In this post I will focus on what motivates your child’s problem behaviour. Problem behaviour is typically reinforced by one of four reasons: escape/avoidance, attention, tangible, or sensory. By reinforced I am referring to that which increases the likelihood of the behaviour happening again in the future. I will explain each function so that you have a better understanding of why your child may act-out. Once you understand why your child acts-out, you can then work towards modifying the inappropriate behaviour and hopefully replace it with socially appropriate behaviour.
Escape
Let us look at the function of escape/avoidance. This is when a child engages in problem behaviour because she is trying to leave an unpleasant situation. For example, a child who is uncomfortable in social situations may act-out in order to avoid the situation or delay the interaction. Before the expected social exchange she may begin to swear or use inappropriate language so the interaction is aborted. The other individual may turn away or the parent may refuse to follow-through with the social exchange if the child is not acting appropriately. What does a parent do in this situation? Well, knowing that the child is acting-out because she is avoiding an unpleasant situation, you may use this as an opportunity to teach her an appropriate replacement behaviour. She can then use this new behaviour next time she is in an unpleasant situation. Do not allow her to escape the situation until she asks appropriately. In the future you want to expose her to what she considers an unpleasant situation in small spurts, provide her with the opportunity to request to leave if she wants to. In this way, she learns the appropriate way to leave the situation rather than swearing.
Attention
Let us consider the next possible function, attention. This is when a child inappropriately communicates “hey, look at me/pay attention to me/play with me”. In this situation, the child acts-outs in order to gain attention in the way that has brought him attention in the past. Think of a non-verbal child who begins to engage in self-injurious behaviours when attention is directed towards others rather than him. In order to direct the attention back to himself, he begins to bite his hand. Once his parents see this, they rush over and tell him to stop, they ask him what is the matter and so forth. In this situation, the child has learned that biting his hand is the best and fastest way to gain attention. When a child acts out to seek attention, one solution is to provide him with social attention regardless of what he is doing every few minutes. This is referred to as non-contingent reinforcement. The idea is to use positive reinforcement independent of the problem behaviour. With this approach, the child receives what he wants anyway, attention, there is less motivation to act-out and therefore decreased likelihood of the child acting out. He is already getting the attention that he originally sought.
Tangible
Now let us consider problem behaviour whose function is to gain a tangible item. This means the child acts out because he wants something. This is the classic case of the child who throws a tantrum in the grocery store because he wants a chocolate bar. In this situation, the last thing the parent should do is to give the child what he wants. If a treat were something you do not mind your child having at the grocery store, then one approach would be to use it as motivation. Provide him with points for appropriate behaviour, proper asking, walking beside you and using his words throughout the entire shopping excursion to earn a candy bar at the end of the visit. You will make a checklist of the behaviours you would like to target, and then remind the child throughout your visit what he is working towards. If he meets the expectation and appropriately asks for the candy bar then you may give it. Teach the child an appropriate way to request for what he wants.
Sensory
Let us consider the last possible function of problem behaviour. This is the only function in which social attention does not motivate the behaviour. This means that the child does not need an audience to receive the reinforcement which he seeks. The child engages in the problem behaviour because it feels good. Sensory motivation is a bit tricky to compete with, because it is not us who have control over the environment but the child who has control over his internal environment and what feel good to him. This is what some refer to as self-stimulatory behaviour. A child who flicks his fingers in front of his face, or walks on her toes, or rocks back and forth seeks sensory stimulation. Some possibilities to manage these behaviours are: (1) allow time for this form of behaviour at appropriate times throughout the day, (2) if appropriate, interrupt and re-direct, (3) try to stick to a routine and monitor the amount of free-time the child has throughout the day, (4) fill free-time with functional play, (5) if possible, provide an alternative that serves the same function as the sensory behaviour. These are some examples of how to manage sensory behaviours.
The best approach to manage maladaptive behaviours is to try to teach your child socially appropriate replacements that serve the same function as the problem behaviour. This will hopefully reduce your child’s motivation to act-out, especially when the replacement behaviour requires the same or less effort as the problem behaviour.
