Category: Behavior Basics

Behavior Basic #1: Remember the ABCs of behavioral science:

Antecedent, Behavior, Consequence.

Behavior (physical movement of the body) occurs in a specific time and place. When studying behavior, analysts look at what happened just prior to the behavior (the Antecedent), the specific physical movements that the learner made (the Behavior itself), and what happened immediately after the behavior (the Consequence). For example, let’s look at this scenario: The antecedent: a powerful storm rolls in with thunder and lighting. Behavior: a little boy dives under a table and screams. Consequence: instructor comes over, comforts the child and gives him a lollipop. This sequence of events will have an effect on the future behavior of both the boy and the instructor.

 

 

Behavior Basic #2: What is Behavior?

Behavior is movement, physical movement of the body.

Behavior is composed of physical movements of the body. Imagine somebody playing the violin: one hand supports the instrument, the fingers of that hand press on the strings, and the other hand moves the bow over the strings. Now imagine somebody hailing a taxi in New York City: the body leans toward the street, the head faces oncoming traffic, the hand nearest to the street waves at passing cabs. Every behavior we do is composed of anywhere from one to dozens of distinct physical movements of the body.

REMINDER:  This concludes the wrap-up of Behavior Basics for the week.  Please remember the schedule: On the release date of each module, the Behavior Basics for that module will be compiled into a PDF ebook available from our blog and Facebook page. Click on this link to download the entire series of 42 Behavior Basics for free: http://statictab.com/m7bizwt.

 

 

 

Behavior Basic #3:

When we behave, we move parts of our body.

To do even the most mundane chores, we move several parts of the body, move those parts in specific ways and often in a specific sequence. Think of making coffee in the morning: Walk to the cupboard and grasp coffee can, grasp coffee pot, walk to sink to fill with water, pour water into coffee maker, scoop coffee into filter basket, push basket back into place, press ON button. The everyday behavior of making coffee requires the physical movements of walking, grasping, lifting, turning knobs, pouring, scooping, pushing and pressing.

 

 

4. Behavior is movement, so it is observable.

Behavior is movement of the body, so it is something that you can see or hear. If you can see or hear it, you can observe when and where that behavior happens. For example, if a child engages in the behavior (physical movement) of shrieking, you can observe to see if it happens in certain rooms of the house, outside in the yard or playground, or in the car. You can observe to see if it happens more often in the morning, afternoon or evening, on weekdays or weekends. This observation provides information that can be used to develop a behavior plan to address shrieking.

 

By popular demand, Chaos to Calm will be re-issuing its series on Behavior Basics! The newly designed series of Behavior Basics will address six topics to help autism parents understand the fundamentals of behavioral science. Two Behavior Basics will be released each week on Tues and Fri, starting on November 29, 2013. These will be just like the one you see here. You will be able to download these from here at the blog and from the Chaos to Calm Facebook page.

Be sure to collect the whole set of Behavior Basics! On the release date of each module, the Behavior Basics for that module will be compiled into a PDF ebook available from our blog and Facebook page.

Once a week on Fridays I will write a short article about the Behavior Basics released that week to provide additional explanation.

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