Functions of Behavior Workshop in February

< Understanding how and why behavior works is essential to the treatment of autism. When you understand behavior, you get to be a more effective teacher to your child. Come to the workshop and learn more. Please register online and we will contact you with more details.Fee for this workshop is MYR 80. All proceeds will go to reaching out to more families that have children with diagnosed with autism, and teaching parents the skills necessary to be able to sustain a good behavior plan for their child. Proceeds will also go to ongoing teacher training at schools that desire our help in training. Workshop will be held from 10A.M to 1 P.M. Light refreshments will be provided.

Looking forward to see you all there!

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Helping your child understand the good and the bad.

Holidays are an amazing time. You spend a ton of time with family, eat good food, laugh, dance and really not worry about all the calories you are consuming. You also are busy and your children may get away with some things.

For the holidays this year, I got to spend time in Dubai with my amazing family. My cousin has two little boys and her oldest is 4 years old. He is an amazing, intelligent, handsome, and a very smart little boy. He recently welcomed a little brother and has been engaging in behaviors that may be attention seeking. In addition, his routine has changed. There are people visiting, his meal times have shifted, all these people are giving him so much attention and even more attention to his brother. It's very hard for a little kid to understand that his little brother is still a baby. Even harder for him to understand that he is not the only little kid in the home anymore. So what are parents to do? My cousin actually designed a motivational system for her son. It has the seven planets on it, and when he displays "good attitude" the planets moved closer to earth. Once it lands on earth, he gets access to his favorite movie "The Avengers!! ".

This is exactly what a child needs.
1) A visual
2) A set contingency: when you display good behavior you get something you like
3) following through.

In this scenario, the three term contingency is very clear: Antecedent ( He sees a toy that he likes) ------> Behavior ( He asks for it appropriately)---------> Consequence ( You displayed awesome attitude, your planet gets moved closer to earth)

On the contrary, if he/she displayed inappropriate behavior, the planet moves down and he loses access to the avengers movie and does not get access to the toy.

Things to remember and consider when using a motivational system especially for a younger child:

1) First things first, understand the function of the behaviors that are being displayed ( please refer to the previous blog for more information on this). 

 2) Make sure the visual is very clear. It should be kid friendly with very minimal distractors as possible so your child easily sees when he gains or loses something. Visuals are very important.

3)  When your child displays inappropriate behavior and he loses a spot on the motivational system, remember the very next time he displays good behavior, move the planet all the way up so he gets reinforcement for the good behavior he did display. This is because you want the motivational system to be meaningful to him and want that motivational system to be more reinforcing than punishing.

 4) Always magnify learning and shape good behavior in small steps. So if this is the first time your child is using a motivational system, get him access to the preferred item that same day. You are teaching your child an incentive. Therefore, to teach this and in order for them to make a connection with that motivational system, they have to value it. Eventually, once he/she starts learning the set contingencies, you can start fading when he/she gets access to the preferred choices.

5) It's always great to give your child choices. Give him/her three preferred choices to choose from. Display these choices on the motivational system itself.

6) Follow through and be consistent. This is the most important component of using a motivational system. Remember, if you are inconsistent, it will make the inappropriate behavior even stronger. This is because your child will be confused and is learning that at times he is getting access to things he likes by acting out. When this happens, he/she is going to try everything and anything to get access to the things that they like again. So be consistent. When your child displays inappropriate behavior, give them clear consequences. Black and white. There should never be grey areas.

 7) Last but not least. Celebrate success in a big way ! go all out ! make your child the happiest person ever !! :) Here's an example of a visual for a motivational system.

Here's an example of a visual for your child:

As always, please email me if you have any questions :) and wishing everyone a very happy 2013 !!!

Why do we do what we do?

"The function of a behavior refers to the source of environmental reinforcement for it."

Tarbox et al (2009, p. 494)

Everyday and in the very beginning of life, as an infant, we have learned to do things because of the consequences that were put in place. These consequences were put in place based on the environment that we were in. For example: A baby has learned to cry when hungry so he/she will be fed, cleaned or picked up.

