Meet Nicole, a former special educator turned BCBA. You may know her from her TPT store and Instagram page, Adaptation Station. Nicole is here to share her wisdom of proactive behavior strategies with us!
Picture This
You are in the middle of a differentiated lesson, trying to make sure all of your students can access the materials, taking data on IEP goals, and providing assistance when boom! A challenging student behavior spirals and brings everything to a halt.
As a special education teacher, you have probably experienced that scenario more times than you can count. Behavior continues to be a big area of concern for a lot of teachers. How can you handle the behavioral needs of your students while balancing everything else? What can you do to support your students before the behavior spirals?
Try Antecedent-Based Interventions!
Antecedent-based interventions (ABIs) are a great tool when it is time to come up with an alternative to the behavior of concern. You may also call them proactive behavior strategies! ABIs work proactively to help the student before the target behavior occurs. ABI need to be tailored and customized to meet the specific need of your student. There are no cut-and-paste solutions for behaviors, but if you need help brainstorming solutions I have 4 functions of behavior and possible ABIs to try below!
Escape and Avoidance Behavior
Escape and avoidance behavior can appear in many ways. It might be trying to avoid a task they don’t like or find difficult to do. It could be avoiding an unpredictable change in a schedule. If you find that the behavior is driven by escape and avoidance, here are a couple of proactive behavior strategies to try.
- Decrease the number of problems that need to be completed
- Allow students to select between two tasks to complete
- Pair instructions with visual supports
- Prepare for changes in the schedule ahead of time
Attention/Connection Seeking Behavior
Attention-seeking behavior and tricky and sometimes misunderstood. Attention seeking is not just seeking positive attention. If a child is seeking attention, they might enjoy any and all attention. Even if you think you are not reinforcing them, even saying things like “no”, “don’t do that” and similar statements can actually be reinforcing. Like I said, tricky. Here are some ideas:
- Have a structured plan to give attention
- Change the setting arrangement so students can be closer to you
- Heavily reinforce any behavior that is not attention seeking
- Heavily reinforce when they request your attention in an appropriate way
Access to Tangible Items
This is a fancy way of saying they are trying to get access to something physical, like an item. It’s not the same as access attention. This is when they want access to an iPad, a toy, a book, a snack or any other item like that. If the behavior immediately stops as soon as they get access to the item, it’s most likely access to tangible. Not sure what to do? I’ve got more proactive behavior strategies!
- Allow students to access the item during designated times
- Set up a way for the student to earn access to the item
- Use the item between highly non-preferred activities
Sensory Input
Sensory input is another tricky area. I highly suggest working closely with an Occupational Therapist to design support. Each student’s sensory needs are unique and an OT can help determine the best approach. That being said, there are ways to make your classroom more sensory-friendly. The good thing is that frontloading sensory tools is a really effective and proactive behavior strategy to get ahead of the challenges that may occur without them.
- Enrich the environment: Try and incorporate different textures and lights. In my classroom, we had a sensory wall in the break area. It provided a lot of different options for sensory input. Carefully select decor and a classroom layout that helps meet the need
- Provide alternatives: There are lots of different options for hands-on sensory input. Whether it’s touch, sound, sight, or a different sensory component, see what you can provide to help them gain input. If they love lights, is there a small light or flashlight they could use instead of flicking the classroom lights? Get creative!
Need more support with proactive behavior strategies? Check out the Antecedent-Based Intervention module, available through Autism Focused Intervention Resources and Modules (AFIRM). It is a free module that takes roughly 90 minutes to complete. It covers the basics of ABIs as well as planning, using, and monitoring of ABIs.
