Designing Strategies to Improve Your Child’s Behavior

Designing Strategies to Improve Your Child’s Behavior

The process begins with identifying broad goals, choosing routines, and defining behaviors of concern. Next, you track behavior and determine the patterns that surround your child’s positive and problem behavior. These patterns are summarized and include circumstances in which behavior is most and least likely to happen and what your child gets or avoids as a result of the behavior (i.e., the “pay-off” that causes behavior to continue). Purposes or “functions” of behavior include getting attention, items, or activities or avoiding or delaying, situations that are difficult or unpleasant. Behavior patterns vary across situations and can be influenced by other issues such as health issues and changes in routine.

Once you have an understanding of the patterns surrounding your child’s behavior within the routines you want to address, you are able to choose strategies that specifically target those patterns. You can address your child’s challenging behavior by (a) being proactive and preventing problem behavior, (b) teaching replacement behaviors that serve the same purpose but are more desirable for your family/child, and (c) managing consequences that encourage positive, instead of problem, behavior.

Related: [SPECIAL BEHAVIOR ISSUE]

Proactive Strategies

Proactive strategies include changing situations, so that your child’s problem behavior is not necessary and reminding your child how to behave. Here are some sample strategies based on the purpose(s) behavior serve:

Attention – Increase attention throughout the day and let your child know when you may be unavailable. Provide activities to keep your child busy. Remind your child to ask for attention nicely and model what that looks/sounds like.

Items or activities – Clarify what items are available and remove items your child cannot have. Prompt your child to request items appropriately.

Avoidance – Modify situations or activities that are too long, difficult, or unpleasant. Offer choices. Remind your child to request help or breaks.

Sensory outcomes – Enrich the environment with sensory activities. Remove items that may lead to inappropriate sensory behavior.

In this video, the boy’s mother explains that she is not going to be available while on the phone. She suggests activities so her son will be less likely to interrupt her.

Teaching Replacement Behaviors

Teaching replacement behaviors involves prompting your child to use words or other forms of communication or use other strategies to meet his or her needs. Here are some sample strategies:

Attention – Teach your child to ask for attention, interaction, or contact by saying something like “Will you talk to/play with me?” or gently tapping your shoulder.

Items or activities – Teach your child to request items with words, gestures, or pictures by saying something like, “May I have _?” or pointing.

Avoidance – Teach your child to request a break, delay, or help using pictures, words, or other forms of communication.

Sensory outcomes – Teach your child to get sensory input through appropriate activities such as music or physical activity or to avoid unpleasant sensory experiences (e.g., by wearing headphones or moving away from crowds).

In this video, the father shows his daughter to say “all done” rather than pushing her food off the plate. Once she has learned to say this consistently, he would want her to eat, set her fork down, and then make this request.

Managing Consequences

Managing consequences means providing reinforcement for the behaviors you want your child to use and withholding or minimizing reinforcement following problem behavior. Here are some sample strategies:

Attention – Provide enthusiastic attention for positive behavior (e.g., praise, hugs). Minimize attention for problem behavior by ignoring or redirecting your child in a neutral tone.

Items or activities – Only give your child items or activities after he or she requests them appropriately or has been patient when a delay is necessary.

Avoidance – Give your child help or breaks from activities when he or she asks appropriately, rather than following problem behavior.

Sensory outcomes – Redirect your child to more appropriate sensory experiences.

In this video, the mother tells her daughter she may not have her phone, but offers her other, more appropriate choices of toys.

In addition to using proactive strategies, teaching replacement behaviors, and managing consequences, you may want to address broader issues that may be contributing to your child’s behavior. These might include addressing medical issues (e.g., illness, sleep, diet), getting your child involved in activities that provide exercise or interaction, or changing aspects of their environment, interactions, tasks, or routines. It is critical that behavior support strategies not only improve child behavior, but also achieve long-term goals for your child and quality of life for the whole family.

Once you have developed your strategies, you can compile them into a behavior support plan. To the right is an example of a plan for Mauricio.

Behavior Support Plan for Mauricio

Broad Goal: Participate more fully in family activities throughout the day.

Antecedents (Triggers) The whole family begins an activity (e.g., meal, board game, movie) in which they are in close quarters and interacting with one another.

Behaviors of Concern of Concern Mauricio may whine, scream, ignore requests from family members, or leave the designated area and sulk.

Consequences (Gets/Avoids) He interferes with or gets out of having to participate in the routine. His mother or another family member consoles him if he becomes too upset or leaves the area.

Proactive Strategies Provide a visual schedule or verbal warnings of when activities will happen. Provide Mauricio with a verbal script of what is going to happen ahead of time (e.g., “First we will sit down. Next, we will….”). Integrate his interests (e.g., Pokemon, Paw Patrol) into activities when possible. Begin with short activities that are geared toward Mauricio’s interests and then build in longer, less preferred activities.

Replacement Behaviors Teach Mauricio to request brief breaks. Teach him to ask for a turn or ask questions related to the activity. Teach him to comment about what he or his family members are doing. Teach him to protest politely by saying something like “No thanks”.

Management Strategies Allow Mauricio to take short breaks from activities when he asks appropriately. Give him turns or attention immediately following appropriate requests, at least in the beginning. Ignore his whining and screaming or redirect in a neutral tone of voice. Ensure that siblings are not providing attention. Do not follow him out of the living area, but monitor him for safety.

Other Supports: Develop a household activity schedule, so Mauricio can see ahead of time what activities will be occurring and when. Communicate with the school to see how he engages in group activities there. Include a neighborhood friend, cousin, or other similar age kids in activities if possible. Build in high energy activities (e.g., trips to the park, swimming, etc.) throughout the week in order to enrich the family environment.

As you can see, the behavior support plan includes a variety of strategies that are tailored to the patterns surrounding Maurico’s behavior and the circumstances in which the plan will be used. Once a plan is developed, the next step is to put it in place. The article in the next issue will focus on using the plan, with a specific emphasis on teaching skills within family routines.

Related: Monitoring Progress

Meme Hieneman, has a Ph.D. in Special Education and is nationally certified as a behavior analyst. She has published a variety o f articles, chapters, and books including “ Parenting with Positive Behavior Support: A Practical Guide to Resolving Your Child’s Difficult Behavior.” In her professional career, M em e has worked with children with severe behavior problems for m ore than 20 years.

https://www.parentingspecialneeds.org/article/a-complete-guide-on-positive-behavior-support-for-children-with-special-needs/

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This post originally appeared on our May/June 2017 Magazine