Individualized Intensive
Interventions: Determining
the Meaning of Challenging
Behavior
Module 3a
Topics
• Case study illustrations
• Understand form and function of
challenging behavior
• Learn the process to develop and
implement a behavior support plan
Intensive Individualized
Interventions
• Examine the Inventory of Practices
• Review the practices listed in the
Individualized Intensive level
• Select your 3 greatest strengths and put a *
by them
• Identify the three practices you could
improve, mark with a √
• Share 1 strength and 1 area to improve
p. 13 - 14
Challenging Behavior
What we are referring to when we say “challenging
behavior” is:
• Any repeated pattern of behavior that interferes
with learning or engagement in pro-social
interactions with peers and adults.
• Behaviors that are not responsive to the use of
developmentally appropriate guidance procedures.
• Prolonged tantrums, physical and verbal
aggression, disruptive vocal and motor behavior
(e.g., screaming, stereotypy), property destruction,
self-injury, noncompliance, and withdrawal.
Challenging Behavior
Individualized Interventions
Supporting Children with Persistent
Challenging Behavior
Intensive Individualized
Interventions
Intensive individualized interventions are
used with children who have very
persistent and severe challenging
behavior and do not respond to the
typical preventive practices, child guidance
procedures, or social emotional teaching
strategies that would normally work with
most children.
Group Discussion: Challenging
Behavior Challenges
Using chart paper:
• List challenging behaviors
• List interventions that you have
tried for those behaviors
• Were the interventions effective?
Individualized Positive Behavior
Support (I-PBS)
• An approach for changing a child’s behavior
• Is based on humanistic values and research.
• An approach for developing an understanding
of why the child has challenging behavior and
teaching the child new skills to replace
challenging behavior.
• A holistic approach that considers all of the
factors that impact on a child, family, and the
child’s behavior.
Research on I-PBS
• Effective for all ages of individuals with
disabilities 2-50 years.
• Effective for diverse groups of individuals with
challenges: mental retardation, oppositional
defiant disorder, autism, emotional behavioral
disorders, children at risk, etc.
• PBS is the only comprehensive and evidencebased approach to address challenging
behavior within a variety of natural settings.
Old Way – New Way
Old Way
New Way
• General intervention
for all behavior
challenges
• Intervention matched
to purpose of the
behavior
• Intervention is reactive
• Intervention is
proactive
• Focus on behavior
reduction
• Quick fix
• Focus on teaching
new skills
• Long-term
interventions
Challenging Behavior
Communicates
• Communicates a message when a
child does not have language.
• Used instead of language by a child
who has limited social skills or has
learned that challenging behavior will
result in meeting his or her needs.
Challenging Behavior Works
• Children engage in challenging
behavior because “it works” for them.
• Challenging behavior results in the
child gaining access to something or
someone (i.e., obtain/request) or
avoiding something or someone (i.e.,
escape/protest).
Brendan Before Intervention
Brendan’s Family Before
Intervention
Brendan’s Family Continued
Brendan with a Support Plan
SUPPORTS
Social Story
Cue Cards
Mini-Schedule
17
Brendan’s Family: What PBS has
Done for Us
Tim Before Intervention
Tim With a Support Plan
Dimensions of Communication
Every communicative behavior can be
described by the form and function.
• Form: the behavior used to communicate.
• Function: the reason or purpose of the
communicative behavior.
Children Communicate in
Many Ways:
Forms of communication
• Words
• Sentences
• Point to a picture
• Eye gaze
• Pulling adult
• Crying
• Biting
• Tantrums
• ?
Children Communicate a Variety
of Messages
Functions of communication
• Request object, activity,
person
• Escape demands
• Escape activity
• Escape a person
• Request help
• Request social interaction
• Comment
• Request information
• Request sensory
stimulation
• Escape sensory stimulation
• ?
Behavior Equation
Trigger
Behavior
Joey is asked
to come to
circle. Teacher
provides
physical prompt
to move him to
group.
Joey resists,
cries, and hits
teacher.
