Behavior Management
Special Education Eligibility
Autism
 An inability to use oral language for
appropriate communication,
a history of extreme withdrawal or relating
to people
 Inappropriately and continued
impairment in social interaction from
infancy through early childhood
 An obsession to maintain sameness
 Extreme preoccupation with objects or
inappropriate use of objects or both
 Extreme resistance to controls,
 Peculiar motoric mannerisms and motility
patterns, and/or
 Self-stimulating, ritualistic behavior.
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Intellectually Disability
(Formerly Mental
Retardation)
 Significantly below average
general intellectual
functioning existing
concurrently with deficits in
adaptive behavior and
manifested during the
developmental period,
which adversely affect the
student’s educational
performance.
Emotional Disturbance
 Inability to learn which cannot be
explained by intellectual, sensory, or
health factors,
 Inability to build or maintain
satisfactory interpersonal relationships
with peers and teachers
 Inappropriate types of behavior or
feelings under normal circumstances
exhibited in several situations,
 A general pervasive mood of
unhappiness or depression, and/or
 A tendency to develop physical
symptoms or fears associated with
personal or school problems.
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 Behavior
*Behavior – refers to actions or activities of the
individual.
 Human Behavior

 Behavior is LEARNED

 Behavior is a function of the environment

Therefore…

 New behaviors can be taught

 Old behaviors can be unlearned

 We change behavior by changing the ENVIRONMENT

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ABA

 APPLIED
 Refers to the social significance of the behavior (of immediate importance
to the individual or society)

 BEHAVIOR
 Behavior is in need of improvement
 Behavior must be observable and measurable

 ANALYSIS
 Believability
 Demonstrates a functional relationship between behavior and intervention
 controls the occurrence and nonoccurrence of a behavior

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 Three-term Contingency

ANTECEDENTS BEHAVIOR CONSEQUENCES

What happened immediately What happened immediately

preceding the behavior after the behavior

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ABC Data
• Antecedent
• Events or interactions that happen before the behavior occurs: immediate or
delayed/internal or external

• Behavior
• The behavior or sequence of behavior which occurred

• Consequence
• Events/interactions which happen after the behavior: what one gets and what
one avoids

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 Functional Behavioral Assessment: The ABC’S

Antecedent Behavior Consequence

Immediate/Delayed
What a person Social Attention
Medical
says or does Tangible
Physiological
Activity
Environmental
Escape
Interactional
Avoidance
Personal/Control
Combinations

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Sample ABA Sheets

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Behavior Contracts
Behavior Contract

•The behavior contract is a simple positive-

reinforcement intervention that is widely
used by teachers to change student behavior.
The behavior contract spells out in detail the
expectations of student and teacher (and
sometimes parents) in carrying out the
intervention plan, making it a useful planning
document.

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Behavior Contract (continued)

•Because the student usually has input

into the conditions that are established
within the contract for earning rewards,
the student is more likely to be
motivated to abide by the terms of the
behavior contract than if those terms
had been imposed by someone else

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Steps in Implementing a Behavior
Contract
•Staff decides which specific behaviors to
select for the behavior contract. When
possible, staff should define behavior
targets for the contract in the form of
positive, pro-academic or pro-social
behaviors.

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Included in contract
• a listing of student behaviors that are to be reduced or
increased.
• The student's behavioral goals should usually be stated in
positive, goal-oriented terms.
• Also, behavioral definitions should be described in sufficient
detail to prevent disagreement about student compliance.
• The teacher should also select target behaviors that are easy
to observe and verify.
• For instance completion of class assignments is a behavioral
goal that can be readily evaluated. If the teacher selects the
goal that a child "will not steal pens from other students",
though, this goal will be very difficult to observe and
confirm.
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Included in Contract

•a statement or section that explains the

minimum conditions under which the
student will earn a point, sticker, or other
token for showing appropriate behaviors.
•For example, a contract may state that
"Johnny will add a point to his Good Behavior
Chart each time he arrives at school on time
and hands in his completed homework
assignment to the teacher."
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Included in contract

•the conditions under which the student will

be able to redeem collected stickers, points,
or other tokens to redeem for specific
rewards.
•A contract may state, for instance, that
"When Johnny has earned 5 points on his
Good Behavior Chart, he may select a friend,
choose a game from the play-materials shelf,
and spend 10 minutes during free time at the
end of the day playing the game."
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Included in contract
• bonus and penalty clauses (optional).
• Although not required, bonus and penalty clauses
can provide extra incentives for the student to
follow the contract.
• A bonus clause usually offers the student some type
of additional 'pay-off' for consistently reaching
behavioral targets.
• A penalty clause may prescribe a penalty for serious
problem behaviors; e.g., the student disrupts the
class or endanger the safety of self or of others.

