UNDERSTANDING BEHAVIORAL CHALLENGES & SUPPORTING YOUR CHILD AT

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Presented By Frank LoCurto, MS, BCBA, LBA

Behavior Specialist, MUFSD

Tonight's Objectives

• Learn to Look at Behavior from a Functional Perspective

• Develop Skills to Analyze Behavior Effectively

• Learn how to Formulate a Plan to Address Challenging Behavior

• Learn Practical Strategies and Tools to Improve overall behavior at home, and increase independence

• “I send Billy to his room whenever he becomes defiant, but he continues to argue with me whenever I ask him to do something.”

• “When Sally empties the refrigerator and laughs about it, I have a long discussion with her, and then we clean it together…..Why does it keep happening???”

• “Sue loves to bounce on things, but when I took her to her friends birthday party at Bounce U, she ran under a table and started to cry for no reason at all????”

Real Life Scenarios

• Often times, specific behaviors are given a specific set consequences.

• Here, severity of behavior usually dictates level of consequence.

• For example, Billy may be sent to his room every time he breaks something in the house.

• In some cases, this may be the right consequence; however, in others, sending Billy to his room might be exactly what he wants!

Let’s look at addressing behavior from a different perspective

• People engage in behavior (both good and bad) mostly to communicate with us (Let’s Refer to these as Category 1 Behaviors )

• Behavior is directed toward you because your child needs you to give them what they are trying to get

• They are trying to communicate one of the following

• They want something (Access to things) • They don’t want something (Escape / Avoidance) • They don’t want to do something (Escape / Avoidance) • They are looking for attention (Access to person)

Looking at “Why” Behavior Happens

• People may also engage in behaviors because

they provide some sort of stimulation or relieve pain, discomfort, physical agitation, etc… (Category 2 Behaviors – Automatic)

• With Category 2 behaviors (automatic) – the behavior itself is providing the reinforcement

Looking at “Why” Behavior Happens

The reasons “why” a person engages in a behavior is referred to as the “function” of that behavior. Learning the “function” of a behavior is critical in developing a plan to improve behavior It will provide you with a starting point in recognizing what the problem is and what you can do to support your child, both PROACTIVELY and REACTIVELY.

Why the “Why” is So Important

Analyzing behavior is as easy as A-B-C

•A = Antecedent (What Happens Immediately Before the Behavior)

• B = Behavior (The Target Behavior)

• C = Consequence (What Happens Immediately After the Behavior)

Case Study “Monty”

Analyzing behavior is as easy as A-B-C

• A = Monty Is

Sleeping on the Couch and Hears a Bag Crinkling

Analyzing behavior is as easy as A-B-C

•B = Monty Jumps

off the Couch and Sits Pretty

Analyzing behavior is as easy as A-B-C

• C = Monty Gets His Favorite Treat

• What will Monty do next time he hears a bag crinkle????

• Behaviors that are reinforced (Both good and bad) will increase

• Billy has a hard time holding on to instructions and planning how to complete a task. His brain gets all fuzzy in the middle of it. Going to his room makes him feel better and clear his brain.

• Sally has a hard time staying on task and playing independently. Not knowing what to do makes her anxious. She finds comfort in her parent’s company during these times, even if their tone is negative toward her.

• Sue has a hard time regulating her body when there is too much going on. This feeling is very scary for her and she has no idea how to cope with it other than running away from the noise.

• *****It is important to always understand that our kids act out, most of the time, for reasons which are very valid, real and important to them. Often times, their reactions are the ways they have learned to cope in the world around them.

Let’s Take a Look Back at Our Friends Billy, Sally and Sue

• When looking to help your child improve his / her behavior, either at home or in school, it is important to build a plan that covers the following:

• 1. An understanding of why the behavior is happening (function).

• 2. Proactive Strategies which can be put in place to support your child and create a more user friendly environment for them with many opportunities for reinforcement. (Antecedent Strategies)

• 3. Identifying and teaching them new and better ways to communicate their needs and wants to ultimately replace the challenging behaviors (Replacement Behaviors).

