Who’s in Charge Here?

An
Introduction to Behavior
Management

Steve Perez, M.A., BCBA

Behavioral Services Specialist
Regional Center of Orange County
 Disclaimer

 This presentation is intended to serve as an

introduction to understanding behavior using a
behavior pathway model
 This presentation seeks to highlight some basic
fundamentals of behavior analysis, in an easy-to-
understand format.
 This presentation is provided for educational purposes,
and should not be construed as formal and/or
comprehensive behavioral management training.
 Behavior
 What is Behavior?
 If it’s observable, it can be considered behavior
 Vocalizations (sounds and words)
 Actions & Gestures
 Most behavior is learned
 Behavior
 Analyzing Behavior
 Observing the responses of others
 Attempt to predict what will trigger the behavior of interest
before the actual behavior has occurred.
 Understanding what happens (or what our reaction is)
after the behavior of interest has occurred.
 Teaching that a better behavior is more effective than
problem behavior
 Behavior Pathway Model

 Adapted from Functional Assessment and Program

Development for Problem Behavior: A Practical
Handbook.
 Written by: O’Neill R.E, Horner, R.H. Albin, R.W. Sprague,
J.R. Story, and K. Newton, J.S. (1997). Brooks / Cole
Publishing Company
 Behavior Pathway

Desired Maintaining
Behavior Consequence

Maintaining
Antecedent/ Problem
Setting Event Consequence
Predictor Behavior
/ Function

Alternative
Behavior
 Problem Behavior

Desired Maintaining
Behavior Consequence

Maintaining
Antecedent/ Problem
Setting Event Consequence
Predictor Behavior
/ Function

Alternative
Behavior
 Problem Behavior
 Identify what the problem behavior is
 What it usually looks like
 How long it can last
 What specific actions are involved (e.g., crying,
screaming, falling to floor)

 Just the action – Don’t worry about when or where,

we’ll get to that later
 Setting Events

Desired Maintaining
Behavior Consequence

Maintaining
Antecedent/ Problem
Setting Event Consequence
Predictor Behavior
/ Function

Alternative
Behavior
 Setting Events
 Time of Day
 Location
 Physical state (Hungry, tired). These can affect whether
or not the problem behavior occurs

 Other people around

 Past experience in similar situations
 Setting events “set the stage”
 Antecedent / Predictors

Desired Maintaining
Behavior Consequence

Maintaining
Antecedent/ Problem
Setting Event Consequence
Predictor Behavior
/ Function

Alternative
Behavior
 Antecedent / Predictors
 Observable condition that happens immediately before
problem behavior occurs
 Being asked to do something
 Taking something away
 Seeing a certain person / item
 Being told “no”, or being told something is over
 Being asked to wait
 What “sets off” the behavior?
 Maintaining Consequence

Desired Maintaining
Behavior Consequence

Maintaining
Antecedent/ Problem
Setting Event Consequence
Predictor Behavior
/ Function

Alternative
Behavior
 Maintaining Consequence
 A maintaining consequence will generally fall under one
of four functions.

 They are….
 Functions of Behavior
 Four Functions
 Established from “evidence from decades of research”
(Cooper, Heron, Howard, 2007).

 Attention
 Escape / Avoidance
 Access
 Sensory (Automatic)
 Attention
 Smiles
 Compliments, praise
 Eye contact
 Surprised looks / change of facial expression
 Reprimands
 Attempts to counsel (“Don’t do that, why did you do that?
Why are you doing that?”) when problem behavior occurs

 Attention comes in all types of forms

 Escape / Avoidance
 Escape –
 Efforts to leave an unpleasant situation that you are
already in

 Avoidance –
 Avoiding a place, person, or situation before the
unpleasant event occurs
 You’ve learned that you are probably going to have to do
something, or that something unpleasant is going to happen
 Access
 Doing something to get something that you want
 The behavior is requesting access, or obtaining access
to something of interest
 Sensory / Automatic
 Doing something because it feels good, or because
you’ve learned it will make you feel better.

 Problem behaviors that truly fall under

sensory/automatic are outside of the scope of this
presentation
 Reinforcement
 Loosely used, reinforcement takes place when we are
granted the function of our behavior.

 The behavior usually ends once the function is met

 Correctly identifying the function is important, and can
take time and effort to do so (even for professionals).
 Inappropriate Behavior
 Consider how you might have inappropriate requests
for:
 Attention
 Escape / Avoidance
 Access
 Desired and Alternate
Behavior

Desired Maintaining
Behavior Consequence

Maintaining
Antecedent/ Problem
Setting Event Consequence
Predictor Behavior
/ Function

Alternative
Behavior
 Desired Behavior
 Refer to four functions of behavior
 What appropriate behavior would serve the same function
 Examples:
 Being able to accept “no” by moving onto another activity
without tantrum behavior
 Giving an item back when asked to do so
 Waiting appropriately for a certain amount of time
 Alternate Replacement
Behavior
 This is more appropriate than the problem behavior, but
not as appropriate as the desired behavior

 This can be a stepping stone on the path to desired

behavior
 Being able to accept “no” by moving onto another activity
without tantrum behavior – asking for more time before
moving on
 Giving an item back when asked to do so – asking for more
time with item
 Functional Equivalence
 Think about the appropriate ways we meet our needs
and wants

 Think about inappropriate ways we can meet our needs

and wants

 Functional equivalence would plan for appropriate

behavior to be more effective than inappropriate
behavior AND satisfy the same function

 How do we “teach” this?

