.

For example: !   A student raising her hand (behaviour) is a motor response to the

teacher asking a question (antecedent). !   A student asking to go get a drink of water (behaviour) is a verbal

response to the feeling of thirst (antecedent).

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_____________________ refers to a stimulus change in the environment that follows the occurrence of a behaviour.

Consequences combined with antecedent conditions determine what is learned by the student.

Consequences can have the following effects on behaviour:

!   Reinforcement !   Strengthens behaviour !   A stimulus change that occurs immediately following a behaviour

that increases the the future frequency of the behaviour.

!   Punishment !   Weakens behaviour !   A stimulus change that occurs immediately following a behaviour

that decreases the future frequency of the behaviour.

!   Extinction !   Weakens behaviour !  Discontinuing reinforcement of a previously reinforced

behaviour.

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Reinforcement is a necessary component in all types of learning.

It is important for motivating students to engage in appropriate behaviours.

Reinforcement is the most widely applied principle in ABA and is an important building block for strengthening learned behaviours and teaching new skills to students with autism.

Reinforcement strengthens the connections between antecedents and behaviours.

There are two types of reinforcement defined in ABA:

!   Positive Reinforcement refers to a presentation of a stimulus immediately following a behaviour, which results, in that behaviour increasing in frequency over time.

!   Negative Reinforcement refers to the removal of a stimulus immediately following a behaviour, which, results, in that behaviour increasing in frequency over time.

To use reinforcement effectively, it should be:

!   _______________________

!   ______________________

!   _______________________

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What are setting events? !   Ecological events that set the stage for or exaggerate the occurrence of

behaviour. !  Don’t guarantee challenging behaviour, but increase likelihood that it will

occur.

There are three types of setting events: !   Physiological (tired, hungry, pain, etc.) !   Environmental (noise, lighting, opportunities for choices, or activities,

etc.) !   Behavioural histories (negative association with place, person, activity,

etc.)

Setting event may affect the student’s motivation as well. satiation deprivation

Motivation to engage in behaviours increases when the reinforcer is deprived.

Motivation to engage in behaviours decreases when the reinforcer is satiated.

There are not always setting events for every behaviour!

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Researchers have demonstrated that by assessing the functions of challenging behaviours, that is looking at the reinforcers that maintain it, one can generate information that is useful in designing effective interventions.

Reflecting back to the functional view of challenging behaviours, one must acknowledge that a student’s problem behaviour serves a communicative function. Research shows that success rates of decreasing challenging behaviours double when an intervention is function-based.

It is important to note that behaviours do not happen in a vacuum. All behaviours happen in a context. Behaviours do not occur randomly, but are in response to environmental stimuli (antecedent), and are maintained by what occurs after its occurrence (consequence). To address challenging behaviours we must look at it in the context of the environment.

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What are the 4 primary functions and communicative messages of behaviours?

1.  ___________________________________

2.  ___________________________________

3.  ___________________________________

4.  ___________________________________

When we identify the function of a behaviour, it is important that any medical concerns are addressed and eliminated as a source of the challenging behaviour.

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Challenging behaviours often result in immediate attention from others.

Attention can be defined in different ways: !   Physical attention, e.g. touching, hugging !   Vocal attention, e.g. loud intense reaction, quieter and milder reactions !   Visual attention, e.g. facial expression !   Obtain individual attention in a group !   Obtain a particular person’s attention (particular adult or peers)

Challenging behaviours maintained by positive reinforcement in the form of reactions from others can often occur in situations in which attention is infrequent (Motivating Operation). This may be due to the person not having the ability to bid for attention in an appropriate way, or because others in the environment are otherwise occupied.

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Exercise:

Darrell is a bright and enthusiastic 5 year old boy attending kindergarten in a general education classroom. He loves playing games on the computer and enjoys playing with cars and dinosaurs. He is usually a very happy boy and plays well by himself as long as his teachers are nearby to talk to him whenever he wants. When his teachers are busy, Darrell will yell, cry, run around the classroom and pull or hit his teachers. His teachers will reprimand him, by saying “Stop it. That’s not how you behave in the classroom” and explain to him why he should stop.

