Understanding Behaviour and

Behaviour Management
 What is a behaviour?
Anything we say or do (give chips, wave bye)
•Behaviour is observable
•Behaviour is specific
•Behaviour is measurable
( frequency, duration, intensity)
Examples
Examples
 Are these behaviours?
• Having autism

• Being smart

• Feeling frustrated

• Being silly

• Feeling sick
Behaviours ALWAYS occur for a reason
•If a behaviour is happening, there MUST be a reason
for it, a function for it.

•The person exhibiting the behaviour is trying to

communicate something.
WHY before WHAT and HOW
•Behaviors ALWAYS occur for a reason
•So we need to find out WHY a behaviour is
happening before we can decide what we can
do to or how we can change or modify it.
•We need to find out the FUNCTION of the
behaviour
•And give an appropriate alternative behaviour
 The A-B-C Format
How we analyze behavior

Antecedent Behavior Consequences

What the individual says What happens

Something happens
or does something after the
before the behaviour
observable, specific, behaviour
When, where, who,
measurable
what
 Examples of ABC
You push
Alarm clock the snooze The alarm stops
sounds button
Staff asks a child
Child answers the Staff praises child
a question
question
 Child cries and
Teacher asks child Teacher helps
tries to scratch
to clean their toys the child clean
teacher
their toys
 Let’s try it!
When teacher says “show cup” Sunny shows the cup.
Teacher hugs Sunny.
A B C

Teacher says Sunny shows Teacher hugs

“show cup” the cup Sunny
Abhi, four years old, hits his teacher when she is
talking to other kids. The teacher asks him to keep
his hands quite.
A B C

Teacher asks
Teacher talking Abhi hits
him to keep his
to other kids teacher
hands quite
 Functions of Behavior

For milk Wants mom

Baby crying

Change diaper
Needs medicine Avoid food
 Functions of Behavior
Tangible

Intangible Escape and

(Attention) Avoidance
Behavior

Medical reason Sensory

Lets identify the function of these
behaviors
Soumya, 14 years old, cuddles with her mom
and her mom gives her a balloon.
Bikash moves his head side to side and then
after he falls asleep.
When his mom is busy with her smart phone,
Dipu throws all the objects nearby him until she
keeps down her phone and come to him.
Gitu signs for toilet frequently during group
activities.
 Let’s Try

• What is the function of the behavior when a boy

is spitting at you?
A.) Automatic
B.) Escape/Avoidance
C.) Attention
D.) Access
E.) None of the above

We don’t know. We need to conduct an

assessment to find out.
Identifying the function of a behaviour

• Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA)

• A formal method used to identify antecedents

and consequences that are functionally
related to a particular behavior
• During class time, Evan and Manish throw
pencils from the window to the backyard of
school. After doing this their teacher sends
them to bring the pencil back.
This is the regular ritual of both students.
When is the behavior challenging
•When it interferes in the learning process
•When it causes injury or harm to self or others
•When it prevents the child from performing
usual life routines and activities that are
expected at his level
•When the behavior results in adversely
effecting the mental peace, health and the
general functioning of family members and
others in the environment
Choose your battles
•There are a lot of things that we need to teach
our children
•There may be a lot of behaviours that we want
to change in our children
•We must remember to prioritise keeping the
child’s needs for now and the future in mind.
 Strategies for Managing Behaviour

Once we know the functions of a particular

behavior we can develop a strategy to maintain
or change that behavior by
• Manipulating the antecedent
• Manipulating the consequence
And
• Giving an appropriate alternative behavior
 Antecedent interventions
Antecedent Behavior Consequence

• These are interventions that occur before

the behavior.
– These can reduce the likelihood of a challenging
behavior occurring OR
– These can increase the likelihood of a
replacement behavior occurring.