 Maintaining Consequence:
Reinforcement

Desired Maintaining
Behavior Consequence

Maintaining
Antecedent/ Problem
Setting Event Consequence
Predictor Behavior
/ Function

Alternative
Behavior
 Reinforcement
 Reinforcement is a term used that describes a
favorable consequence as a result of our behavior
 We repeat behaviors that are reinforcing
 Parents provide reinforcement for their children
throughout the day

 While we can’t control the behavior of others directly,

we can choose what behavior to reinforce
 Reinforcement
 Reinforcing desired behavior can cause it to increase
 Not reinforcing (ignoring) problem behavior can cause
it to decrease

 “Good” behavior needs to be more effective for the

child to use than “bad” behavior. This will build habits
of using “good” behavior
 Encourage Appropriate
Behavior
 Consider how you are reinforcing appropriate requests
for:
 Attention
 Escape / Avoidance
 Access
 Encourage Appropriate
Behavior
 Plan to reinforce the alternate behavior before the
challenging behavior occurs

 Reinforce attempts of appropriate behavior!

 The child should get a better outcome when using
appropriate behavior versus inappropriate behavior
 Antecedent / Predictors

Desired Maintaining
Behavior Consequence

Maintaining
Antecedent/ Problem
Setting Event Consequence
Predictor Behavior
/ Function

Alternative
Behavior
 Common Antecedent
Strategies
 Offer choices
 Do you want to pick up the blue blocks or the red blocks?
 Do you want to first color or eat?
 Providing choices can distract a child from focusing on
not getting their way

 First, then
 First clean up the toy cars, then you can watch a video.
 Of course you can watch a video, right after you clean up
the cars
 Common Antecedent
Strategies
 Priming
 Giving advance notice/warning that a transition is coming
up
 “Five minutes left, then we’re going to clean up”
 Remind as each minute winds down, timer is helpful
 Counting down / counting up
 Visuals
 Timers / Schedules
 Calendars
 Communicate the day’s schedule
 Common Antecedent
Strategies
 Environmental arrangements
 Furniture
 How many toys are out (Are they readily accessible?)
 How many food items are on child’s plate at a given time
(If they knock over plates)
 Access to TV, outside area?
 Additional Strategies
 Rule – Governed Behavior
 “If, then”
 “If you want to walk, then you must hold my hand”
 “If you try to let go, we will wait until you hold my hand
again to keep walking”
 “If you want to go outside, then we must put your shoes
on”
 “If your shoes come off, we have to go inside, and put
them back on before going back outside”
 Teach time and place for certain behaviors (Food stays at
the table).
 Additional Strategies
 Following through – Be persistent if you want
consistency
 Think about the requests that you make to your child
 Wait to make a request until you are able to ensure that
you can follow through and ensure the child responds to
your request
 If you’re repeating your request, consider showing your
child what your expectation is
Considerations
 Ignoring Problem Behavior
 Ignoring problem behavior will usually cause the
behavior to get worse before it gets better
 Are you in a safe place and time to wait it out?
 Ignoring problem behavior should only be considered if
BOTH you and your child are aware of what the
appropriate behavior is
 Don’t leave you or your child guessing
 As problem behavior lessens, it may suddenly get
worse for a short time again (This is expected)
 Be Consistent
 Categorize what behavior is appropriate and
inappropriate

 Be consistent in responding to appropriate or desired

behavior more favorably than inappropriate behavior
 Persistence (Reinforcement
History)
 Our response history to our child's problem behavior can set
our child’s level of persistence with problem behavior

 Attempting to ignore a behavior at first, then “giving in” when

it escalates teaches a child to persist and escalate problem
behavior until the desired response is obtained

 “Giving in” randomly to appropriate behavior can teach

persistence of appropriate behavior

 Take time to reinforce the attempts of appropriate behavior,

before a problem behavior has occurred (watch for it)
 Persistence (Reinforcement
History)
 Persistence is a good quality to have for some things
 Persistence in the wrong places (or wrong behaviors)
can lead to many tantrum episodes

 What is your child trying to negotiate or obtain in their

tantrum episode?

 How might they obtain it instead of a tantrum episode

(Or is obtaining It an option)?
 Persistence (Reinforcement
History)
 We learn to be most persistent when:
 Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t
 We’ve learned that if we persist long enough, the other
person might change their mind, or offer something better
 Some things are “negotiable”
 Persistence (Reinforcement
History)
 We learn to be less persistent when:
 Something works all the time, every time.
 Something works the first time
 If our behavior stops working, we’ll give up easier
because we have learned that it usually works right
away

 E.g., light bulbs when they burn out (Do we try to “fix” a
broken light bulb, or do we look for a new one?)
 Reinforce, Reinforce,
Reinforce…..
 Focus on reinforcing appropriate requests and behavior
 Minimize your responses to inappropriate behavior
 Behavior Pathway

Desired Maintaining
Behavior Consequence

Maintaining
Antecedent/ Problem
Setting Event Consequence
Predictor Behavior
/ Function

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

 Cooper, J.O., Heron, T.E., and Heward, W.L. (2007).

Applied Behavioral Analysis. Saddle River, NJ: Pearson
Education, Inc.
 The End
 Thank you for your attendance
 Questions?