Functions of Problem Behaviors and Therapeutic Intervention Methods

Through my walks in the hallways of classrooms and therapy rooms to check on students and specialists in centers and schools, and also through the calls I receive from parents... I have often heard the following phrases: "Could you modify so-and-so's behavior?", "He suddenly bit", "He was quiet and started crying for no reason", "The child in room 5 needs behavior modification". All the previous phrases lack many elements and are not sufficient to deal with any of the previously mentioned behaviors. What I want to convey to everyone, whether a general education teacher or a special education teacher, is that behavior modification does not happen as quickly as they expect like a medicine capsule, and at the same time, it is not an intractable issue that is difficult to resolve. Therefore, everyone around the child exhibiting the problem behavior must seek the help of behavior analysis consultants and technicians to assist in behavior modification, while giving them the time and space to implement the correct procedures and steps to develop a treatment plan after clearly and in detail defining the behavior up to identifying the function of the behavior. They are summarized in the following:

First: Asking the teacher and parents, which provides preliminary information and helps in data collection, but cannot be relied upon alone.

Second: Direct observation of the child in the natural environment to determine the events prior to the occurrence of the behavior, then identifying the behavior that appeared and collecting data on the problem, its frequency, its intensity, and what followed that behavior or the events that occurred after it.

Third: Experimental analysis: It is a method in which the effect of certain factors on behavior is tested, and it is conducted only by a behavior analysis consultant or those under their direct supervision. These factors are: ignoring, attention, instructional demands, and sensory reinforcers.

After collecting data through one or all of the previous methods, the data analysis process begins to reach the function or cause of the behavior, which may be one of the following reasons or a combination of more than one cause:

- Seeking attention: The child may cry while his mother is using the phone and stop immediately when she ends the call.

- Escaping a task: The child may scream loudly whenever asked to solve a math problem and stop screaming when the teacher solves it for him or when he is told he does not have to solve it / Access to a preferred item: The child may hit his sister because she is holding candy in her hand and stop if she gives it to him.

- A sensory issue: This is seen in hand-flapping and body-rocking to obtain internal reinforcement.

Based on the behavioral function, the most appropriate method for addressing the behavior is determined, which is specified by the behavior analysis consultant and implemented by the team and the family all in the same manner with ongoing measurement.

There are multiple methods for behavior modification, the most appropriate of which is determined for each case by the behavior analysis consultant, including:

Antecedent intervention:

Video modeling: Through which the activities the child is required to perform are shown, in order to reduce the severity of anxiety from exposure to new things.

Environmental enrichment: Providing activities and tools in the child's environment to avoid the occurrence of behaviors due to exposure to new stimuli.

Prompting procedures: Done by using the appropriate prompt for the level of the child's abilities.

Graduated delay: By this, we mean gradually delaying the delivery of reinforcement so that the child accomplishes what is required with greater motivation.

Photographic activity schedules: They organize the environment and also the work environment.

High-probability request sequence: Asking the child to answer questions to which they know the answers, then the examiner begins asking new questions.

Choice: Giving the child a choice between two tasks, two activities, or two reinforcers.

Scheduling the use of the Premack Principle: Contracting with the child, which is one of the principles of reinforcement and is based on agreeing that if the child performs the less probable activity or behavior more, or for a number specified by the trainer, they will get what they want.

Reinforcement-based intervention:

Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS)

It is a system through which the child exchanges pictures that express their needs, and thereby the child is automatically rewarded.

Functional Communication Training: Based on the relationship between communicating properly and obtaining immediate reinforcement, for example: the child asking politely instead of asking by screaming.

Differential reinforcement procedures: An agreement is made with the student that if the behavior does not occur for a full 10 minutes, they will receive their favorite toy.

When the child begins putting toys or whatever falls into their hands into their mouth, they will be redirected by providing an oral-specific toy.

Non-contingent reinforcement: An antecedent strategy to prevent behavior, especially effective for those whose behavior function is seeking attention, and based on the teacher saturating the child with attention and care not for doing the good behavior, but rather before the good behavior occurs, and thus the behavior that seeks attention will not appear.

Consequence control:

Extinction: In it, the behavior that was reinforced in the past is not reinforced.

Overcorrection: If the child's behavior is throwing papers inside the classroom, this will be corrected by having them clean up what was thrown inside and outside the classroom.

Response cost: This is done by the child earning a number of stars upon a correct response so that they receive a preferred item upon completing the collection of the required number, while at the same time the child loses one of the stars when engaging in an unacceptable behavior.

Time-out: It is divided into two types: either the child sits away from the group in the same location where they are present, or they are placed in a location without their peers but under the supervision of a specialist with safety and security conditions provided for the child.

Response blocking and extinction: This is done by ceasing to reinforce a behavior that was previously reinforced, such as the mother not ending the phone call when the child cries, so gradually, upon not receiving a response from the mother, the crying will decrease.

The process of behavior modification is not fast and does not occur in minutes, but is the product of precise and organized effort and work by the team surrounding the child, whether at home or at the service-providing setting.

Originally published in Arabic. This English version was produced with AI-assisted translation; the Arabic original remains the reference.