Chapter 13- Understanding Problem Behaviour

Front 1

Why does problem behaviour occur?

From a behaviourism perspective

Back 1

- behaviour is lawful

- regardless if the behaviour is desired or undesired, behaviour is controlled by environmental variables

Front 2

To understand why, we must conduct an assessment of the 3 term contingency

Back 2

- determine the antecedents that evoke the behaviour

- assess the reinforcing consequences that are maintaining the behaviour

Front 3

Functional Assessments (FBA)

Back 3

- the process of gathering information about the antecedents and consequences that are functionally related to the occurrence of the problem behaviour

- the process of identifying variables BEFORE treating the problem behaviour

Front 4

F Assessment's

Back 4

in order to match consequences to the function- most effective treatment

- make sure the variable you put in place to stop the problem behaviour is not giving them the function, or what they want

Front 5

Functional Intervention

Back 5

- teach functional equivalents to the problem behaviour

- person receives the same outcome with an appropriate alternative skills rather than engaging in the problem behaviour

- teach them to raise hand and ask for help= the behaviour you're teaching replaces problem behaviour because it meets the same need

Front 6

Functions of Problem Behaviours

4 broad categories (the maintaining variable of that problem behaviour

Back 6

- a primary purpose of a functional assessment is to identify the function of the problem behaviour

Front 7

1

2

3

4

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1. Attention- whining and saying he hurt himself when just sitting there

2. Escape- tell them to go to bed, he says no and she doesn't make him go

3. Sensory- throwing the ball in the house, not allowed to do so. doing it because it's fun she says stop he doesn't

4. Tangible- wants a cookie, she says no, he gets upset throws tantrum

Front 8

4 Broad categories from Textbook

1. Social Positive Reinforcement

Back 8

-positively reinforcing consequence is delved by another person after the target behaviour and as a result the behaviour more likely to occur

- SOMEBODY ELSE gives the reinforcer

eg. attention, access to activities/ tangibles

Front 9

2. Social Negative Reinforcement

Back 9

- another person terminates an aversive interaction, task, activity after the occurrence of a target behaviour and the behaviour is more likely to occur

- take something away, increase problem behaviour

eg. escape a task, demand or activity

Front 10

Sensory functions (not another person reinforcing, you reinforce it yourself)

3. Automatic Positive reinforcement

Back 10

- when the behaviour produces a positively reinforcing consequence automatically, and the behaviour is strengthened

eg. child with autism rocks in his seat because it produces reinforcing sensory stimulation

Front 11

4. Automatic Negative Reinforcement

Back 11

- the behaviour automatically reduces or eliminates an aversive stimulus as a consequence of the behaviour and the behaviour is strengthened

eg. do something to get away from a feeling of pain

Front 12

Functional Assessment Methods

Descriptive vs. Experimental

Back 12

Descriptive: will lead to a hypothesis into what is more likely to be causing the problem behaviour

Exp assessment: you put the client into the testing conditions to determine (through data analysis) which condition functions to control the problem behaviour, confirms your hypothesis

Front 13

1. Indirect methods (Descriptive)

aka informant assessment

Back 13

- Purpose is to develop a hypothesis

- Often is just a descriptive process

- Often just gathers antecedent information about the behaviour - time, place, people involved

- Gathers descriptive dimensions of behaviours (interview, questionnaires)

- gather information from the person wchibiting the behaviour from others who know this person well

Front 14

Problems:

Back 14

- Based all on memory

- Biased opinions- can be very subjective the information they are giving yo. You're depending on the reporting of others without actually observing the behaviour

Front 15

2. Direct Observation Methods (Descriptive)

ABC observation

Back 15

- Also hypothesis forming method

- Involves directly observing the behaviour of the client

- person observes and records the antecedents and consequences each time the problem behaviour occurs

- takes more time, effort and understanding in measuring and collecting behaviour

- can ask ppl in environment to fill out forms/data sheets or send out person trainined in filling out more comprehensive data sheets

