Has your child ever done something that left you simply stumped and asking yourself, “why did they do that?” In ABA therapy we seek to understand the why behind a learner’s behaviors because it allows us to pinpoint more meaningful solutions.
According to the science of behavior there are actually four basic functions, or reasons, for what causes any given behavior. These are functions that govern everyone’s behavior too: Your’s, mine, and especially your child’s!
So let’s go over them together.
- Access to Tangible
Picture yourself at the grocery store with your child. Everything has been going smoothly, even if perhaps your child has started to get a little restless sitting in the cart. You are just about to check out when they spot their favorite candy (ever so strategically placed at their eye level of course) in the check out line. And just like that your child is screaming and pointing at the bag of skittles. You hand them the candy because you are just trying to finish your shopping trip and the child immediately stops screaming.
In this instance we can see how the function or reason (child wants the candy) causes the behavior (screaming). Sometimes the behavior happens because they want an item but it can also be for an activity too (like going to the park, playing with the Ipad, etc). - Escape
Here’s another scenario you might be familiar with. It’s bedtime. Your child is in their favorite pajamas and you have read Good Night Moon at least three times to them. They’re tucked into bed but five minutes after you turn off their lights they are out of their room asking for a cup of water. And then a short while later they are asking for a snack. Before you know it 30 minutes have gone by and your little one has been out of bed at least half a dozen times.
In this situation, the behavior is your child’s frequent requests. The function? Escape, specifically escaping having to go to bed. - Attention
Children do all sorts of things for the purpose of getting our attention. A cheeky student might tell a joke to make their whole class laugh. Or a child notices their parent is busy on a phone call so they start jumping on the couch knowing mom will stop what she is doing to tell them to “stop” (thus giving the child attention). - Sensory
The last function we are going to talk about today is sensory, sometimes referred to as “automatic”. Behaviors that are maintained by this function are typically done because they either feel good or relieve pain. Examples of this might be a child with ASD might watch the same 10 seconds of a video over and over again because it’s enjoyable. Or another child might hit themselves in the head when they have a headache.
So together we have the four functions of behavior: access, escape, attention and sensory. Understanding the function behind a behavior is the first step to coming up with solutions on how to teach more appropriate skills for any learner!
Paloma ABA Therapy 