• Always check your behavior intervention plan for your

appropriate plan of action!! There may be huge indicators
that address the safety of the client and others!!
 Example

Antecedent Behavior Consequence

Attention in
When Kiran is He hits
the form of a
left alone others, which
reprimand
with toys or is followed
and
work… by…
discussion.
 Antecedent Behavior Consequence
Attention in
When Kiran is He hits
the form of a
left alone others, which
reprimand
with toys or is followed
and
work… by…
discussion.

Kiran is provided These are irrelevant because

with a peer buddy challenging behavior is
during work/play avoided.
periods
 Some examples
– Do they frequently have challenging behaviors
when they see chips?
• Keep chips out of sight! Go down another
side in the store, keep them stored in a
different container, set clear expectations for
when and how they can earn them.

– Do they have a more difficult time at the end of

work session than the beginning?
• Front-load work session to have more
challenging work at the beginning, and
easier tasks at the end.

– Do they have a hard time focusing when they are

required to sit for long periods of time?
• Do movement-based programs (such as
sensory diets) first.
• Include activities that allow them to move
• Give them movement breaks between table
top tasks
 Antecedents Intervention

Use of structured teaching methods and other visual supports

 Consequence Interventions
Antecedent Behavior Consequence

• These are interventions that occur after

the behavior

• We can teach/ strengthen/ change behavior by

manipulating consequences using:

• Reinforcement
• Extinction
Impact of consequences
•Most behaviours are learnt, established and
strengthened only if the behaviour is followed
reliably by a consequence that the person finds
rewarding
•Therefore the consequence is one of the keys
to establishing a new behaviour or decreasing
an established behaviour
Reinforcement
Presentation or removal of something, immediately following a
behavior that increases the likelihood of that behavior occurring
in the future.

Reinforcement always increases behavior.

The consequence that strengthens a behavior

Identify the reinforcer

•Richa wakes up at the middle of night and starts crying.

To make her quiet her mother gives her a bottle of milk.
Then she sleeps sucking the milk. This is a regular ritual
of Richa.
•Sita’s scalp is itchy due to dandruff mostly in the
winter. So Sita always applies anti-dandruff shampoo in
the winter to keep her hair dandruff free.
Identify the reinforcer

•Hari stops walking and sits down in front of a shop on

the way back to home from school. After he does this,
his mom buys him a chocolate. This is his regular
routine.
Another example
•Ramu threw the new mobile his mom bought
just before a week into the commode. Seeing
this his mom came running and shouted at him.
She even bit him with a stick and did not give
any other mobile to watch. On the next day he
threw his dad’s mobile again into the
commode.
 Exercise
•Shristi’s mom was busy cooking dinner as few
guest were coming. In the mean time she wet
her pant although she was toilet trained. Her
mom came running and started bitting her
shouting loudly. After this she washed her lower
part with water and changed her wet clothes.
The next day when she was washing clothes she
again repeated the same.
Increasing effectiveness of reinforcers

•Immediacy
•Contingency
•Reinforcers vary across people.
•The value of or the desire for a reinforcer changes
within individuals depending on certain events or
circumstances.
What can be a reinforcer?
•Edibles:
•Chips, Kurkure,biscuits, cake, rock salt, Hajmola, Candies, Glucon
D, boiled egg, French fries, Fruits, salads, Maggi
•Drinks:
•Water, soft drinks, juices, aam panna, lime juice
•Toys:
•Visual toys, sound makers, blocks, bubbles, koosh balls, beanies,
baloons, toy cars, spinning toys, soft toys.
•Wrappers, strings, teethers, empty cans, empty bottles, leaves,
gift wrapping paper, perfumes, cream
What can be a reinforcer?
•Activities:
•Music, swings, trampoline, books, puzzles, colouring, structured
activities, water play, sand play, tickles

