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Functions of Behavior
67 Plays1 year ago
This episode is critical to your journey in uncomplicating the world of behavior.
We will dive deep into the functions of behavior!
Understanding why behavior occurs is the first step you need to take to look at behavior from a functional perspective rather than being thrown off guard by what the behavior is doing to you, the people around you, or the environment. The ability to see behavior from a functional perspective helps us see behavior objectively and leads us to a positive approach that is based in teaching rather than reprimand.
instagram: @uncomplicatebehavior
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Transcript
Introduction to Behavior Analysis
00:00:17
Speaker
Hey there, I'm Crystal. I'm a behavior analyst and I'm here to help you uncomplicate the complicated world of behavior. We are going to get into all things behavior here. Strategies, interventions, support, data, assessments, the good, the frustrating, and especially the complicated. I'm a behavior analyst who loves to educate, be positive, and most importantly, be proactive.
00:00:40
Speaker
This podcast is your place to learn more about behavior analysis and the beautiful benefits that come with being positive and proactive. This is your uninterrupted time to talk behavior with your bestie. So grab your headphones, your walking shoes, or pull up that comfy chair and get ready to learn.
Understanding Behavior Functions
00:01:02
Speaker
Have you ever asked yourself, why do they always do that when it comes to a frustrating behavior? Or has the question ever come up in discussion with friends, colleagues, or even your child's school team? Well, today I'm going to answer that question for you. Well, kind of. Today, I'm going to empower you with the knowledge you need to answer that question for yourself.
00:01:23
Speaker
You will leave this episode with a higher level of understanding of why behavior occurs and how to look at it with that behavior analytical eye. So you can approach behavior objectively and learn to be positive and proactive because that's when the magic happens. That's when we build confidence and infuse praise and positivity into our kids day. That's when we get the opportunity to say, Oh my gosh, you did it. You're amazing.
00:01:51
Speaker
This episode may be the most important in starting your journey with me to uncomplicate behavior. Now, I'm sure you've heard this before, maybe possibly, but let's start here anyways, just to be sure you've got it down and you feel comfortable and you know it backwards and forwards. And when someone asks you that question, why are they doing that? You can easily say, I'm sure it's serving one of the four functions of behavior.
00:02:17
Speaker
Now all behavior occurs for a reason, right? Now that's when you say, yes, of course. Now it's our job as providers or parents to figure out why.
Empowering Functional Analysis
00:02:28
Speaker
Well, technically once I get involved or behaviors gets involved, that's our job. But the purpose of this episode is to empower you to look at behavior from a functional perspective rather than its topography or what the behavior looks like.
00:02:44
Speaker
Because let's be really honest here, behavior can take many shapes and forms and it pulls a ton of emotion. It can be frustrating, defeating, even saddening when we recognize negative behavioral patterns but are unsure how to fix them and how to teach our kids better ways to express themselves. Every training, every parent consultation,
00:03:06
Speaker
Even a lot of the IEP meetings I attend, I've always start with the basics. We are starting with the functions of behavior. Why? Because knowledge is power. And when we have the knowledge, we are empowered to come up with better and more positive solutions for behavior. This also helps us stay calm and look at behavior through a different lens, that objective behavioral lens. When we understand that behavior occurs for a reason,
00:03:34
Speaker
The question moves from, why are they doing that? Why is this happening? To what function is this behavior serving?
Four Functions of Behavior
00:03:42
Speaker
Or what is a better solution? How can I teach a new behavior? Because those are the questions I ask myself when I'm looking at maladaptive or problematic behaviors. No matter how the behavior looks and what is being said, I know I can classify behavior as occurring for a certain reason.
00:04:03
Speaker
And the good thing here is that there are only four functions of behavior. So no big deal, easy enough to remember that all behavior occurs for a reason, and there are four reasons behaviors could occur. So we have a pretty good shot at figuring out why behaviors are occurring just by observing the variables. But before we get into identifying those variables, let's get to functions of behavior solidified for you. Now,
00:04:30
Speaker
You may already know all there is to know about the functions of behavior. There's four, so how complicated can it be? Or you may have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about. Either way, you are in the right place. Use this episode as a reference or review as you move through different topics that we will be discussing.
00:04:52
Speaker
Once you have this episode down, you can literally jump around to whatever episode is relevant to your needs. I want you to have this amazing foundational knowledge as you go through and listen to different episodes because it all comes down to function. If we want to do it right, we need the function so we can provide better solutions and meaningful interventions for our kids.
Seeking Help & Future Episodes
00:05:16
Speaker
Now, I do just want to say here that if you're experiencing serious, severe, or long-standing engagement in dangerous behaviors, you want to be sure that you're working with a behavior analyst. And if they haven't already done so, getting a functional analysis conducted or a functional behavior assessment, so meaningful treatment can begin. I will be doing a series on functional assessment and functional analysis, so be sure to stay tuned for those episodes.
