The importance of consequences

Consequences are really important to the way we behave. Everyday, the routine of waking up in the morning, making breakfast and going to work are solely driven by the consequences we get from it. We wake up on time in the morning so we are not late to work, we make breakfast so we are not hungry during the day and we go to work in order for us to get a paycheck at the end of the month so we can pay bills and do fun things. Consequences are so important in our daily life.

Consequences are more important when it comes to teaching a child diagnosed with autism. 

Like mentioned in previous blog posts, children with autism learn differently. It is important to teach children with autism (a) small steps at a time and (b) give them consequences for the desired behavior that they engage in. Giving a child with autism an incorrect consequence or not giving him/her a consequence is detrimental to their learning. 

When teaching a child with autism, consequences have to be black and white. There never should be a grey area. If you are going to give your child a cookie every time he/she brushes his/hers teeth independently, then do it every time. If you are giving your child the cookie sometimes and at other times you are not. It will confuse the child, he/she would not learn the skill as quickly as expected and in some cases might exhibit disruptive behavior during this time. For example if you this month you got your paycheck and next month you did not, I am sure you would not be satisfied with work, your job performance would decline, you would be less motivated to wake up on time for work and you might not perform all your responsibilities up to par. Therefore, making consequences very clear to a child with autism is very very important. I can't stress this enough. 

In addition, after a period of time, once you have noticed the behavior maintain, feel free to fade the rate of the consequence. For example, if you are using positive reinforcement, you can fade the rate in this manner, first you give him/her the cookie every time  then you give it to him/her every other time, every third time, every week, every month, etc. 

Consequences shape our everyday behavior. If consequences were inconsistent, can you imagine what a mess our life would be? Therefore, when giving your children clear consequences, make sure you give them these consequences consistently. Therefore, make sure every family member and teacher is well informed about these consequences. This ensures that the child does not learn to "get away with it" with some people. Children with autism learn very quickly and it is very important to be consistent. If there is a lack of consistency, you might be inadvertently reinforcing or punishing other behaviors. 

Lastly, be very careful with what behavior you are giving a consequence for. Let's review the A-B-C Model:

Example 1:

By ignoring the crying, and teaching your child to ask for a biscuit appropriately your child will learn more appropriate behavior, here's example 2:

Therefore, think about the A-B-C model when teaching a behavior and think about what exactly are you teaching your child. If it helps, create a three column data sheet "Antecedent", "Behavior" and "Consequence" to give yourself a visual on what is exactly happening and what consequences is your child getting access to. 

Consequences shape our behavior and it is very important that we think about the consequences that we are putting in place when teaching a child with autism. Children with autism learn very quickly and they do tend to shape our behavior sometimes. Therefore, take some data, be objective and determine how you are teaching your child !

Please leave any comments or suggestions for me. I would love to hear from you!