Who has had experience with attention-motivated behaviour? Who can share their experience(s)?

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Antecedent Behaviour Consequence

Student may use problem behaviour(s) as a mean to gain access to preferred object or activity.

!   A student may cry and tantrum until a favorite toy is given !   A student may steal another student’s lunch which produces immediate

access to the item taken

Teachers and caregivers often use access to object or activities as intervention strategies for managing behaviours. This may have unintentionally reinforced the behaviour over time. Challenging behaviours may develop when they consistently produce a desired item or event. This may occur because providing the item temporarily stops the challenging behavior, although it can have the inadvertent effect of making the behaviour more likely to occur in the future under similar circumstances.

For example: Ted is a student in grade 7. He is highly interested in video games, especially the iPad that is available in the resource room. He will frequently engage in challenging behaviours (i.e., talking out during instructional time in class, make rude remarks to the teacher, and repetitive question asking). His teacher will ask Ted to leave the class and go to the resource room to go ‘talk’ resource teacher about his behaviour. Ted will ‘talk’ to his resource teacher, and then get five minutes on the iPad before returning back to class.

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Exercise:

Ian is a friendly and curious 6-year-old boy. He attends grade one in a general education classroom. He loves trains and construction vehicles and he can tell you all about them. Sometimes, when he cannot have access to these favorite things, or when he is asked to leave these activities, he will scream, cry, throw himself on the ground, and hit other people.

Who has had experience with tangibly-motivated behaviour? Who can share their experience(s)?

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Antecedent Behaviour Consequence

Student may engage in problem behaviours to escape or avoid tasks that may be too hard, too easy, or too repetitive. Students may have learned that many challenging behaviours are effective in terminating or postponing undesired events.

Some examples of tasks that are non-preferred: academic demands, difficult tasks, social demands, stimulation (e.g., florescent lights, humming of the heaters, peers moving around in the coat room).

For example: Mia is a grade two student in a general education classroom. She is proficient in math, but finds written output (e.g., language arts) challenging. When Mia is asked to write, she will engage in various behaviours, such as kicking off her shoes, ‘loosing’ her pencil, sharpening her pencil, dropping her text books on the floor. Each time she engages in these behaviours, the teacher will ask Mia to clean the items up. Each time Mia engages in these behaviours, she has learned to delay the written task. By the end of class, Mia has produced very little written work.

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Exercise:

Remember Ian? Ian is also learning to print his name. This is a challenging task for Ian because he has some difficulties with fine motor tasks. When he is asked to come to sit at the table to practice printing, he will often run away, cry, and throw materials off the table.

Who has had experience with escape-motivated behaviour? Who can share their experience(s)?

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Antecedent Behaviour Consequence

Some behaviours do not depend on the action of others to provide an outcome. Some challenging behaviours directly produce their own reinforcement. For example, thumb sucking produces physical stimulation to the hand and mouth.

Automatic behaviours involve internal antecedent and consequence, which means that the antecedent and consequence cannot be observed.

Automatic behaviours may happen when someone is alone or in a non-stimulating environment, but those conditions are not necessary. To determine if a behaviour is automatic/sensory motivated, the student must be in an environment where he is alone (not attention), no tangible items are available (not tangible), and no demands are being placed (not escape). If the behaviour occurs in this environment, it can be determined that is it most likely automatic/sensory motivated (as long as medical conditions are ruled out).

For example: Justin is a student in grade 6. He frequently hums quietly and flaps his arms beside his legs. He will engage in these behaviours across various environments (i.e., at home, at school, in the community) when left alone, when preferred items are not available, and when there is lack of demands placed on him.