00:05:43
Speaker
What I'm offering you here is some basic behavioral knowledge to help you understand why behavior occurs and how you can use the functions of behavior to problem solve, be proactive, and most importantly, to be positive and calm when faced with behaviors in your everyday life and be more confident in teaching our kids better ways to get their needs met. So with that said, let's get right into it.
Attention-Seeking Behaviors
00:06:10
Speaker
There are four reasons we engage in behavior.
00:06:13
Speaker
They are attention, escape, tangibles, and automatic sensory reinforcement. Now, way back in the day when I started my journey into the world of behavior analysis, I was taught the acronym SEAT. But for some reason, this never helped me and it never stuck. I always fumbled trying to use SEAT to help me remember the four functions. SEAT stands for sensory, escape,
00:06:40
Speaker
Attention and tangible. Ah, see how I struggled there? Now I remember the functions of behavior in this order. Attention, escape, tangible, and automatic sensory reinforcement. So however this works for you is totally fine with me as long as you remember them. So let's walk through attention first.
00:07:00
Speaker
Attention seekers are by far my favorite. The function of attention occurs when an individual is seeking feedback or response. In other words, they want something from you.
00:07:12
Speaker
Now this can be tricky because attention can be provided via negative or positive feedback. I often get told, well, Crystal, attention cannot be the function because we are telling this child to stop and telling them, don't do that. And we are constantly redirecting the behavior.
00:07:32
Speaker
So it is really important to realize that attention comes in many shapes and forms. Attention occurs as corrections, prompts, redirections, eye contact, proximity, really any engagement.
00:07:47
Speaker
Now I learned all this from studying and I knew it, but this really hit me during my supervision. I was working in a classroom providing a prompt and directing a child back to task. And my supervisor at the time, so kindly and wisely pulled me aside and said, I thought that you determined the function of this behavior was attention. And proudly, happily, naively, I was like,
00:08:17
Speaker
Yes, I did. And he just simply said, well, then why are you providing attention? And in that simple moment, I realized that a prompt, a redirection isn't just a prompt or redirection despite our best intentions. It's providing attention to an attention seeking behavior. I've never forgotten that experience. As providers and teachers, we have a goal. And that goal is to get the work done and teach the topic
00:08:45
Speaker
As we move toward that goal, we often, and I say we because I have literally been there and made this mistake myself, reinforce behavior when we prompt kids through or engage with them at the wrong time. From looking back on this experience, I'm grateful for my supervisor for letting me learn that valuable lesson in that way.
00:09:08
Speaker
Of course, I went back, front-loaded attention, explained the task more thoroughly, and provided attention contingent on continuing or asking for help as needed. And we were able to resolve the issue. I learned firsthand that my prompts would not be helpful. In fact, they reinforced that dependent behavior we were trying to replace. The key to helping that child do his math was understanding that he wanted attention from me in the form of help.
00:09:39
Speaker
It was my job in that situation to front load the help and praise him through his attempts. That was more meaningful than a redirection and providing attention to his attention seeking behaviors.
Escape-Based Behaviors
00:09:51
Speaker
Let's move on to escape. Well, attention is my favorite to work with. Escape-based behaviors always remind me just how creative our kids can be. I've worked with many clever, clever students engaging in escape-based behaviors. Escape-based behaviors seek to terminate or delay stimulus, tasks, directive. This often looks like procrastination, running away when it's time to do homework or clean the room.
00:10:16
Speaker
even take a bath. At school, this can look like putting their head down, being unresponsive, literally getting rid of their task, anything that they're doing that really delays or terminates engagement in a directed task or expectation.
00:10:34
Speaker
Now, this behavior, delaying, terminating, avoiding, typically yields the expected result. Just a really great story of escape. I was working as a behavior specialist in the classroom with a child who could very quickly and effectively tear up math worksheets that were presented to him. He would throw them in tiny pieces in the air right in front of his wonderful and experienced teacher at the time.
00:10:59
Speaker
So how creative, right? He was literally able to terminate that task by quickly ripping it up and throwing it in the air. While this was incredibly frustrating for the teacher, we also had to smile at the creativity and quickness of this kid. Ultimately, the teacher and I put our heads together, we laminated the worksheets, decreased the amount of problems, and front loaded the skills necessary to complete the task.