•Social praise:
•Hugs, high fives, ‘Good job done’, ‘Smart boy’
Identifying our children’s
reinforcers
•Check what they like to eat or drink
•Check what they do in their free time and their ‘stims’
•Keep introducing new reinforcers (similar to things
that they already like)
•Pair new reinforcers ( Conditioning reinforcers)
•Always pair / deliver social praise with a tangible reinforcer
And
•Pair youself with a reinforcer ( Good things = Pooja / Pooja =
Good things)
Identify the type of
consequence
•Arun joined a new school. He threaded 8 beads
independently during work time. His teacher
was very happy seeing this skill. She praised
Arun loudly and enthusiastically and gave him a
tight hug. She did this over consecutive sessions.
After a week Arun stopped threading beads.
Extinction- Definition
•When a previously reinforced behaviour is
consistently no longer reinforced, the behavior
stops occurring
•With holding reinforcement for a previously
reinforced behavior which decreases the future
probability of that behavior.
•The behavior stops occurring in the future.
Characteristics of Extinction:
Extinction Burst
•When a behaviour is put on extinction
(no longer reinforced), initially:
•The behaviour may briefly increase in
frequency, duration, or intensity
•Novel behaviours may occur
•Emotional responses may occur
Extinction = Ignoring the
behaviour????? ( Contd )
Extinction (removal of the reinforcer) will
depend on the function.
•Tangible Gain: No gain
•Attention: No attention
•Escape: No Escape
•Sensory/ Automatic reinforcement: Removal of
the particular reinforcing sensation
 Steps to use extinction
•Collect data to identify the reinforcer and the
function of the behavior.
•Eliminate the reinforcer after each instance of
the target behavior:
 Can you eliminate the reinforcer
 Is extinction safe to use
 Can the extinction burst be tolerated
 Can consistency be maintained
•Reinforce/ Teach alternative behaviors that serves the
same function as the behavior that has been put on
extinction.

•Promoting generalization: Extinction must be

implemented consistently across all people, all
environments and at all times, whenever the
behaviour occurs. Also all functions.
•Promoting maintenance: Extinction procedure must
be in place in the event of spontaneous recovery.
Punishment is a tool of a WEAK teacher.

B F Skinner
 Punishment is a tool of a WEAK
teacher
• The effect of punishment is short as punished
behavior is not eliminated completely, but it is
only suppressed. It is eliminated in the
presence of punishing agent.
e.g. A child who was spanked for running beside
the pool will look around to see if anyone is
watching and finding nobody will take off
running.
 Contd
• The child who has been punished may want to
escape or avoid the punisher. This will not be
helpful to create a learning environment.
• Punishment will teach a child NOT to do
something but it will not teach them what to
do.
 Punishment may lead to aggression.
• If a child has been exposed to hitting, slapping
and other form of personal violence, there is a
higher probability that they will use those
behaviors in future.
• Teaches children that expressing frustration is
a solution to problems.
• Punishment may even cause physical or
psychological harm.
• The punisher may feel anxiety and guilt.
When to use Punishment?
•Usually said to be a treatment of last resort
•To be used after all other alternative strategies
have been implemented
•To be used scientifically
•Keeping recipient safety and dignity in mind
And remember
•Comfort
•Consistency
•Fun
Is the global approach to managing behaviours
ACCEPT the child for who he IS!
 Case #1: Bebu

• 9 years old, Autism

• Behavior = Spitting
• Functional Assessment =Spitting is
reinforced by attention from parents and
teachers
– Spitting more likely to occur (a) in the
classroom when teacher’s attention is diverted
to other clients, and (b) during transitions
when teacher is not nearby
 Case #2: Deepa

• 5 years, Autism
• Behavior = Head hitting
• Functional Assessment: Head hitting is
maintained by automatic reinforcement
• Deficits in appropriate play skills
• Preference Assessment: When given musical
toys, such as a radio, keyboard, or walkman,
Deepa had high levels of engagement and
rarely hit herself
 Case # 3: Arun

• 3years old, Autism

• Behavior = Hand mouthing
• Functional Assessment = Hand
mouthing maintained by automatic
reinforcement
– More hand mouthing occurred
immediately after meals. Less hand
mouthing occurred when Arun was
receiving one-to-one instruction.
Thank you!
 References
• Indrani Basu-Action for autism(AFA),Delhi
• Catherine Brown [Link]., BCBA