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Exercise:

Matthew is a happy and energetic 5-year-old boy. He loves singing, listening to music and reading books. He is still learning to play functionally with toys in the classroom and requires adult support to engage in appropriate play. When Matthew is left alone, he will often put various toys and objects in his mouth and chew them.

Who has had experience with automatic/sensory-motivated behaviour? Who can share their experiences(s)?

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Antecedent Behaviour Consequence

Behaviour is complex.

Behaviours can serve more than one function.

Example 1: Yonas is boy with Autism and is attending grade 3 in a general education classroom. When his teacher asks him to sit down at the group table for lunch he will often hit the student next to him. The teachers will rush over and scold Yonas for his wrong doing and then Yonas gets to eat his lunch at a different table with his teacher.

Yonas’ behaviour is motivated by: (1) desire for the attention of his teachers and (2) desire to escape from the group table.

Example 2: Susan starts screaming when her teacher asks her to sit at circle time. She screams when her teacher says, “no” to her request for more cookies at lunch. She also screams when she is left alone to play independently during play time for over 5 minutes.

Susan’s behaviour is motivated by (1) desire to escape from circle time (2) desire for a cookie (tangible) and (3) desire for attention from teachers.

When a behaviour has more than one function, it is an indicator that communication is an area of challenge. Developing the student’s communication skills needs to be part of the intervention plan.

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Different types of behaviours may serve the same function.

Example 1: The student wants to communicate, “I want to leave the lunch table.”

!   Behaviour 1: throwing a tantrum !   Behaviour 2: spitting food !   Behaviour 3: walking away !   Behaviour 4: saying, “I am all done”/ “I want to go”

All these behaviours may serve the same function.

Example 2: Felipe’s SEA is reviewing work with a classmate. During this time, Felipe often makes loud funny noises. His teacher and classmate ignore him. After a few minutes, Felipe begins to throw materials onto the floor. If no one intervenes, he will climb onto the table and shout, “I am going to jump and hurt myself.”

All of Felipe’s behaviours serve the same function. When behaviours serve the same function tend to occur in a predictable sequence it is called a behaviour chain.

Felipe’s behaviour chain: Making loud and funny noises Throwing materials Climbing onto the table and announcing he will jump off

When a behaviour chain is identified, we should intervene in the beginning of the chain and try to stop the rest of the behaviour chain from happening.

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There are two factors that lead the student to use problem behaviors: 1) efficiency 2) effectiveness

Efficiency refers to the effort required to obtain the reinforcer. The less effort that’s required, the more likely the behaviour.

Example: Steve figures out that it is easier to get his peer’s attention by making loud noises when stand close to his peer than it was for him to try to initiate a play statement since he has limited speech.

Effectiveness refers to the quantity and quality of the reinforcer provided, as well as the immediacy of the reinforcer. The larger the amount the reinforcer, the more likely the behaviour. The quicker the reinforcer is presented, the more likely the behaviour.

Example: Mesi figured out that when her teacher is talking with another adult, she always pays a lot of attention (“shh… I’m talking. Why don’t we find something to do”) to her as soon as she screams.

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It is important that students learns a replacement behavior that is more appropriate and serves the same function as the problem behaviour.

It is important to ensure that the replacement behavior taught using FCT is: !   more efficient than the problem behaviour !   equally effective as the problem behaviour !   produces the same results as the problem behaviour

Many teachers want the replacement behaviour and the desired behaviour to be the same. For example, a teacher may want Ken to complete his printing page instead of screaming and kicking.

However, Ken’s problem behaviours get him out of doing his work. The replacement behaviour he is taught must serve the same function (i.e., to get him out of his work). Ultimately, the desired behavior is to learn to complete his printing page without engaging in problem behaviours.

This can be achieved by shaping on-task behaviour using various types of reinforcement and naturally occurring consequences.

Initially, a replacement behaviour that is more acceptable and serves the same function must be taught.

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The student must always meet with success when learning the replacement behaviour.