00:11:24
Speaker
And this was beneficial and we were able to get rid of the behavior. Now that was maybe nine, 10 years ago. So I'm sure there were other variables in the mix and of course some use of functional communication that was taught. But the point of the story is that we could have been very frustrated in the fact that the child kept
00:11:42
Speaker
tearing up the paper, but having a strong understanding that all behavior occurs for a reason, we determined the function was escape and figured out how to positively and proactively support this child. With escape-based behaviors, we have to take it a step further and ask ourselves, why escape? Is this too hard? Is this too overwhelming? How can we support the child to engage
00:12:06
Speaker
in the task in a positive way. How can we add reinforcement to learn the skill? With escape-based behaviors, we have to take it a step further and ask ourselves why. Why escape? Is this too hard, too overwhelming? How can we support the child to engage in the task in a positive way?
00:12:23
Speaker
How can we add functional communication and reinforcement so that they can learn a new skill? I have so many great things to say about escape-based behaviors and so many great stories of kids that have taught me so much.
00:12:37
Speaker
But I'll have to save those stories for another episode because escape is getting pretty lengthy here.
Tangible-Driven Behaviors
00:12:43
Speaker
Let's move on to access to tangibles. This is an obvious one, which makes it easy to decipher. Behaviors that seek or result in the access of tangible items, anything you can touch, like iPad, putty, puzzles, food, candy, video games, toys,
00:13:00
Speaker
Fidgets are considered tangible items. This behavior is reinforced by the individual gaining access to something they can physically touch or hold. A classic example of this child leaves the designated area during structured learning time to gain access to Legos in class. Student break is over and the timer goes off and they hold tight to that iPad.
00:13:26
Speaker
Tears, yelling, hitting the table, all things happen as a result of the loss of the tangible item. But if we return it quickly, all stops. Why? They want access to tangibles. This is really common in school and at home. I mean, as humans, we love our things. So how can we teach the pro-social skill? How can we be proactive if we know ending preferred time, denying access to tangibles will result in a behavioral escalation?
00:13:56
Speaker
Well, there are a number of proactive methods. Tell them beforehand what they can do to request more time with an item. Teach them how to ask for more time, post expectations, practice and praise them for their approximations, provide reinforcement for pro-social behaviors. I'm all about proactive solutions and teaching, as you'll see as we move through the different topics and episodes.
00:14:21
Speaker
Set them up for success, right? I'll be diving deeper and doing a series on being proactive, but for right now, let's get back to the last function.
Automatic Sensory Reinforcement
00:14:29
Speaker
Last, but certainly not least, we have automatic sensory reinforcement.
00:14:34
Speaker
This behavior is anything that looks, smells, or feels good to that individual and does not require mediation from another person. An example of this is rocking, stemming behaviors, repetitive behaviors, scratching a mosquito pipe. There are many classics to this behavior, but one thing that is important to understand is that it most likely will not feel good, smell good, or hold any value to outside parties.
00:15:04
Speaker
And another thing, behaviors that serve the function of automatic sensory reinforcement are often free, meaning they don't have to ask for it, earn it, and it most likely can't be easily taken away. Now, with automatic sensory reinforcement, we have to ask ourselves, how can we provide the student with reinforcement that is more valuable, more rewarding than what they have access to that is free?
00:15:33
Speaker
And to be honest, it can be hard and you really want to qualify behaviors on this to make sure you're getting the intervention correct. We have to look at what we want them to learn or do and how we can offer that in a way that is meaningful, motivating, and most importantly, reinforcing for them, all the while considering an accounting for time. How can we manipulate time to end pro-social engagement while still accounting for what they want and like to do?
00:16:03
Speaker
See, a bit tricky here. And you definitely want to consult with the behaviorist to ensure that the intervention is positive, proactive, and appropriate. Well, that's
Functional Perspective & Future Topics
00:16:14
Speaker
it. Those are the four functions of behavior. Now go out into the world and look at behavior from a functional perspective. Don't let your emotions get involved or topographies distract you. Like I said, knowledge is power. Power to make more positive change in how we are reacting to behaviors.
00:16:32
Speaker
I am sitting here so proud of you for taking the time to invest in learning a little bit more about behavior. My hope is that this knowledge will help you stay calm in the storm and think of the why. Leave this episode knowing that all behavior occurs for a reason and let that be your first thought when a problem behavior occurs. After then comes how. I will be talking all about proactive and reactive responses in episode two. See you next time.
Conclusion & Listener Engagement
00:17:07
Speaker
Well, you did it! Another step closer to uncomplicating behavior. I'm so proud of you for taking the time to learn more about behavior analysis. Still interested in learning more? Or have a question or topic that you'd love some answers to? Head over to uncomplicatebehaviorpodcast.com for today's show notes, submit a question or topic you would love to hear about, and subscribe to my email and podcast so you never miss a new episode.
00:17:32
Speaker
I created this podcast for you and I want it to serve you well, so don't be afraid to reach out to me directly.