If you have a child with a behavior problem that does not respond to traditional behavior strategies you should ask your school to do an FBA (Functional Behavioral Analysis). This will help you and all the people who work with your child figure out why your child is using a behavior.
Before you do an FBA, check every possible medical reason that may cause your child's behavior. Medication? Tired? Hungry? New Teeth?
If you don't take time to do this, here are a few mistakes that may happened. (these are real examples)
- A child who was being noncompliant and shouting "No" for no apparent reason was having psychomotor seizures.
- A child who was biting everyone was getting 12 year molars.
- A child who was scratching his face was allergic to the cleaner used on the desks.
- A child who started screaming when he walked to school was allergic to the leaves on the sidewalk that kicked up dust.
REMEMBER THIS
- Behavior is communication so your child is telling you something when he uses a specific behavior.
- An FBA will look for the reason (motivation) your child is doing the behavior.
- to get attention,
- to escape,
- to get something,
- or because it fills a sensory need -
BUT WHAT YOU DO WITH THIS INFORMATION WILL CHANGE YOUR CHILD'S BEHAVIOR.
That is where people get confused.
Let's take "escape" for an example.
- Your child drops to the ground to get out of doing an activity he doesn't want to do. Classic "Escape" motivation.
- You want to stop that behavior.
- You replace it with saying "No" or some other more appropriate behavior.
If you are doing an FBA on a child it means you want to find out why a child is using a behavior to communicate and help them find another way to communicate. Communication means you are going to listen to the child. That means when your child says "no" he is saying, "I don't want to do the activity." Sounds pretty straight forward.
If you have a child with a behavior problem that does not respond to traditional behavior strategies you should ask your school to do an FBA (Functional Behavioral Analysis). This will help you and all the people who work with your child figure out why your child is using a behavior.
Before you do an FBA, check every possible medical reason that may cause your child's behavior. Medication? Tired? Hungry? New Teeth?
If you don't take time to do this, here are a few mistakes that may happen (these are real examples).
- A child who was being non-compliant and shouting "No" for no apparent reason was having psychomotor seizures.
- A child who was biting everyone was getting 12 year molars.
- A child who was scratching his face was allergic to the cleaner used on the desks.
- A child who started screaming when he walked to school was allergic to the leaves on the sidewalk that kicked up dust.
REMEMBER THIS
- Behavior is communication so your child is telling you something when he uses a specific behavior.
- An FBA will look for the reason (motivation) your child is doing the behavior.
- to get attention,
- to escape,
- to get something,
- or because it fills a sensory need -
BUT WHAT YOU DO WITH THIS INFORMATION WILL CHANGE YOUR CHILD'S BEHAVIOR.
That is where people get confused.
Let's take "escape" for an example.
- Your child drops to the ground to get out of doing an activity he doesn't want to do. Classic "Escape" motivation.
- You want to stop that behavior.
- You replace it with saying "No" or some other more appropriate behavior.
If you are doing an FBA on a child it means you want to find out why a child is using a behavior to communicate and help them find another way to communicate. Communication means you are going to listen to the child. That means when your child says "no" he is saying, "I don't want to do the activity." Sounds pretty straight forward.
Uh-Oh. What usually happens is this.
- Your child learns to say "No"
- An adult says, "Get your coat on."
- Your child says, 'No."
- The adult says, "Put your coat on now."
- Your child says, "No."
- The adult says, "Put your coat on now or you will not get snack after recess."
- Your child says, "No."
- The adult gets the coat and says, "You have to go out and you have to put your coat on."
- Your child gives up and drops to the ground. (By this time recess is over, the other kids come in, your child doesn't get a snack and there is a big meltdown.)
If you are going to teach a child to say "no" you have to live with the consequences of teaching that behavior. The better response would be, one of these:
- Can you tell me why you don't want to go put your coat on? Assume there is a valid reason for the "no."
- Can you show me what you want?
- Do you want to go out?
- Do you want to go to the bathroom?
So if you are working with a group of people who are willing to help your child to communicate more effectively and appropriately, you should do an FBA and you will get great results.
WAIT A MINUTE. Does this mean my child is going to say "no" and get his own way all the time? Absolutely not. The magic of communication is once you trust other people to listen to your communication, you learn more ways to communicate and you will learn to negotiate and make choices.
Eventually, you will get to this point. "Ok, you don't want to put your coat on because it's cold out and you don't like the cold. So here are your choices. I'll give you a timer and you go out for 5 minutes (I promise) or you can go sit in the library and listen to music with the librarian. What do you say?"