Maintaining
Consequence
Teacher moves
away from Joey
and allows Joey
to select a
different activity.
Evan
Evan is playing with Duplos. He tries to
attach a block to his stack of 3. He
can’t quite get the blocks to connect.
He looks up at the adult and begins
fussing. He holds the stack of blocks
up, looks at the blocks, and looks at the
adult. The adult helps him put the
blocks together.
Evan
Trigger
Behavior
Playing with
Duplos, can’t
connect blocks.
Looks up at
adult, fusses,
holds up
blocks, looks at
block/adult.
Function:
Get help
Maintaining
Consequence
Adult helps put
blocks together.
Gabriella
Gabriella is playing in her room. Her mom
says, “Come on Gabriella. Time to go to
school.” Her mom pulls on her arm to try to
get Gabriella to stand and go to the car.
Gabriella yells, screams, and begins kicking
at her toys. Her mother says, “All right, 5
more minutes. But then we must go.”
Gabriella’s mom walks away, and Gabriella
continues playing with her toys.
Gabriella
Trigger
Playing in
room, time to
get in car for
school.
Mom pulls on
arm to get to
stand.
Maintaining
Behavior
Consequence
Yells, screams, Mom gives her
kicks at toys.
five more
minutes of play
time.
Function:
EscapesGoing to
the car
Tim
Tim is riding a trike on the playground bike
path. He sees a child move to the sandbox
where Tim had just finished building a roadway. He leaps off his trike and tackles the
child. He hits the child. An adult comes over
to intervene. She comforts the child and
scolds Tim. Tim goes to the sandbox and
continues construction on his road-way.
Tim
Trigger
Behavior
A child moves
to the sandbox
where Tim has
just built
something.
Tackles and
hits child.
Maintaining
Consequence
Adult intervenes
and scolds Tim,
comforts other
child.
Function:
Obtain
access to
roadway
Tim continues
building roadway.
Madison
Madison is in housekeeping, putting on high
heels and a hat. Emily moves into the area and
selects a purse from the dress-ups box.
Madison shouts “no” and bites Emily. A teacher
comes over; she asks Madison to go to the
thinking chair and takes Emily to the bathroom
to look at the bite. After 4 minutes, Madison
leaves the thinking chair and returns to
housekeeping. She grabs the purse Emily had
selected and continues to play. Emily leaves the
bathroom with the teacher and then begins an
art activity where the teacher is present.
Madison
Trigger
Behavior
Another child
moves to area
and gets a toy
(purse).
Shouts “no,”
bites child.
Function:
Get the
purse
Maintaining
Consequence
Sent to “thinking
chair,”
other child
consoled, four
minutes later,
Madison leaves
chair and returns
to play with
purse.
Process for Individualized
Interventions
Step 1: Establishing a collaborative team and
identifying goals
Step 2: Gathering information (functional
assessment)
Step 3: Developing hypotheses (best guess)
Step 4: Designing behavior support plans
Step 5: Implementing, monitoring, evaluating
outcomes, and refining plan in natural
environments
Potential Team Members
• Parents/Family
• Teacher(s)
• Assisting Teacher/Paraprofessional
• Therapists
• Administrative Staff
• Other(s)
Group Discussion:
Welcoming Families
Using chart paper:
• Identify strategies you have used with
family’s to ensure an equal partnership
when focusing on their child’s needs.
• Identify do’s and don’ts when
communicating with families about their
child’s challenging behavior.
3a.2
Process for
Individualized Interventions
Step 1: Establishing a collaborative team and
identifying goals
Step 2: Gathering information (functional
assessment)
Step 3: Developing hypotheses (best guess)
Step 4: Designing behavior support plans
Step 5: Implementing, monitoring, evaluating
outcomes, and refining plan in natural
environments
Functional Assessment
• A process for developing an
understanding of a child’s challenging
behavior and how the behavior is
governed by environmental events.
• A portfolio of information that provides
you with data (e.g., observations,
information) to understand the child
• Results in the identification of the
“purpose” or “function” of the challenging
behavior.
