Behaviour Management A Positive Approach:

Session 3-Safety, Self Injury & Maintenance

Angela Davis

Homework Module 2• examine the antecedents for your child’s

behaviour• implement reactive/corrective strategies

(ignoring, consequences, time out) for your child

• use Ignoring Checklist and Time Out Record Sheet as appropriate

• continue to record the behaviour for discussion at the next session

Summary - Be Proactive

Establishing child focussed & supportive learning environments

Watch for triggers-minimise them

Model & teach necessary skills

Reinforce behaviour that is desired

Implement consequences for problematic behaviours when needed

Self Injury

• Repetitive intentional acts that inflict tissue damage

• Most common = head hitting, self biting, picking at sores

•Also poking eyes, hitting other body parts

•Occur in bouts

Self Injury (cont.)

• trigger usually an environmental event (e.g. illness, frustration)

• but once started often occurs independently of the original trigger

• 1/2-2/3 are attempts to escape or avoid

•adults stop making the request in response to the SIB hence is reinforced

Self Injury -intervention

•Act as quickly as possible as it becomes self reinforcing

•Will require an individual functional analysis

• Eliminate medical causes

•Actively and intensively teach alternative functional behaviour

Intervention

• Determine likely cause• Use high status activity to compete• Ensure low emotional tone• Use an agreed instruction• Use ‘incompatible’ activity• Needs intensive teaching

ActivityConsider incompatible

behaviours for:

Head banging, face

slapping,

biting wrist,

eye poking…

Safety Plans for staff

Stay in control“If they can provoke an adult to become enraged, swear, scream, cry or run away the adult loses their authority”

• Identify your trigger points

• Consider how you will disengage from the interaction long enough to regain control

Safety Plans• Construct a plan after an explosion

• Ideally should include relevant staff, & family

• Should end up with a clear agreement

- so people know what to do!

• The more adults are in control the quicker the behaviour will improve

Fading ExampleScenario Emma (4.5) has been attending preschool for two terms. It is

routine that at 10am there is a large group time. Emma joins the group with the other children, but frequently does not attend to the teacher and often leaves the mat. Emma does not disrupt the group.

Definition of Desirable Behaviour: • Sit on the mat at group time.

Initial Reinforcement: • Stickers on Star Chart when sitting on mat for 2

minutes. Pre-negotiated reward after 5 stickers.

Delayed Reinforcement:• Gradually increase time of

reinforcement to 4 mins; then to 6 then to 10.

Intermittent Reinforcement:• Once behaviour has been

established intermittent reinforcement is given - i.e. not every group time.

Fading:

• Level 1 and 2 - delayed and intermittent reinforcement.

• Level 3 - expect Emma’s eyes to be focused on the teacher, a higher skill level, while sitting on the mat.

• Level 4 -expect higher skill level with little reinforcement.

Shifting to Naturally Occurring Reinforcers:• Rewards gradually shift from stickers/chart

(contrived), to teacher’s smile and praise (natural).

Maintenance Checklist• Be sure the desired behaviour is at the level you

want.

• Decide on the acceptable limits for the desired behaviour.

• Tell the child the changes in the program before you implement them.

• Make sure the changes are gradual.

• Monitor desired behaviour as you move into the maintenance stage.

• Continue to use social reinforcement and praise for appropriate behaviour - even if infrequent.

• If the acceptable behaviour is not being maintained, reinstate previous intervention methods before trying a different maintenance procedure.

Relapse: Possible Reasons1. Going too fast

Did you….

• Stop reinforcing too early

• Raise your expectations of behaviour

• Change to delayed reinforcement too quickly

• Fade program too quickly

2. Change without planning

Did you…

• Change to natural reinforcers too quickly.

• Fail to generalize to other settings, other people, etc.

3. Tunnel Vision

Did you….• Consider impact of changes in the

environment (home and other settings) :

• new baby at home• home routine changes• family difficulties• child starts/leaves centre• session time changes• less frequent attendance at group • staff changes

4. Child factors

Did you….• Consider changes in

the child’s internal world such as:

• illness• anxiety• anger• boredom

:

DON’T PANIC !!!!

• Remember set backs do happen

• Go back a step or two in the program

Relapse: What to Do

What Are the Steps?

1. Look at Framework again

2. Record behaviour again (observe, MAS etc.)

3.Look at any changes to antecedents and consequences

4. Look critically at your intervention - is it being implemented – consistently – appropriately – frequently.

5. Move from maintenance phase - back to intervention

Example

• If faded to intermittent reinforcement may need to go back to continuous reinforcement and fade more gradually.

• If still on continuous reinforcement and it is not effective, you may need to go back to MAS and define problem more precisely.

Example (cont.)

• If natural consequences

are not working,

you may need to go

back to a more

structured

approach and

change gradually.

I’ve Tried Everything! Nothing Works Checklist.

• Are you primarily using Time Out and ignoring?

Say it isn’t so! Go sit in the Time Out chair for 10 minutes, then…go back to the beginning and look at the framework

• Are you being consistent?

Remember- You need to stick with

a new technique long enough

for it to work (weeks not days

or hours).

Switch techniques only if they

become ineffective.

• Are you over looking improvements?

Remember! Behaviour changes can be

gradual!

Look for the slight improvement, and you’ll soon realise the behaviour has improved 25%, 50% and so forth!

• Are you being fooled?

The child is pretending not to care about the consequences, and you, thinking it’s ineffective, abandon it too early!

Call their bluff!

Hang tough. Take 2 multivitamins, increase your intake Harrison Ford movies and stick with the program.

• Are the reinforcers and consequences important to the child?

If the reinforcer is not reinforcing and the consequence isn’t relevant or appropriate for the child, it won’t motivate him/her to change behaviour.

Generalisation

“The occurrence of relevant behaviour under

different non-training conditions (i.e. across

subjects, setting, people, behaviours and or

time)”

Dundens 1984

Enhancing Generalisation• Involve different people when working with the

child

• Teach in different settings/conditions • noise

• furniture

• location

• structure

• individual

• groups

• Vary your tone of voice

or choice of words

• Vary the reinforcers

• Have other people

present some times and

not other times

• Vary the times of day that you teach

• Fade to naturally occurring reinforcers

• Prepare in advance for anticipated

problems in new settings

Do all this as often and as unpredictably as

possible!

• Involve parents in teaching

the strategies in different

settings

• at home

• shopping

• visits

Activity

What are our next

steps?

What changes to

practice might

we consider?