Understanding Behavioral
Function
8-19-13
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• Think about behaviors you typically engage in
and WHY you engage in them.
• What do you “get out of” the behavior?
• Why do you repeat the behavior?
• What events might result in you not repeating
the behavior?
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Focus on What We Can Do
(environment)
• Explain the relationship of human behavior to
immediate environmental events
• Help explain:
• The way behavior functions
• The environmental factors that influence it
• How to use this information to design
interventions
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About Challenging Behavior(s)
Demchak & Bossert (1996)
• Behaviors…
• Serve a specific purpose or function for the
individual
• Have communicative intent
• Are directly related to events in the
environment that influence or reinforce such
behaviors
• A single challenging behavior can serve
multiple functions
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Principles of ABA
(Glenn Latham, Ph.D.)
1. Behavior is largely a product of its immediate
environment.
2. Behavior is shaped/ maintained by consequences.
3. Behavior is shaped better by positive
(reinforcement) than negative (punitive)
consequences.
4. Past behavior is the best predictor of future
behavior.
5. Whether a behavior has been punished or reinforced
is known only by the course of that behavior in the
future.
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Consequences can affect behavior
in three ways:
• Strengthen—increase the frequency or likelihood
that the behavior will occur
• Weaken—decrease the frequency or likelihood that
the behavior will occur
• Maintain—do not change the frequency or likelihood
that the behavior will occur
• Neutral consequences have no effect on the
behavior
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Reinforcement
• Basic and pervasive principle of behavior
• “Positive” and “negative” do not mean
“good” and “bad”
• Positive refers to addition of (+) events or stimuli
• Negative refers to removal of (-) events or stimul
• Both always result in an increase in the future
frequency of a behavior (reinforcement)
• Negative reinforcement is not punishment
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Reinforcement Defined
• Positive Reinforcement
• Presentation of a stimulus, behavior occurs
more often in the future
• Negative Reinforcement
• Termination of certain stimuli, future
probability of a behavior is increased
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Examples of SR+/• You are standing outside when it begins to storm.
You see a taxi without passengers and you hail the
taxi, which stops to pick you up. Once inside the
taxi you are no longer cold and wet. Your behavior
of hailing a cab is maintained by….
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Elements of Behavioral Support
• Function-based
• Prevention (antecedent manipulations)
• Comprehensive intervention
• Multiple elements
• Person-centered planning
• Systems change
• Intervention at “whole school” level
Horner, District Implementation of Effective Practices:
www.pbis.org)
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Behavior Support
• Behavior Support Plans (PBSP’s):
• ANALYZE
• PREVENT
• TEACH
• REINFORCE
• Use “Natural Consequences” where needed as part
of overall teaching approach to problems
Grau (2008)
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Sources of Reinforcement for
Problem Behavior
• Positive Reinforcement
• Social (attention, access to tangible materials)
• Automatic (sensory stimulation)
• Negative Reinforcement
• Social (escape from task demands)
• Automatic (pain attenuation)
Iwata, 2009
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Maintaining Consequences
Problem behavior
Get object/activity/
Sensation (SR+)
Avoid object/activity/
Sensation (SR-)
Social/object or activity/
physiological
Social/object or activity/
physiological
www.pbis.org
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Defining Antecedents &
Consequences
 Antecedent events –
• What happens immediately before the
behavior
 Consequent Events –
• What happens immediately following the
behavior
• May be programmed or naturally occurring
(does not imply punishment)
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Sample Problematic Antecedents
 Materials too complex / difficult
 Curriculum lacking in appropriate adaptations
 Student has lack of functional vocabulary to
communicate
 Meaningless repetition beyond criterion
(understimulation)
 Nonfunctional activity
 Pacing too slow / too fast
 Physical environment: For example, number of
students, noise
 Rate of physical prompting or verbalizations
Alberto & Troutman
Applied Behavior Analysis for
Teachers, 7e
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Examples of Common Classroom
Consequences
•
•
•
•
•
•
Praise
Reprimands / corrective feedback
Change of activity, peers, seating
Awards
Time-out / removal
Redirection
JGCP-U of Kansas
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Probable Functions of Specific
Behavior Disorders
Behavior Disorder
Aggression
Positive
Reinforcement
Social Automatic
+
Ø
Negative
Reinforcement
Social Automatic
+
Ø
Tantrums
+
Ø
+
Ø
Noncompliance
+
Ø
+
Ø
Property Destruction
+
?
+
Ø
"Stereotypies"
?
+
?
?
SIB
+
+
+
+
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Iwata, 2009
References
•
Alberto & Troutman (2006, 2009). Applied Behavior Analysis for
Teachers.
•
Durand, V.M. (1988). The Motivation Assessment Scale. In M.
Hersen & A.S. Bellack (Eds.), Dictionary of behavioral assessment
techniques. New York: Pergamon Press.
•
Fox, J., Hales, C., & Blevins, L. (2001).Challenges in Developing
Interventions for Persons with Behavior Challenges in Schools
and Other Applied Settings: Functional Behavior Assessment to
Effective Intervention. Presentation at Tennessee Association for
Behavior Analysis - October 13, 2001.
•
Grau (2008). The Nuts and Bolts of FBA’s. Retrieved October 13,
2008 from
http://www.cqcapd.state.ny.us/Presentations/FBAsAlbLaw5-9-08
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References
• Horner, R. District Implementation of Effective Practices:
Using and RTI Model to Implement Functional Behavioral
Assessment. Retrieved September 2008 from
www.pbis.org.
• Iwata, B. (2009). Pennstate Autism Conference
• Kerr & Nelson (2006). Strategies For Addressing Behavior
Problems in the Classroom.
• Lewis, Scott, & Sugai (1994). Problem Behavior
Questionnaire.
• O’Neill, R.E., Horner, R. H., Albin, R. W., Sprague, J. R.,
Storey, K., & Newton, J. S. (1997). Functional Assessment
and Program Development for Problem Behavior. Pacific
Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole Publishing.
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References
• OSEP PBIS site – www.pbis.org
• PATTAN www.pattan.k12.pa.us
• Sugai, G., Lewis-Palmer, T., & Hagan-Burke, S. (19992000). Overview of the functional behavioral
assessment process. Exceptionality, 8, 149-160.
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