Operationally Defining Behavior: Target and Replacement Behaviors - Essay Example

Situation: Jon, a 6-year-old first grader, received special education services due to Asperger’s Disorder. His cognitive abilities were in the average range but he had difficulty in the areas of expressive and receptive language processing. His problem behaviors were described by the teacher as aggressive and noncompliant. Getting Jon to the resource rooms time-out area usually included a physical struggle. The teacher often needed help from other adults. The entire building was often disrupted as Jon was taken down the hall several times a day to the time-out room.

Operational definition of the target “problem” behaviors: Jons challenging behaviors were defined as hitting, kicking, biting, pinching, poking, grabbing eyeglasses and jewelry, and screaming. FAA: A structured observation was performed three times during the different days of the week and different times of the day to obtain a picture of his disruptive and aggressive behavior. The frequency count of hitting, kicking, biting, pinching, poking, grabbing eyeglasses and jewelry, and screaming was done to establish a baseline.

Additionally, Jon’s teacher was interviewed to get her perspective and develop a working relationship in order to develop successful interventions. Desired behaviors: Follow directions without being disruptive or aggressive, work on tasks, and participate in class activities. Typical consequence for desired behaviors: On-going class activities. Setting events: Transitions within the school building sometimes upsetting; unpleasant interactions with the teacher. Antecedent: Interrupted when doing something he enjoyed (e.g., puzzles) and told to do a task (e.g., go to reading group or paper-and-pencil task).

Problem behaviors: Noncompliance, aggression, and disruption. Maintaining consequence for problem behaviors: Avoid or escape task Alternative behavior: Ask for assistance, a break, or a different activity. Possible Intervention: Setting Event (Ecological) Strategies: During transitions, Jon can be assigned to a peer partner who could model being calm and explain what was going on and what was expected; and the new teacher can be given more training in behavior management.Antecedent Strategies: Jon might benefit from more opportunities to choose which activities he would do first (e.g., allowed to continue working on puzzle if asks appropriately); Easy and preferred tasks may be combined with difficult, less preferred tasks; Activities should be made more appealing (e.g., reduce length, assistance offered).

Teaching Strategies: Staff had to encourage Jon to ask for assistance, a change in activities, or a break rather than acting aggressively or being disruptive. Consequence Strategies: The teacher should listen to and honor Jons new alternative requests (i.e., he was given assistance, or a break, or allowed to choose a different activity if he made the requests appropriately); The teacher will remain emotionally supportive when confronted with problem behaviors. Measures: (a) Number of incidents of aggression, noncompliance, and disruption per week, (b) percent of class activities in which Jon participated, (c) general indicators of quality of educational experience (e.g., type of activities, need for one-to-one assistance).

Response to Post 1:From the information collected during FAA is seems that the function of Brandon’s behavior was actually seeking attention. That’s why when his grandmother moved away, the frequency of negative behaviors at school has increased. It seems that Brandon is lacking some social skills, which is typical among children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorders. He might benefit from some social skills training that can provide him with the knowledge and training of some positive behaviors that can replace the negative behaviors.

I liked the idea of teachers and school staff giving Brandon some additional attention during the unstructured times. This positive attention while Brandon is exhibiting positive behaviors serves as reinforcement for these behaviors, while at the same time replacing any possible negative attention that Brandon might get from his teachers when he is misbehaving.Response to Post 2:I agree with some of the steps proposed for the functional assessment analysis. Obviously, whatever plan is in place currently for the student is not working, since the intensity and frequency of the behavior is severe.

In addition to the proposed steps, I would recommend an updated medical evaluation to rule out any medical issues that might contribute to the behavior. While psychological assessment may be useful, it is important to proceed with the interventions to the current problem behaviors. While the removal of the student from class is an effective intervention currently, it might be replaced by the intervention that teaches the student to control herself in the classroom without losing the instructional time.

Of course, FAA will provide more information about what exactly causes the behavior and what consequences maintain it. Based on that information, it will be easier to identify replacement behaviors and develop interventions.