All children engage in problem behavior whether it be a child who is typically developing or a child who is diagnosed with an autism spectrum disability. The child may cry, hit, bite or not comply (follow) an instruction that is being given; however, whatever the behavior is, the key is that each behavior is serving a function for that child. The function is the “why” behind the behavior.
The science of Applied Behavior Analysis is what we, at Caravel Autism Health, use to provide services to our clients. Applied Behavior Analysis practices that there are four basic functions used to determine why each individual behavior is occurring and this is important as one behavior could serve multiple functions in each situation. Within these next paragraphs I will discuss what the four different functions are and their relation to behavior.
The Four Functions of Behavior:
- Attention
- Escape
- Access to tangible items
- Automatic reinforcement
Attention:
Attention is a function of behavior. We all seek interaction with others and children are no different. For example, if a parent is washing dishes a child might start crying because in the past the parent has stopped washing dishes and engaged them in conversation when they cried. This behavior, crying, is serving as attention seeking. If the parent continues to stop washing dishes and asks what is wrong or starts engaging the child in conversation, the parent is giving the child the attention they are seeking. Attention does not always have to be positive attention. A child could throw a plant on the floor to get a parent to tell them to stop or say “no.” This reaction may then increase the likelihood the child would engage in this behavior again to gain access to attention from the parent. Even if it is just having the parent stop what they are doing to say “no,” the child is getting attention.
Escape:
Another function would be escape, which is when the purpose of behavior is to get away from something. An example of this could be a parent asking their child to clean their room. The child may engage in biting the parent to avoid having to clean his/her room. As stated previously, if the parent then allows the child not to clean their room, the child would likely continue to engage in biting during future events they wanted to avoid.
Access to Tangible Items:
Access to tangible items is another function of behavior. This is when an individual is engaging in a behavior in order to get access to some item. For example, a child is in a grocery store and they want a candy bar, but the parent says “no”. The child then starts screaming until the parent gives them the candy bar. This child likely engaged in this behavior to receive a tangible item (in this case, a candy bar).
Automatic Reinforcement:
Lastly, automatic reinforcement is another function of behavior. Automatic reinforcement occurs without the involvement of other people. Essentially, that behavior is reinforced because it “feels good.” An example of this would be if a person has an itch and they scratch that itch to relieve the itching sensation. Or, if someone engages in body rocking, regardless of what others are doing around him/her. Automatically reinforced behavior is one of the hardest to change as you need to find something that is more reinforcing than the feeling they get from engaging in the behavior or the sensation would need to be blocked in an alternate way.
As previously stated, each behavior needs to be looked at individually because one behavior can serve multiple functions. If we look at a person hitting; they could be hitting to gain your attention, hitting to escape a demand, hitting to get access to an item, or they could be hitting because it “feels good” to them. It is important to know what the function is because that determines the type of behavior management strategies used to change the behavior.
Learn more about Applied Behavior Analysis therapy or contact us to learn more about the Autism Therapy services Caravel Autism Health offers or to schedule an evaluation.
