C H A L L E N G I N G B E H AV I O R S

SUPPORTING ASD STUDENTS

AUTISM DEFINITION• A developmental disability significantly affecting

verbal or nonverbal communication and social interaction, general evident before age 3, which adversely affects a child’s educational performance. • Characteristics:• - engagement in repetitive activities and

stereotyped movements • - resistance to environmental change or change in

daily routines• - unusal response to sensory experiences.

CRITERIA FOR INITIAL DETERMINATION OF ELIGIBILITY

• Does this person have Autism or a PDD? If you don’t have a diagnosis this might not relate.

• Evaluation includes a review of: • Medical records• Observation of the child’s behavior in multiple environments• In depth social history• The following behaviors are documented• - Disturbances of speech, language cognitive, and

verbal communication. Speech may be absent or lack communicative intent. There is a deficit in the capacity to use language for social communication, both receptively and expressively

CRITERIA CONT..

• Disturbance of the capacity to relate appropriately to people, events or objects• Deficit in the capacity to form relationships with

people. The capacity to use objects in an age appropriate or functional manner may be absent, arrested or delayed. • The child may seek consistency in environmental

events to the point of exhibiting rigidity in routines.

CRITERIA CONT…

• The condition adversely affects the child’s educational performance• The Autism is not a result of an emotional

disability as defined in this document. • The degrees and severity will vary with all

individuals with Autism.

CHALLENGING BEHAVIOR IS A FORM OF COMMUNICATION

WHAT IS THE CHILD SAYING?

• Many behaviors observed in a person with impaired ability to express himself, must be interpreted as sincere attempts to communicate by a person who may have no other means to do so.

Repa & Walker, 1983

• Because of frustration with communication, it is more common among persons lacking verbal abilities to display physical aggression, attention seeking behaviors and self-injurious behavior

Talkington, 1971

OTHER BEHAVIORS THAT THE CHILD MAY EXHIBIT

• Disturbance of developmental rates and sequences• The child may exhibit delays, arrests or

regressions in physical, social or learning skills• Areas of precocious skill development may

also be present, while other skills may develop at a normal rate or extremely depressed rates• The order of acquisition doesn’t follow

normal patterns

OTHER BEHAVIORS THAT THE CHILD MAY EXHIBIT…CONTINUED

• Disturbances of responses to stimuli

• The child’s behavior may range from being hyperactive to being unresponsive to people and objects in their

• environment and can alternate between these two states over periods ranging from hours to months.

• Disturbances may be apparent in auditory, visual, olfactory, gustatory, tactile and kinesthetic responses.

• The child may respond to stimulation inappropriately and in repetitive or non-meaningful ways.

WHAT BEHAVIORS ARE YOU WORKING WITH?

• According to research synthesis examining 37 children on the Autism Spectrum, the most common behaviors targeted for interventions are tantrums (76%), aggression (59%), stimming- repetitive movements or speech (14%), and self-injurious (11%), with some individuals displaying more than one type of problem behavior (Homer et al., 2002)

• Behaviors often lead to crisis situations• Post crisis intervention is often difficult for problem solving

for the same reason it occurred:• Student’s lack of ability to communicate effectively• Poor social skills• Sensory related issues• Poor ability to generalize learned skills to all settings

STRATEGIES TO ADDRESS ESCALATING BEHAVIORS

• Premack• Verbal Challenge • Positive reinforcer• Use your body to “move” student vs. grabbing • Directive followed by two choices• Verbal• Written• You choose, or I choose….5,4,3,2,1

• Consequence….make sure you can do what you say• Verbal/ Visual schedule

STRATEGIES TO ADDRESS ESCALATING BEHAVIORS

• Ignore undesired behaviors• Parallel talk: ignore student and talk with another adult• Activity: book, draw, candy, talk about what he will miss…• Sensory• Deep Pressure• Comforting item (fidget)• Breathing

• Name the student’s emotion• Write directive on paper, stop talking, point• Use a card – “I am frustrated” “ I need a break”• Visual- “I feel_________because_________• I Feel: Happy, surprised, angry (Circle one)

GIVING DIRECTIVES

1.) Limit verbalizations• Model what you want• Use few words, calm quiet voice

“Now Tommy, you know where you are supposed to be, Get over there, and sit on your bottom!”

