Behaviour Management Toolkit
Contents:
- Intro to ID/Autism
- General Principles
- Managing Challenging Behaviour
- Prompting
- Daily Schedules
- Helpful Tips
- Additional Examples
This guide was created to provide general and guiding principles for managing a child’s behaviour. For help with specific or dangerous challenging behaviour, please contact your Behaviour Analyst.
1) ID/Autism
Knowledge is power
As a parent/caregiver of a child with an Intellectual Disability and/or Autism, the more you know about the way the child’s brain works and the way they learn, the better equipped you are to teach them.
- Intellectual Disabilities (ID) and Autism are defined by limitations in both intellectual functioning and adaptive behaviour
- If your child is struggling at home or at school due to ID, it is not their fault! They are not a “bad kid,” their brain is wired in a different way, meaning that they will need to be taught in a different way. A mismatch in the child’s ability and the expectations someone has of them can cause challenges for both the parent and child.
Common challenges for children with ID/Autism:
- High co-morbidity with Anxiety
- Difficulty remembering things
- Difficulty connecting actions with consequences
- Difficulty with problem solving or logical reasoning
- Learning is slower
- Higher reliance on routines
- Difficult for the child to switch tasks or plan ahead
- Child may process information slower than others
- Easily distracted
- Difficulty with social learning
2) General Principles
- Behaviour is anything a person says or does
- Behaviours happen because of the reaction or consequence that happens immediately afterwards. These consequences can strengthen the behaviour (make it more likely to happen next time) or weaken the behaviour (make it less likely it will happen next time)
- For example, if we positively reinforce (celebrate) a child’s behaviour (“Wow! Great job! Thanks for putting away your dishes!”), it is more likely they will put their dishes away the next time they are done eating.
- If something unpleasant happens after the child’s behaviour, (the child trips over the dishwasher when they are putting their dishes away) it is less likely the child will put their dishes away the next time they are done eating.
| Antecedent | Behaviour | Consequence |
| What happens immediately before a behaviour | What the person says or does | What happens immediately after the behaviour |
| Ex: Ask the child to put their dishes away | Ex: The child puts their dishes away | Ex: We say “wow! Thanks for putting your dishes away!” |
Positive reinforcement or consequences are a great way to strengthen positive behaviours, but we have to watch out- positive reinforcement in the environment can also strengthen negative behaviour.
For example:
- Child does not want to work in class
- Child leaves classroom
- Child does not have to do their work!
Uh-oh! If the child doesn’t have to do their work because they left the room, this increases the likelihood that they will leave next time they don’t want to work in class!
Another example:
- A child wants their sibling’s toy
- They grab the toy and run away
- They get to play with the toy
The child is reinforced positively because they got to keep the toy they wanted! Next time they want a toy, they are more likely to hit whoever has it.
3) Challenging Behaviour
A challenging behaviour is anything that the primary caregiver defines as problematic.
Common examples include hitting, spitting, running away, tantrums and emotional outbursts.
There are 4 common reasons for challenging behaviour:
1. Social Attention
When the behaviour occurs, the child receives attention from someone (even if it’s a “reprimand”)
2. Escape from Demand
Behaviour occurs after the child is given an instruction/task; child sometimes does not have to complete the task afterward
3. Feels Good
This behaviour occurs because it feels good or is stimulating for the child. They often engage in this behaviour alone
4. Access to Tangible
When the behaviour occurs, the child received a preferred item/activity
To decrease the frequency of challenging behaviours, we DO NOT reinforce or give positive consequences for the behaviour.
- If a child is engaging in a behaviour for attention: do not give attention
- If a child is engaging in a behaviour to escape: do not let them leave or miss out on the work
- If a child is engaging in a behaviour to get something: do not let them have it
To decrease the frequency of challenging behaviours, we DO NOT reinforce or give positive consequences for the behaviour.
- If a child is engaging in a behaviour for attention: do not give attention
- If a child is engaging in a behaviour to escape: do not let them leave or miss out on the work
- If a child is engaging in a behaviour to get something: do not let them have it
What do you do instead?
Reinforce positive alternative behaviours!
- If a child wants attention, teach them a positive way to get attention (ask for a friend to play with them instead of hitting) and give lots of positive consequences for the good behaviour!
- Instead of running away to escape, teach the child to ask for a break
- Instead of grabbing for a toy, teach the child to ask for the toy
You might have to get creative and think outside of the box for ways to help your child engage in positive behaviours!
4) Prompting
When you are trying to teach your child a new skill, prompting is a fantastic way to help them out!
- A prompt is a hint, or help for a child when they are doing a challenging task or learning a new skill
When we prompt, we use more intrusive prompts for brand new tasks or tasks we know will be challenging for a child. When the child is more familiar with a task, we gradually use less intrusive tasks.
Remember:
- When your child completes a task, with or without prompting, reinforce the behaviour! Give praise (“great job!”), hugs, tickles, time with a favorite toy or snack. Let your child know you are proud of them.
- Follow through- when you ask your child to do something, make sure they complete the task. Use prompting if they are having difficulty.
- Be Patient. Learning takes time.
5) Daily Schedules
A daily schedule is a fantastic way to help increase predictability, comfort, responsibility and independence for your child. If a child knows what is expected from them in their day, and what is going to happen, it will give them a sense of control and help decrease negative behaviours.
A daily schedule does not have to be complicated! Use pictures, words, or photos to illustrate to your child what is going to happen in the day.
Make sure your schedule includes reinforcing activities so that the child will know what is expected of them.
Schedules can be for a specific time period, a part of the day, or the entire day.
In this example, the child does their tasks to get ready for school and as a reward they get to eat a snack on the way to school. Because the child can see what they have to do in order to get the snack, they do not need to engage in challenging behaviour to try and get it.
Another way to do a daily schedule is a First: Then board. This is another simple way to show a child what is expected of them and how they can earn special treats and items.
Tips on making and using a daily schedule:
- Keep it simple! Limit the number of items on each chart
- Be patient- learning takes time!
- Use prompting to help learning
- Be consistent
6) Helpful Hints
- When you are giving instructions to your child, be clear and precise. Too much information makes it difficult for the child to understand the meaning of what you are asking.
Say: Put your hat away.
Don’t say: Put your hat away in the drawer, you silly goose! Don’t you know that hats don’t go on the floor?
- Be consistent in your expectations for the child. If they are responsible for making their bed, make sure they do it every day, and not just sometimes.
- Reinforce a behaviour immediately after it occurs. This helps the child to know which behaviour you want to see more of.
- Take care of yourself! Being a parent is hard work. Ask for a babysitter so that you can engage in self-care activities like going for a walk, listening to music, or reading a book.
- It’s okay to be frustrated! Remind yourself to be patient. If you are feeling overwhelmed or stressed, take a deep breath before you react to your child.
- Remember: behaviour is a type of communication. When your child is “acting-out” try and think about what they might need or what they might be trying to communicate with you.
- Do things your child likes to do! Maybe you child loves video games, or going for walks. Take time to enjoy these things with them.
7) Additional Examples