For Example: When Ken appropriately points to or touches his “break” card, the printing worksheet is immediately removed. If the replacement behaviour is not immediately reinforced, it is likely that Ken will kick and scream because he has learned that it has worked in the past.

As the student demonstrates fluency with the replacement behaviour, delay strategies can be used to systematically increase the amount of time between the student’s request for a break, attention, access, or escape and the delivery of desired outcome.

For Example: Ken has learned to request a break fluently by pointing to a “break” card. Gradually, his teacher will increase the amount of time until he can have a break. The teacher can say, “trace one more then break”, and provide prompting to quickly finish one more tracing task, then quickly remove printing worksheet and provide access to a break.

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Selecting target behaviours:

Address one behaviour/ situation at a time !  Selecting more than one behaviour can be overwhelming !  May require many resources to address each behaviour !   Behaviours that address the same function may be addressed after !  May not need to be addressed after the first behaviour is addressed – you may

see collateral effects on other challenging behaviours

Set up for success !  Choose a simple problem behaviour first !  Allow the student and the team to experience success to set the stage for more

success in the future

Choose a pivotal behaviour !   A pivotal behaviour is a behaviour that can produce other adaptive untrained

behaviours once that behaviour is learned !  When learning a pivotal behaviour, the person will improve the efficiency of

learning, learn new behaviours with which to interact with his environment, and will result in increase chances of accessing reinforcers.

For example: Teaching a student to self-initiate (approaching others to communicate) is a pivotal behaviour. Learning to self-initiate may lead to other untrained skills, such as requesting for items, initiating assistance, asking questions, and commenting.

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Safety first:

!  Problem behaviours that pose danger to self, others or property should be addressed first

!  May require crisis management (strategies that can temporally avoid the behaviour or reduce its impact) prior to FBA although this may inadvertently reinforce problem behaviour

Professional help:

!  When the problem behaviours are complex and/or overwhelming, it is recommended to seek help from qualified professionals, i.e., Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBA™)

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What is A-B-C data? !   A-B-C stands for “Antecedent-Behaviour-Consequence” !   The purpose of this data sheet is to identify the A-B-C patterns to develop a

hypothesis !  A-B-C data helps us to identify the function of the behaviour, the consistent

pairing of antecedents and consequences, the event(s) that trigger the behaviour, and the maintaining consequence of the behaviour.

How do I fill out the A-B-C data sheet? 1.  Identify the target behaviour and have a clear behavioural definition 2. When the behaviour occur, record the date, time, and your initial in the first

column in this A-B-C data sheet 3. Record what happened right before the behaviour under the antecedent

column 4. Record what the student does under the behaviour column and the

measurement of the behaviour under the measurement column 5.  Record the immediate consequence(s) of the target behaviour 6.  Finally, write down the perceive function of the behaviour in the last column

Tips for filling it out the A-B-C data sheet: !   Be specific !   Record immediately after the occurrence of a behaviour !   Have multiple copies around for easy access !  Pay attention to the surrounding environment, including things that you may

be doing to influence the behaviour

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references Cooper, J., Heron, T., & Heward, W. (2007). Applied Behaviour Analysis. New Jersey: Pearson Education.

Emerson E. (1995) Challenging behaviour: analysis and intervention in people with learning disabilities. Cambridge. , Cambridge University Press.

Iwata, B., Wallace, M., Kahng, S., Lindberg, J., Roscoe, E., Conners, J., Hanley, G., Thompson, R., & Worsdell, A. (2000). Skill acquisition in the implemnetation of functional analysis methodology. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 33, 181-194.

Miltenberger, R. (2008). Behaviour Modification. Belmont, CA. Wadsworth Publishing.

O’Neill, R.E., Horner, R.H., Albin, R.W., Spragu, J.R., Story, K., & Newton, J. S. (1997). Functional Assessment and Program Development for Problem Behavior: A Practical Handbook. Pacific Grove, CA. Brooks/Cole Publishing Company.

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