Behavior Management “Help!” There’s a Disaster in Here!

Every student is similar to all others and different from all others. No single set of procedures is effective under all conditions for all students.

Individualize Management interventions are most powerful when they relate to the students needs and desires.

Qualifications of Good Interventions Behavior management interventions are those that enhance the probability that students will develop effective behaviors that are: 1. Personally fulfilling 2. Productive 3. Socially acceptable

Teacher Function “Who is the adult in the classroom?” Behavior management is a teacher function that considers: Individual or group Behavior under consideration Setting Person implementing intervention Purpose of the intervention

Decision Model for Reducing and Substituting Behaviors Step 1. Ask: 1.Is the student making insufficient progress on instructional objectives? 2.Is the student failing to complete assignments, tasks, etc? 3.Does the student rely on teacher assistance more than necessary? 4.Is the student’s behavior interfering with teaching activities? 5.Do other adults report problem behaviors?

6. Does the student interact unacceptably with other students? 7. Does the student interact unacceptably with other teachers? 8.Do other students report difficulties interacting with the student? 9.Does the student display behaviors that will be unacceptable in the next most probable placement? Yes  Go on to Step 2 No  Stop. Consider need for intervention.

Step 2: Define aspects of the problem behavior. Do medical reasons exist for the behavior? Obtain medical exam What is behavior’s function in the environment? To get something To avoid something

Questions (con’t) What specific setting events are related to the behavior? What specific antecedent events are related to the behavior? What specific consequent events are related to the behavior? Identify any communicative function of the behavior? What is this kid trying to tell me?

Assess whether the behavior should be changed? Does the behavior cause injury to the target student or others? Does the behavior interfere with learning of the target student or others? Does the behavior present a safety risk to anyone? Is the behavior inappropriate for the student’s age?

Is the behavior likely to be a long-term problem? Does the behavior occur at intervals different to that of age peers? Is the behavior due to skill deficits in other areas? Does the behavior cause others to avoid interacting with the student? No  Why is this a problem?; Yes  go to step 3

Step 3: Specify What You Want the Student to Do (State As a Behavioral Objective) Specify the behavior to be increased or decreased. Specify the conditions where behaviors will be performed. Specify the criterion at which the behaviors will not be a problem.

Behavioral Objective (con’t) Determine the social validity of the objective. Social validity is determined by how much the behavior affects others and how much the community (school, etc.) tolerates it.

Step 4: Collect Information What will you look for: Frequency  How often does it occur? Latency  How long before the medicine takes effect? How long between the first punch and the return swing? Duration  How long does the behavior last? Intensity  How hot and heavy is it?

Overview Purpose of the decision making rules To decide whether there is a problem that needs attention To determine an alternative action or behavior To have the student take control of the problem behavior

What measurement strategy will be used? Field notes Event sampling Time sampling

Flow chart

Now that we have the data, What do we do? Intervention planning Hypothesis testing If we think one way will work, we must test it We must compare to alternative strategy

Collect data on two or more strategies Graph data Compare Ask student and/or parents for input