Warnings: Not a Consequence for Misbehavior

I recently read this blog article and it got me thinking...

As parents (and teachers), we give warnings ALL DAY LONG!  We warn our children "If you do that, then you're going to be in big trouble!"  "This is the last time I'm going to tell you!"  There is nothing wrong with gentle reminders ("Remember, if you hit your brother again you will have to put that toy away" or better yet "Remember to keep your hands to yourself and you can play with the spiderman toy"); however, we must be consistent with consequences.  Meaning, we must actually follow-through with what we say.  A warning cannot continue to be followed by more warnings.  A warning only works by it's association with consequences.  If a warning is only associated with further warnings, our children will have no reason to change their behavior. 

It seems our reasoning behind so many warnings is likely avoidance of tantrums that occur when we do follow-through with consequences.  Or, on occasion, we don't know what consequence to apply so we just keep hoping that the warning will do the trick.  The problem with this logic is that warnings followed by warnings don't change behavior.  The behavior you are warning against continues to occur until you apply a consequence.  And while I admit that applying consequences may lead to tantrums, in the end the tantrums will decrease because the warning will have worked (after being consistently paired with actual consequences).  Don't forget the positive consequences as well.  When your children respond appropriately to warnings such as "Remember to keep your hands to yourself and you can play with the Spiderman toy" then please remember Spiderman!

As I've said before, ABA is hard work up front but well worth the results in the end!

So you've taken the data...now what?

Once you take some anecdotal ABC data you need to carefully look over the information.  What are you looking for exactly?  Consistencies and recurring themes.  For example, if your child always has a tantrum in a room full of people, chances are that room full of people is likely aversive (i.e. not pleasant).  When you move away from that crowd of people, does your child consistently stop tantruming?  Your child has just escaped an aversive stimulus (large crowd) and his tantrum behavior has been reinforced (i.e. it will likely occur again under the same set of circumstances).  Remember, one common function of behavior is escape (from homework, chores, people, etc).

Here is an example of what ABC data might look like:

Antecedent

Mommy says "time to put away the toys" 

Behavior

Child has a tantrum, crying, yelling "no", throwing toys     

Consequence        

Mommy says "okay, 5 more minutes to play"

What just happened?  Your child's tantrum stopped - success, right?  Not so!  Your child's tantrum behavior has just been reinforced and the next time you ask him to clean up his toys, he will tantrum again because he has learned that when he tantrums you will then allow him more time to play.  The function here is access to tangibles (i.e. toys) or it may be escape/delay of whatever activity comes next.  Here's what should happen: 

Antecedent

Mommy says "time to put away the toys" 

Behavior

Child has a tantrum, crying, yelling "no", throwing toys     

Consequence        

Mommy repeats the demand "time to put away the toys" and prompts the child through the task until complete. 

Did your child continue to tantrum?  Probably so.  Did the toys get put away?  Yes, though you may have helped your child by putting toys into his hand and moving them to the toy box.  Success?  YES!  Will your child tantrum the next time you ask him to put away the toys?  Well, that depends on how long his tantrum behavior has been reinforced.  Remember that extinction burst - where behavior may get worse before it gets better?  Just be consistent - keep the demand.  Eventually you won't have to help your child clean up.  Eventually your child won't complain while they clean up.  Eventually your child will comply with your demand to clean up the first time you ask.  

ABA is no easy task.  It is time consuming, it requires you to constantly assess your child's behavior, it is sometimes difficult to be consistent between parents and teachers.  The list goes on and on.  Is it worth it?  DEFINITELY!  I've seen these strategies work with toddlers, preschoolers, young children, teenagers, and adults.  I've seen these strategies work with children with special needs, children with attention deficit disorder and typically functioning children.  I've used these strategies with my dogs, my toddler, my husband, my coworkers, and that rude cashier at the grocery store.  ABA is an invaluable tool in everyone's life!        

Functional Behavioral Assessment and The ABCs of Behavior

The ABCs of behavior, often refered to as the "three term contingency" are the Antecedents, Behaviors, and Consequences.  Antecedents are what occurs before the behavior.  Behaviors can be described by topography (what it looks like) and function (the maintaining consequence).  Consequences are what occur after the behavior.  Maintaining consequences are those that reinforce the behavior (i.e. increase the future probability of that behavior’s occurrence).  We have to look at each of these things in order to determine our plan of action for getting rid of unwanted behavior. 

If your child is engaging in a behavior that you would like to decrease, the first step is to define the behavior so that everytime you, your husband, your child's teacher, and anyone else involved sees that behavior you can all agree that it happened.  For sake of consistency, I will continue with the example of my daughter.  She "hangs on my leg and whines" when she wants me to pick her up.  What I really mean is that she wraps her arms around my leg and makes an unintelligible crying sound without producing tears.  I have just defined the behavior according to topography (what it looks like).  I have determined the function of that behavior to be attention - specifically for me to pick her up. 

Behavior typically has 1 of 4 functions: access to tangibles (toys, food, etc.), escape (from homework, chores, people, etc.), attention (including when you sigh out of frustration - yes some kids like to get under your skin), and sensory (the behavior appeals to one of their senses - sight, sound, touch, taste, smell).  To determine the function we should implement a functional behavioral assessment (FBA).  Start with collecting anecdotal data on the behavior.  When an unwanted behavior occurs, write down exactly what happened before it, no matter how small or insignificant it may seem.  You should also write down exactly what the behavior looked like and anything that happened after the behavior.  This will include naturally occuring consequences and anything that you or others did.     

Keep in mind - sometimes a behavior may have the same topography but a different function depending on the environment.  Think in terms of a baby (i.e. my 15 month old).  She has limited communication and sometimes when she hangs on my leg and whines it means "pick me up and hold me" but other times it means "Mommy, I'm really tired and want to escape all this interaction".  She has not yet learned to say "night night" so she resorts to the only communication she knows.  It's important to always assess the environment to determine the function of a behavior.  YOU should be a walking, talking, breathing functional behavior assessor.