• 4. Appropriate Consequences / ways to react to challenging behavior which no longer reinforces it (Extinction).

Let’s Cover All The Bases and Make a Behavior Plan!

• Being proactive and supporting your child early is the MOST effective way to intervene and make behavior change for the better.

Proactive Strategies - Make the Environment Work for your child

A Little Comparison

• Today I have a busy day. When I wake up I need to remember to make my bed, put my clothes in the hamper……wait, before I do that, I need to make sure I feed my fish because I always forget. Ughhh. Will I have time for breakfast. Mom says that it is the most important meal of the day..Ok, wait, did I make my bed??? Let me go check…I think I did. What is the weather today?? Should I wear my sweater or can I wear my short sleeve shirt? When is the bus coming? I can’t forget my lunch? This is way too much information!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

• Morning Routine

• 1. Wake up and make my bed

• 2. Feed the fish

• 3. Get dressed and put pajamas in hamper

• 4. Eat breakfast

• 5. Brush Teeth

• 6. Get my backpack from kitchen chair and put lunch in it

• 7. Get on Bus and go to School

• Utilize supports to help guide your child through his / her day

• These can be in the form of:

• - Visual Schedules

• - Communication Supports

• - Reinforcement Systems

• - Self-Monitoring Tools

• - Limit / Guideline Setting Visuals

Proactive Strategies – Set your child up for success!

Schedules Are Great Tools to Build Independence, Minimize Prompting, and

Teach our Kids to Better Plan and Organize • Schedules • Schedules are great tools in

the home environment • They help to create

structure within activities / routines and throughout the day

• Schedules have the capability to serve as planning tools for people to use to complete tasks independently

• Types of Schedules

• 1. Daily Schedules

• 2. Daily Living Routine Schedules

• 3. Activity / Play Schedules

Daily Schedules

• Daily Schedules • Daily Schedules illustrate the activities / events of the day in chronological order

• Daily Schedules can either be presented through pictures, words or both (Many are used on Augmentative Communication Devices)

Tips for Implementing Daily Schedules

- Schedules should be placed in locations which are clearly visible to your child

- Start out with small chunks of the day (2-3) activities and gradually increase

- When prompting, keep in mind that independence is the goal. Use as subtle prompts as necessary (Ex. Gestures, Physical Guidance, Etc…) to facilitate success. As your child shows greater independence, begin to fade back the level of prompts you use

Daily Schedules

Daily Living Routine Schedules

• Daily living routines are great skill building activities for your children for several reasons:

• 1. They are structured and often remain constant

• 2. They occur every day so your child has several opportunities to practice them

• 3. Because they typically occur in the same order, picture or word schedules work great as prompts to help your child complete these tasks independently

• 4. These visuals will also create criteria your child needs to complete to finish the routine (They will serve as a self-monitoring tool to improve goal directed and on-task behavior)

• 5. They can be used as reinforcement schedules which will increase your child’s motivation to comply with and finish the task.

• 6. Putting a picture of the reinforcer your child will receive for completing the task is often effective in keeping him / her motivated throughout the task.

Daily Routine Schedules

Activity Schedules

• Activity schedules are great tools to help your child:

• 1. They assist in keeping your child on task and goal directed (Being on and off task are incompatible behaviors)

• 2. They help in transitioning from activity to activity • 3. They are self-monitoring tools that will help your child increase the

length of time they are engaged in appropriate activities, which will have a direct effect on the amount of time they are disengaged or engaged in inappropriate behaviors.

Increased Engagement and Level of On-Task Behavior = Increased

Opportunity for Reinforcement and Learning Opportunities!!!!

