Supporting Student Behavior
Mitchell Elementary School
Chelsea Salvatore, Ph.D., BCBA
Before we can effectively encourage or discourage behavior, �we need to understand why behavior happens AND how to identify why the behavior is continuing!
A basic understanding of the science of behavior change:
Behavior is communication.
Behavior occurs in the context of an antecedent and consequence.
Behavior is learned (function).
Behavior is lawful (function).
Behavior is escalated through successive interactions (practice).
Behavior can be changed through an instructional approach.
(Colvin & Sugai, 1989)
All behavior serves a function...
Get/Obtain
Avoid/Escape
“Function” = outcome, result, purpose, consequence
What's the function?
What's the function?
BUILDING BLOCKS OF BEHAVIOR: Three Term Contingency
What typically precedes?
What do the behaviors look like?
What typically follows?
Based on observing patterns across time,
we can infer the probable function of behavior.
Antecedent
Behavior
Consequence
REINFORCEMENT & PUNISHMENT
when a consequence of a behavior functions to INCREASE the likelihood of future occurrences of that behavior
when a consequence of a behavior functions to DECREASE the likelihood of future occurrences of that behavior
Reinforcement
Punishment
Responding non-example
Student Acts Out
Teacher says no and gives initial consequence
Student becomes disrespectful
Teacher sends student to office
Student escapes class
Non-examples of Function-Based Approach
“Lantana, you skipped 2 school days, so we’re going to suspend you for 2 more.”
“Phebe, I’m taking your book away because you obviously aren’t ready to learn.”
“You want my attention?! I’ll show you attention…
let’s take a walk down to the office & have a little chat with the principal.”
Why are these
NON-examples of a
function-based approach?
Let's practice...
Teacher lecture (limited attention)
Calling out repeatedly
Teacher attention
What Function?
Get/obtain Attention
Antecedent?
Behavior?
Consequence?
During teacher lecture, Martha repeatedly and loudly calls out (without raising her hand). Each time, the teacher gives her a look, a redirection, or occasionally calls on her.
Difficult writing assignment
Throw pencil, rip paper, head down
Nothing (doesn’t do assignment)
When given a difficult writing assignment Susannah regularly throws her pencil down, rips up her paper, and puts her head down. Her teacher ignores this behavior (and Susannah never completes her assignment).
What Function?
Escape task
Antecedent?
Behavior?
Consequence?
Teacher required silent work time for the last half of class. Bell rang for dismissal
Students ran out the door, yelling to friends in hallway
Peers in hallway laughed and yelled back
What Function?
Get/obtain access to peer attention
Antecedent?
Behavior?
Consequence?
A 6th grade teacher found that over 30% of the behavioral incident reports coming from her classroom occurred as students were being dismissed from class.
By understanding function, �we can intervene more effectively.�
How can we prevent?
What should we teach the student to do instead?
How do we respond to make sure the new skill “works”?
We can make simple tweaks to the antecedents, behaviors, and consequences, to prevent, teach, and respond, respectively.
Prevent
Teach
Respond
Provide attention ahead of lecture and frequent eye contact during
Teach and prompt hand raising
Call on her ONLY when she raises her hand (otherwise ignore)
Prevent?
Teach?
Respond/
Reinforce?
Simple strategies like this are part of effective
“Tier 1” responses to minor contextually inappropriate behavior.
Let’s practice
During teacher lecture, Martha repeatedly and loudly calls out (without raising her hand). Each time, the teacher gives her a look, a redirection, or occasionally calls on her.
Modify writing assignment
Teach and prompt her to ask for help/break
Give immediate help/break when asked. Otherwise, redirect to task.
With these simple tweaks, we’ve made it less likely for her to
engage in contextually inappropriate behavior to escape difficult tasks.
Prevent?
Teach?
Respond/
Reinforce?
When given a difficult writing assignment Susannah regularly throws her pencil down, rips up her paper, and puts her head down. Her teacher ignores this behavior (and Susannah never completes her assignment)
With these simple tweaks, we’ve made it more likely for students to gain
peer attention appropriately during the transition out of class at dismissal.
Teacher prompted students to engage in their wrap up routine 5 min before the bell
Teacher taught wrap-up routine: students check in with a peer about (a) something they learned and (b) any homework
Students get/obtain peer attention in class prior to dismissal
Prevent?
Teach?
Respond/
Reinforce?
A 6th grade teacher found that over 30% of the behavioral incident reports coming from her classroom occurred as students were being dismissed from class.
ACTIVITY: Function of Behavior
10 minutes
Proactive, Preventative Strategies
Prompting/Pre-corrections
Positive Acknowledgements
Praise
Greetings at the Door
Shoutouts
Positive Acknowledgements
Connection with Student & Skill Building
Ticket
Behavior Specific Praise
Provide Specific Feedback (>5+ : 1- ratio)
Use specific praise to encourage SEB and academic skills
Use brief specific corrections to reduce errors
Provide at least 5 praise statements for each correction
Engage students in providing specific praise to one another
Bad Stronger than Good
The brain handles positive and negative information in different hemispheres, negative emotions generally involve more thinking, and the information is processed more thoroughly than positive ones.
Negative events wear off more slowly than good ones.�
Most people can take in only one critical comment at a time.�
We need to increase the positives to compensate.
Roy F. Baumeister Florida State University, 2001, “Bad Is Stronger Than Good,”
We tend to ruminate more about unpleasant events — and use stronger words to describe them — than pleasant ones.
Receive Frequent Recognition & Encouragement
Failure/Correction
(punishment)
Success�(acknowledgement)
5 : 1
(Scott, 2008)
B+ App
Available through your phone’s app store
https://youtu.be/Owj81Q-dBOw
Upon increase of praise to behavior correction to a 1:1 ratio, problem behavior decreased
Ratio of Praise to Correction
Ratio of Praise to Correction
Higher reprimands were associated with higher rates of disruptions, especially students at risk of EBD.
Lower Reprimand
Higher Reprimand
Students at risk of EBD
Peers
(Downs et al., 2019, p. 143)
Ratio of Praise to Correction
For students with at risk for EBD the praise to reprimand ratio (PRR) needs to be 9:1 to produce the same levels of engagement as neurotypical peers.
Greeting Students at the Door
Stand at the door a sincerely greet each student by:
Impact of Greeting At The Door
Greeting student using name and positive comment (e.g., “I’m glad you’re here”)
Greeting with first name, positive verbal or nonverbal interaction (e.g., fist bump), and pre-correction for expected behavior
Allday & Pakurar, 2007; Allday et al., 2011; Cook et al., 2018)
“TUMS” at the Door
Shout-Outs
Knowledge Sharing
What strategies do you use to acknowledge students?
What is one strategy you learned today that you plan to incorporate into your practice?
Thank you!!��Questions?