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Included in contract

•areas for signature

•The behavior contract should include spaces
for both teacher and student signatures, as a
sign that both parties agree to adhere to
their responsibilities in the contract.
•Additionally, the instructor may want to
include signature blocks for other staff
members

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Example Contracts

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 CREATIVE CHILD CARE INTERVENTIONS
“TOOLS FOR PARENTS AND CHILD CARE STAFF
(based on STEP – Systematic Training for Effective Parenting,
by Don Dinkmeyer)

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• Behavior is a student’s communication

• Behavior communicates special education needs and one (primarily) of the

following:

• I am looking for attention

• I want to feel powerful
• I am angry and want revenge
• I feel deeply inadequate

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Possible behavior where a student’s needs are
attention:

• If misbehaving, student looks for adult reaction (example “running

away”)
• Even with help ,and what appears to be useful help, the mistaken
behavior persists
• Behavior persists even when adults deliver consequences, lectures,
express disapproval
• Student may not differentiate between positive and negative
attention
• Student may/may not want peer attention as well

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Possible behavior when a student’s need is to feel powerful:
• Insist on one way in face of evidence of new learning being desirable
• Insist on one way in face of evidence that a different behavior is
desirable
• Often argumentative, and not “hearing/seeing” adult input
• May act in ways indicating the student has a trauma history (startles
easily, needs to not be approached from behind

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 Possible behavior when student is angry and wants revenge:

• (This one is the most RARE, usually when we assume this is a student’s
primary motivation, we are wrong. The older the student, the more
common, rare. Do not be confuses, many students are angry, but it is not
the PRIMARY motivation for their behavior)

• May violate boundaries, tries to trip others, pretend hits, snatches items
• May hold grudges
• May plan opportunities for revenge o ranger outlet, will look for when staff
aren’t alert
• Believes staff and peers are angry, when they are not
• Likely to have been exposed to domestic violence

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Possible behavior for students who feel deeply inadequate:

• (This one is much more COMMON than we tend to realize)

• Express frustration at the beginning of a task

• May prefer to NOT be noticed, not receive one on one help
• May prefer to not work as part of a class group, or read aloud
• Avoids new work/academics

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• Determining if child is primarily misbehaving to communicate:
• I am looking for attention
• I want to feel powerful
• I am angry and want revenge
• I feel deeply inadequate

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Creating Behavior Interventions and Interactions
based on this Determination

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Looking for attention tools

• Planned ignoring
• Positive attention for any appropriate behavior, or absence of
negative behavior
• Refusing to give negative attention
• Separate consequences and attention

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I want to feel powerful tools
• Rehearsal of appropriate behavior
• Taking space by child; giving space by parents or child care staff
• When behavior is appropriate; give opportunity for leadership, or “king
for the day”
• Give chores and activities to do which help the child to feel important
• Be quick to respond to appropriate requests, and make a point of
responding to such requests

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I am angry and want revenge tools

• Matter of fact consequences/display of calm

• Remove potential “victim” when child begins to escalate
• Emphasis on consistency and clarity of behavior which is considered
angry or vengeful
• Emphasize boundary concepts
• Discussions about anger and control when calm
• Identifying “what’s in it for me” aspects of dropping revenge behaviors
• Consequences for negative behavior include doing something nice for
the person harmed (doing their chores, giving them a favorite item)

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I feel deeply inadequate tools

• Creating incremental (one small step at a time) success experiences

• Frequent practice of skills which child is successful with, this doubles as a
“flooding” behavior intervention for anxiety-filled experiences
• Asking child to create non-verbal signals for “overwhelm” that are
understood by all
• Identify strengths and weaknesses together, with emphasis on strengths
• Establishing goals and “what is success” together, keep visual display of
“goals reached” and “things learned”
• Determine if child wants to usually try new feared experiences alone,
together, or different combinations

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Shaping Behavior
Shaping of Problem Behavior

• Shifting topographies of behavior

• Accidental shaping/Accidental reinforcement
• How do we do this?
• Prompting
• Fading
• Reinforcement
• Extinction

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Shaping Example

• For example, John never does his math homework. You would like to
have him complete his homework on a daily basis. You realize that if
you wait for him to complete his homework before you reinforce him
in some way, you may never (or infrequently) have the opportunity to
administer a positive consequence.

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Shaping Example

• John will write his name at the top of the

worksheet.
• John will complete one problem of his choice.
• John will complete five problems of his choice.
• John will complete either all the odd numbered
problems or all the even numbered problems.
• John will complete all problems except one.
• John will complete all problems.

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Prompting

• Stimuli provided before or during a behavior to facilitate the

performance of the behavior to access reinforcement

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Types of Prompting

• Response Prompts
• Modeling/Imitation
• Verbal Prompts
• Gestural Prompts
• Visual Prompts
• Physical Prompts
• Partial
• Full

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Fading

• Gradual removal of prompts until the behaviors occurs in the

presence without prompts

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