“Sit in your chair”“Tommy! What are you supposed to be doing? You are driving me crazy today! You know that isn’t safe.”

“Tommy, put the scissors down. Color your picture.”“Tommy, get off that computer. What are you doing over there when you know you are supposed to be doing your work?”

“Tommy, work first, then computer.”

TELL THEM WHAT TO DO INSTEAD OF WHAT NOT TO DO

• Sarcasm doesn’t give a clear directive• Stop running… Sit down• Quit picking your nose…blow your nose with a

tissue• Quit humming!• Knock it off!• Helloooo, earth to Jeffrey• What are you supposed to be doing??• Am I your mother?

VISUAL SCHEDULE

2.) Refer to the schedule often to teach the use of it.

Tommy, look at your schedule. Now you ____________. What is your schedule telling you to do?

• Parents frequently believe that a student will learn to follow directives if they use a louder voice, explanations, and exaggerated body language. It is better to give directives that the student clearly understands. As language skills increase, and the body language is taught, the student will improve understanding more complex directives. When correcting behaviors it is always best to use few words, regardless of the age or skill level.

IGNORE UNDESIRED BEHAVIORSTHE FINE ART OF ACTIVE IGNORING

• Not looking at or giving attention to the person exhibiting the undesired behaviors• Not reacting• Not touching• Not talking• Not even non-verbals• Raised eyebrows or glare• Frown• Hands on hips• Pointing

NEGATIVE ATTENTION CAN BE REINFORCING

Telltale signs:• The sideways glance to see who’s looking• The exaggerated body language• The overly projected tone of voice

Students with self esteem issues, low confidence, and poor achievers, may crave attention in any form

Giving them negative attention will increase the negative behavior.

How can you insure yourself against giving negative attention?

WHEN A CHILD CAN’T READ WE TEACH HIM HOW__.WHEN A CHILD CAN’T BEHAVE WE _______ HIM.

• The problem with (punishment) is that although revoking privileges or spanking in order to stop a behavior may temporarily cause the behavior to cease (Nuzzolo-Gomez et al.,2002) the punishment fails to address the cause of the behavior or teach a more appropriate means of communicating a need. • Such reliance on negative consequences to gain

control of the child bypasses the fundamental issue of, “Why is she hitting and how can we address those concerns?” (Durand, 1993)

PARAPROFESSIONAL ROLE IN FUNCTIONAL ASSESSMENT

• Functional assessment process:• Identify the behavior that needs to change• Collecting direct observation data on the behavior• Develop a hypothesis about the reason for the behavior• Develop an intervention to shape the behavior (shaping)• Evaluating the effectiveness of the behavior• Having the patience to see how the behavior changes

and being open to what the data indicates about this or new behaviors (Montgomery & Montgomery, 2004)

We look at what the child is trying to “say” with the behavior and teach them a better way to communicate it.

BEHAVIOR FUNCTIONS FOR ASD KIDS

• Social: attention, escape from social pressure, sense of control, sanctuary• Communicative: desire to communicate with others• Sensory: escape from sensory overload, deep

pressure, oral fixation• Routines: need for predictability, sameness• Receptive: Clear explanations, visual or

argumentative communication• Cognitive: (thinking) promoting, visual

communication, directed attention to detail(Mesibov, 2004)

RECIPE FOR SUCCESS

1.) Name the behavior

2.) What is the function?

3.) Define a replacement behavior?

LOOKING FOR BEHAVIOR PATTERNS RECIPE FOR SUCCESS HANDOUT

•When antecedent occurs, Amy will behavior in order to function of the behavior. The is most likely to occur if setting/event.

SHAPING THE DESIRED BEHAVIOR

• Teacher lists steps to shape desired behavior

Student screams, “I hate math! I’m not doing it!”

SHAPING THE DESIRE BEHAVIORWHAT DOES THE PARA DO?

• Name the behavior• Help the teacher gather baseline data• Provide input into the behavior assessment• Make sure you understand the “shaping

behavior”• Reinforce the approximations• Ignore peripheral behaviors• Implement the direct teaching information to the

classroom• Gather data assessing the strategies• Relate classroom teacher concerns to SSD

teacher.

FOLLOW UP

• I will make myself available as much as I can to attend meetings, help problem solve behavior and if need be observe or push into a class sporadically.

Please let me know if you have any follow up questions.

Chris Preston ext. 57672