Process of the Functional
Assessment
• Observe the child in target routines and
settings.
• Collect data on child behavior, looking for
situations that predict challenging
behavior and that are linked with
appropriate behavior.
• Interview persons most familiar with the
child.
• Review records.
Observation Card
Name:
General Context:
Observer:
Date:
Time:
Social Context:
Challenging Behavior:
Social Reaction:
POSSIBLE FUNCTION:
3a.3
Observation Card Example
Name: Karen
Observer: teacher
General Context: Choice time/art
Date: 1/22
Time: 10:00
Social Context: Playing alone in house. Teacher comes over to Karen and asks her
to come to the art table for art. When she doesn’t respond, the teacher tries to assist her
by taking her arm to nudge her to stand.
Challenging Behavior: Karen pulls away and begins to protest by saying,
“No! I not go to art!” as she pulls away from the teacher.
Social Reaction: The teacher walks away and says, “I will be back in a few minutes
to see if you are ready.”
POSSIBLE FUNCTION: Escape art
Observation Vignette #1
3a.3
Observation Card
Name: Segment 1
Observer:
General Context: Choice time
Date:
Time:
Social Context: Playing alone in block play. Goes over to a group of children
playing.
Challenging Behavior: Sticks out tongue and makes raspberry sound, hits boy,
scratches his shoulder.
Social Reaction: Boy yells at him, friend brings him a lizard,
boy yells to teacher.
POSSIBLE FUNCTION: Initiate social interaction/join play
Observation Vignette #2
3a.3
Observation Card
Name: Segment 2
Observer:
General Context: Playground
Date:
Time:
Social Context: Playground play with 2 friends. Girl goes to basket and gets truck
just like the other friend’s truck.
Challenging Behavior: He tries to take her truck, shoves, pushes, and continues
tugging for toy.
Social Reaction: Gets toy for a second, continues to fight girl for
toy, teacher reprimands and carries him away.
POSSIBLE FUNCTION: Obtain the toy (same truck as “best friend’s”)
Observation Vignette #3
3a.3
Observation Card
Name: Segment 3
Observer:
General Context: Circle with puppet
Date:
Time:
Social Context: Teacher kisses children’s cheeks with puppet. Says, “Say good-bye to
MiMi.” Teacher gets up to put away puppet.
Challenging Behavior: Hitting self on head with fist, pull at shirt
Social Reaction: Adult says “Ready to dance? Want to dance Ryan?” Goes and sits
in her lap and is smiling.
POSSIBLE FUNCTION: Adult attention
Observation Vignette #4
3a.3
Observation Card
Name: Segment 4
Observer:
General Context: Center time
Date:
Time:
Social Context: Teacher helps child to sit then walks away to find him a toy while
saying, “Let Ms. Genie get you some balls.”
Challenging Behavior: Pulls arm out of shirt, hits self on head with fist, thrusts
backwards, pulls at shirt, kicks.
Social Reaction: Teacher returns, talks to, helps him get shirt back
on, and hugs.
POSSIBLE FUNCTION: Adult attention
Scatter Plot
Student:
Observer:
Dates:
Rachel
Maya
10/1 through 10/12
Target Behavior:
Hitting Peers
Using a scatter plot involves recording the times of day (and/or activities)
in which the behavior does and does not occur to identify patterns over
days or weeks
Dates
Time
7:30
Activity
10/1
10/2
10/3
10/4
10/5
10/8
10/9
10/10
Arrival
Free Choice
9:00
Planning
9:30
Centers
10:30
Snack
11:00
Outside
11:30
Small Group
12:00
Lunch
12:30
Nap
1:30
Outside
2:30
P.M. Circle
3:00
Departure
Behavior did not occur
Behavior did occur
NA
Did not observe
10/11
10/12
Everybody Helps
• Family collects data
• Educational staff collects data
• Therapists collect data
• Collect data in ALL settings
“KIS”
“KIS it” (Keep It
Simple) - - Create
simple, user-friendly
forms to collect
information (e.g.,
rating scales,
checklists).