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ABC

Back 16

- goal to record the immediate antecedents and consequences typically associated with the problem behaviour under normal conditions

-observer should be present in clients natural environment when the problem behaviour is most likely to occur

Front 17

Problems

Back 17

- Also biased like indirect

-can be memory filling out observation forms at later points in the day vs. in the moment

- does not demonstrate a functional relationships rather correlation of the antecedents and consequences

Front 18

Additional notes about Descriptive assessments

when conducting an interview/observation you can access information about the following

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- alternative appropriate behaviour in client's repertoire- useful for using treatments such as differential reinforcement

-motivating operations (establishing/ abolishing)

- what stimuli could function as reinforcers

-history of previous treatment and outcomes, or currently what they are trying to do and outcomes

Front 19

3. Experimental

FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS (FA)

Back 19

-an experimental design because you "plan" to create the EO and plan to follow problem behaviour with potential reinforcers to see which consequences will increase/strengthen the behaviour and/or present different antecedent events to see which one's evoke the behaviour

Front 20

FA

Back 20

-specifically involves manipulating the antecedents and consequences to demonstrate a functional relationship between antecedents and consequences and the behaviour

Front 21

2 Types of FA's

1. Exploratory Functional Analysis

Back 21

- number of potential variables are evaluated

- behaviour analyst may not have a a hypothesis about the reinforcing consequences maintaining the behaviour

-typically includes 3 or 4 test conditions and a control condition

- each test condition the behaviour analyst presents an EO and possible reinforcer for the problem behaviour

- in control condition presents an AO and withholds the possible reinforcers

Front 22

2. Hypothesis Testing Functional Analysis

Back 22

- test conditions and control conditions used to test a hypothesis

-goal not to evaluate all possible functions but to confirmer disconfirm the hypothesis

-one condition (test condition) presents the hypothesized EO and when the problem behaviour occurs, presents the hypothesized reinforcer

- the other condition (control condition) presents the hypothesized AO and if the problem behaviour occurs, does not provide the hypothesized reinforcer

Front 23

Diff between Functional and Hypothesis

Back 23

F: number of possible reinforcers are evaluated in functional analysis, along with control condition in which NO EO's or reinforcers for problem behaviour are present

H: one test condition and one control condition are used to test the hypothesis that a particular reinforcing consequence is maintaining the problem behaviour

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Effective Treatment When...

Back 24

- if you can control the occurrence of the problem behaviour

-You have found an effective reinforcer to withhold (prevent maintain consequences, strengthening the problem behaviour)

- you have found an effective reinforcer to teach a functionally equivalent skill

Front 25

How to Conduct a FA

Back 25

- manipulate the antecedents and/or consequences

- To demonstrate you can control the variables surrounding the problem behaviours

Front 26

Set up:

Back 26

- plan consistent contingencies at each occurrence of the problem behaviour in set "sessions" eg. 5 min attention condition, 5 min escape condition, 5 min tangible condition

-take frequency counts on problem behaviour

-alternate between sessions and compare with each other

-the contingency that has the highest rate of problem behaviour is determined as the function

Front 27

STEPS for conducting functional assessment

Back 27

1. start with behavioural interview

2. develop hypothesis about ABCs of problem behaviour

3. Conduct a direct observation assessment

4.Confirm your initial hypothesis

5. conduct further assessments if needed

6. conduct functional analysis if needed

Front 28

Difference between Functional Assessment and Functional ANALYSIS

Back 28

Ass: the process of gathering information on antecedents and consequences of a behaviour to identify which antecedents and consequences influence the behaviour

FA: one of the 3 functional assessment methods- involves manipulating antecedents and consequences to demonstrate a functional relationship between antecedents and consequences

Front 29

Variations in Functional Analysis

Back 29

1. session duration- what is enough session time to meet the function

2. order effects of conditions

3. stimulus parameters (who delivers the consequence)

4. EO effects

5. Inter session breaks

6. Brief vs. extended- 2 alternations in each condition 5,6,7 data points per condition

7. controlled lab vs. in context

8. Training staff