Therefore, in applied behavior analysis, behavior is maintained by several functions. In other words, behavior happens for certain reasons and understanding the reason why certain behaviors occur, will help us understand why a person does what he/she does. Behavior could be maintained by the following functions: attention, escape/avoidance,  tangible/activities or automatically maintained. Sometimes, behavior can serve multiple functions. For example, a child might learn to hurt themselves during class to get out of having to complete academic tasks and then also hurt themselves in the playground to get attention from the teachers.


Attention

You tell a joke and your friends laugh. You love your friends laughing at your joke because you absolutely love the attention, so you tell another joke. This joke telling behavior, is maintained by attention. You are more likely to tell a joke in their presence again because you love the attention.

Another example, your child kicks his sibling and his mother gives him attention for this. The child continues to kick his sibling because every time he kicks his sibling, his mother takes away attention from the sibling and giver her attention to the child kicking. His kicking behavior then is maintained by his mother's attention.

It may seem weird that a person would engage in a behavior to deliberately have someone scold them. However, it can occur because for some people it’s better to obtain “bad” attention than no attention at all (Cooper, Heron & Heward, 2007). 

Escape/Avoidance

Not all behaviors occur so the person can “get access” to something. Some behaviors occur because the person wants to get away from something or avoid something (Miltenberger, 2008).

For example, You see a cop on the road while you are speeding, you slow down. The reason why you slow down is because you want to avoid a speeding ticket.

Another great example is that you keep putting off your dentist appointment even though your teeth needs attention because going to the dentist is aversive and you want to avoid going as much as possible. 

Tangible/Activities

Your child cries or screams whenever they want a specific toy (tangible) in the store until you buy it for your child or your child kicks and cries every time he wants to go to the pool (activities) because every time he does this, you take him to the pool.

Automatic

Some behaviors, have no particular environment function. Some behaviors we only do because it feels good when we do it.  It is pleasing to us internally or in other words, they are “self-stimulating” (O’Neill, Horner, Albin, Sprague, Storey, & Newton, 1997) For example, rocking back and forth and twirling our hair while we read a book.


Behaviors always occur for a reason and it is very important to understand the reasons as to why these behaviors occur. Understanding the reasons, will help us determine how to improve a behavior or decrease an undesired behavior.

If you wish to learn more, please sign up for the following workshop on functions of behavior.

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What makes a good ABA instructor?

Parents always ask me this question about ABA instructors and what makes a good one. Like any other professional that sees to your child's needs, an ABA instructor has to be very well qualified.

A good ABA Instructor has to possess the following skills:

1) Acquired vast knowledge of ABA from an accredited university program

2)  Has been trained and supervised by a professional from an accredited university program

3) The supervisor that has supervised the instructor must possess a masters in Applied Behavior Analysis and/or possess a BCBA board certification. 

4) Has worked with children with autism for a minimum of 2 years under the supervision of a     qualified supervisor

5) Has attended workshops on professional development in topics such as : shaping, reinforcement, prompt fading, principles of ABA, extinction, etc

6) Has presented posters or research on current topics in Applied Behavior Analysis or the application of it.

7) Has excellent references.

8) Loves working with children with autism

9) Always makes child centered decisions and constantly consults parents for input

10) Always recruits feedback and attends ongoing training to improve skills

11) Instructor fee:

Based on current market research Instructor's with 1 year experience charge MYR 40 an hour, Instructors with more than 2 years experience can charge up to MYR 70 an hour, a masters holder should charge minimum MYR 100 per hour and max MYR 150 an hour.

I advise parents to please be aware of the above requirements when hiring an instructor. We at Little Steps do help parents with this process as well. We can do the interviewing process for the staff that you choose and can furnish you all the requirements. We also do train staff in a systematic process and provide staff evaluation.

Contact us for more details