Home Observation Card
3a.4
Home Observation Card
3a.4
Functional Assessment Interview
• Define behavior (describe what you see)
• Describe frequency and intensity
• Explore related factors (e.g., sleep,
medications)
• Identify predictors (triggers)
• Identify maintaining consequences
• Identify current communicative functions
• Describe efficiency of the behavior
• Describe previous efforts
• Identify possible reinforcers
3a.5
Functional Assessment Interview
Refer to Tim’s Sample Functional
Assessment Interview
TimFAI.pdf
3a.6
Large Group Activity: Complete
Last Section of Tim’s FAI
Immediate
Antecedent
(Trigger)
Problem
Behavior
Maintaining
Consequences
LINK TO ANSWER
Function
Process for
Individualized Interventions
Step 1: Establishing a collaborative team and
identifying goals
Step 2: Gathering information (functional
assessment)
Step 3: Developing hypotheses (best guess)
Step 4: Designing behavior support plans
Step 5: Implementing, monitoring, evaluating
outcomes, and refining plan in natural
environments
Hypotheses Statements
• Triggers of the challenging behavior
• Description of the challenging
behavior
• Responses that maintain the
challenging behavior
• Purpose of the behavior
3a.7
Tim’s Support Planning Chart Hypothesis
Trigger
Behavior
• Group play: centers and Verbal aggression
outside play
(threats), physical
aggression (hit, push,
kick, punch), property
destruction
Function:
obtain toy/play
Preventions
New Skills
Maintaining
Consequence
• Peers give up
toys/items
• Peers leave area
• Adults intervene with
negative attention on
Tim
New Responses
Hypothesis Statement
In group play situations (outside
play/centers), Tim uses verbal aggression
(threats), physical aggression (hit, push,
kick, punch), and property destruction
(throwing or banging toys) to obtain toys
and/or join play. When this occurs, the peer
relinquishes the desired toy and leaves the
play area and/or an adult intervenes and
provides Tim with excessive negative
attention.
Hypothesis Statement
Billy will use tantrums to request a social
interaction. Billy will initiate a chase game
or request to be held by pulling the adult’s
hand or positioning the adult. If the adult
does not comply, Billy will cry loudly,
scream, and bring his hands to his face or
ears. Often the adult will comply with his
request or pick him up.
Not Sure About the Hypothesis?
• What would make the challenging behavior
stop? Is it something you would provide or allow
the child to access? Or is there something to
remove? Or can you allow the child to leave?
• If still unsure, collect more data in the same
context.
• Some challenging behavior may have the same
form but serve multiple functions.
• Some challenging behaviors may begin around
one function (e.g., escape) and continue to
serve another function (e.g., gain attention).
Working as a Collaborative Team
• Assign roles.
• Determine agenda and time for
meetings.
• Ensure group participation through
facilitation and participatory
processes.
Roles
• Facilitator – person who • Reporter – person who
guides group in stating
shares group information,
agenda, work goals, time
makes presentation
allocation
• Encourager – person who
• Recorder – person who
provides feedback to group
writes down the
members
discussion
• Jargon-buster – person
• Time Keeper – Person
who asks the question
who tracks time and
“what do you mean when
warns when agenda item
you say ‘gobbley-gook’ and
is ending
helps the group with
communicating clearly
Hypothesis Development
• Assign roles.
• Review child description, observation,
and interview.
• Complete final page of interview.
• Determine functions of challenging
behavior.
• Write hypothesis statement for at least
one function.
• Report to group.
3a.8D, 3a.8P, 3a.8S, 3a.8SH
Major Messages
1. Challenging behavior has meaning for the child.
2. Children use behavior to access something or
someone (obtain/request) or avoid something or
someone (escape/protest).
3. The process of Functional Assessment is used
to determine the function or purpose of
challenging behavior.
4. Hypotheses statements describe the triggers,
challenging behavior, maintaining
consequences, and function.
3a.9