Today we are joined by Karli Koning from http://www.behaviorpc.com/ to talk about challenging behavior problems in children. Karli explains how to figure out the function of a child’s behavior and use that information to help correct it.Listen to the interview here or keep scrolling to view the notes:

Show Notes:

• ABC Model of Looking at Behaviors
  • Removes the emotional component of dealing with behaviors
  • A: Antecedent: What happens before the behavior occurs
  • B: Behavior: Look at the actions of the child
  • C: Consequence: Anything that happens after or as a result of the behavior
  • Choose one type of behavior or situation to collect data on at any one time
• Functions of Behaviors
  • Try to analyze why the behavior happened
  • Function is either to get something or avoid/escape something
• Interventions
  • Come up with a replacement behavior that you can teach them that will give them a more appropriate way to communicate that need
  • Change the environment so the behavior is less likely to occur
  • Make the old behavior less effective (don’t respond to that)
• Reinforcement vs. Punishment
  • Reinforcement will allow you to reinforce positive behaviors (the replacement behavior) whereas punishment applies a consequence for the old, inappropriate behavior
  • There are some situations where punishment is necessary but you should always start by reinforcing the positive behavior and making the old behavior less effective
• Match the replacement behavior to the skill level of the child

Get the Worksheets!

Don’t forget to download my awesome worksheets that will give you a place to collect data about the behaviors you are seeing and make your hypothesis about what the function of the behaviors is. Also, this handout includes replacement behaviors for each of the different functions so you can quickly and easily know what replacement behaviors to teach the child. Click the button below to download the handouts:

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