Activity Schedules

• 1. Activities should be things your child can do mostly or fully independently

• 2. Tasks should be completion ones, or timed, to establish a clear beginning and end for your child (This will help during transitions)

• 3. The system should be one that your child can navigate with little or no prompting (even better if it looks similar to other schedules used in the home – Ex. Daily Living)

• 4. Reinforcement should be incorporated into the schedule (Ex.. Highly preferred activity after completion of first 2)

• 5. Independence is key so use the least intrusive prompts necessary.. Also, use prompts that will help your child utilize the tools that have been put into the environment – Ex.. Schedule

Activity Play Schedules – General Tips for Implementation

• They provide our kids with built in supports to learn skills that they will need to know for the rest of their lives

• They are transferrable and generalizable….. Meaning that the same system can be applied for several different things

• They often reduce the level of prompting that our kids require

• They help our kids learn to be more goal directed and develop better organization skills (Executive Functioning)

• They offer our kids with more opportunities for reinforcement (recognition of completion of each step of a task) vs. negative consequences (redirection or negative comments for not completing a whole task)

General Points on Why Schedules Are Effective

2. Create a User Friendly Environment at Home

• Eliminate any clutter in the areas your child uses regularly (Kitchen / Play

Area / Bathroom / Etc…). More is not always better. By giving access to fewer items at once, and then rotating them with others, you will keep items novel for your child and significantly reduce the amount of stimulation in your child’s environment

• Organizers work great! (Cubbies and closet organizers are effective tools to create a place for each functional item your child regularly uses). This will make your child’s environment more consistent and predictable.

• These organizers will make these items visible and create a designated locations where your child knows to find them, and just as importantly, put them away.

• Using corresponding pictures or word labels on these cubbies / organizers will also help your child utilize the environment effectively.

Create a User Friendly Environment at Home

3. Incorporate Functional Communication Supports

Throughout the Home Setting

• Pictures and labels can also be used as communication tools for your child if they are placed in strategic locations in the environment. Some examples include:

• 1. “On” next to the TV

• 2. “Help” in a location where your child may require assistance with a specific skill

• 3. Creating a menu of food on the refrigerator door and requiring your child to request for the food he / she wants to eat.

Incorporate Functional Communication Supports Throughout The Home Setting

• Utilizing these supports will provide your child with several more opportunities each day to develop her ability to communicate

• This will reduce the level of prompting your child ultimately requires to communicate his needs

• Having communication supports in place for your child to use will also serve as a proactive strategy to decrease the likelihood of behavioral escalations due to inability to communicate effectively (Teaching of Replacement Behaviors)

• Increased ability to communicate will also result in increased opportunities for reinforcement for your child each and every day.

Incorporate Functional Communication Supports Throughout

the Home Setting

Limit Setting and Enforcing (Proactive – Reactive Strategies)

• Power struggles are common when managing challenging behavior.

• Power struggles can occur through a variety of ways, and with people of all different cognitive levels!

• Setting rules / consequences ahead of time will help reduce negotiation and power struggles.

• When setting limits for your child, it is

important to set ones which are clear, reasonable / attainable and enforceable.

• By doing this you will not only provide concrete expectations for your child, you will also identify more appropriate replacement behaviors which can be incorporated into your child’s reinforcement systems.

• Escape / Avoidant Behavior = Follow Through and Provide Support

• Attention Seeking = Provide Minimal / No Attention

• Acting Out to Get Access to Something = Do Not Provide the item / action

• The Behavior provides stimulation or relieves pain or discomfort

= Block Behavior and provide the child with an alternative which is more appropriate

• * It is critical for your child to learn that the methods they have been using to meet the above needs no longer work.

• * While this is occurring, it is also critical for your child to learn the behaviors we are teaching them are the ones that now work. This will encourage engagement in these replacement behaviors and hopefully extinguish the inappropriate ones.

Enforcing the Right Consequences

• Avoid Negotiation; Enforcing limits which have been previously set will help with this. Less is always more.

• Be even and consistent when addressing your child’s behavior.

• Things may get more challenging before they get better….This is actually a good sign!

• Slow and Steady wins the race. True behavior change is a process, not something that happens overnight.

• Pick your battles; tackling too many challenges at once can become very overwhelming for you and your child.

• Work with all those who interact with your child on a regular basis to help maintain a high level of consistency amongst people in his / her life.

General Tips When Reacting to Behavior

• ?????Questions??????

Thank You