Behavior Approaches

Our Thoughts on Behavior Approaches:

When consider approaches to managing behavior in the classroom for students with autism, it is significant to remember that “...a behavior does not automatically need to be changed just because it is different” (Leary & Donnelan, 2012, p. 52). Rather, first and foremost, we cannot undermine the importance of taking the time to understand behavior of students with autism. (Please see our page on understanding behavior on this site for more information.)

As with every student, different behavioral approaches may or may not work well for different individuals. It is important, as an educator, to be mindful of what the message is that you are sending to all of your students when utilizing different behavioral approaches. We advise that you take the time to understand the different perspectives and messages that underlies each behavioral approach, and consider what it is you want all of your students to understand about behavior, particularly behavior of students with autism. Keep in mind that understanding behavior of students with autism is not something that will happen quickly, and it is important to take the time to try different strategies and approaches that will allow each student to be fully themselves in an inclusive, classroom environment.

Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA)

What is ABA?

"ABA, applied behavioral analysis, is simply the application of behavioral principles, to everyday situations, that will, over time, increase or decrease targeted behaviors...systematically applying interventions based upon the principles of learning theory to improve socially significant behaviors to a meaningful degree, and to demonstrate that the interventions employed are responsible for the improvement in behavior...ABA is a discipline that employs objective data to drive decision-making about an individual’s program. That is, data is collected on responses made by the individual to determine if progress is being made or not; if there is no progress under a particular intervention, we need to reevaluate the program and change it so that the child begins to make progress."

(Applied Behavioral Strategies)

(emphasis added)

Pros of ABA

A mother who uses ABA for her daughter:

“We also do ABA in order to help her find productive ways to channel or redirect her stimming. Let me explain what I mean by that. If we let her do whatever she wanted, she would tear to shreds every single piece of paper in this house and peel the paint off the walls. But she has learned alternative methods of stimming that still fulfill her needs without destroying her environment. She currently uses sturdy pipe cleaners to stim, and so far, it’s working. She has paper tearing times, too, but we have limits to that, and she must clean up after she’s finished. And this year, the paper tearing has lessened significantly and she now stims by flapping her hands against her hair,which of course makes for slightly messy hair, but overall, it’s not something destructive or anything I’m bothered by in the least. We do not do ABA in order to make her less autistic. We do ABA to give her the tools to be more successful — with her friends, in school, in life. It doesn’t get rid of negative behaviors, at least not entirely. She isn’t treated as though she’s a robot. But just like any discipline method that parents do, teaching her what is more socially acceptable (like not touching people without their consent, for example) is the goal”

(emphasis added)

Read her blog: The Caffeinated Autistic for more about her experiences.

Cons of ABA

Amythest Schaber's opinons on ABA and Compliance Training:

Julia Bascom in her blog post entitled "Grabbers", on her blog Just Stimming:

“The most basic human thing is just existing in space, and you quickly realize that you do even this wrong. Is it that you take up too much space, or just that you do it too differently, moving in an entirely alien way and triggering some sort of dormant xenophobia? In the end it just comes down to you are wrong, and for that you must be punished. It simplifies to your body is not your own, but it is mine. And you learn that a relationship, if you can call it that, always has two roles, a flapper and a grabber, and you will always be grabbed, and never be permitted to grab back.”

Tasia M., the mother of an autistic son, in her blog post entitled "Changing the child vs. Helping the child", on her blog Life His Way:

“Stimming (flapping, rocking, pacing, fidgeting) is an important tool for self-regulation. Stopping his stims does not benefit the child in any way; in fact, it hurts him and is counter-productive. (Self-injurious stims are another matter, but those can be redirected instead of suppressed.) But conventional thinking says that stimming is bad so they try to make it go away. Why is it bad? Because it makes other people uncomfortable.”

Beth Ryan, the mother of autistic daughter, in her blog post entitled "The cost of compliance is unreasonable", on her blog Love Explosions:

“Them saying that by not forcing (not the word they used but I can’t remember what it was) compliance we would be reinforcing that flopping is a way to avoid doing something she doesn’t want to do. Aside from the fact that there is an actual medical reason why she cannot act immediately, I was very uncomfortable...I don’t want my child, your child, any child to ever feel that her body is not her own...Children with autism are being taught to function in the world by learning to pretend to behave like neurotypical people.”

Sparrow Rose Jones is an autistic woman who writes in this blog post, "No You Don't", about her experiences with abuse, poverty, and discrimination. She describes therapies/programs like ABA as contributing factors:

"I was kicked out of the classroom for crawling on the floor and hiding under the tables. My first grade teacher said I was “mentally retarded” and petitioned (successfully) to have me removed from her classroom. I would not speak. I bit people, hit people, bloodied other children’s noses, hit them with sticks, kicked, and spat on people. I could not hand-write and so I did not do school-work...Children like yours — children like I was — are taught to be compliant. That’s what 90% of autism therapy looks like to me: compliance training. They become hungry for those words of praise, those “good girls,” the M&Ms or stickers or other tokens you use to reward them. They learn quickly that when they do what you want them to do, they are a “good girl” and when they try to do what they want, they are a “bad girl”...I am not convinced that most ABA therapy is much different from the abuse I lived through. I still see parents and teachers abusing children in the name of treatment.”

Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports

(PBIS)

What is PBIS?

"PBIS is a framework or approach for assisting school personnel in adopting and organizing evidence-based behavioral interventions into an integrated continuum that enhances academic and social behavior outcomes for all students.
PBIS IS NOT a packaged curriculum, scripted intervention, or manualized strategy.

PBIS IS a prevention-oriented way for school personnel to

(a) organize evidence-based practices,

(b) improve their implementation of those practices, and

(pbis.org)

The first step is for the teacher to evaluate their classroom arrangement (both physical and otherwise), so they can be sure they are supporting all of their students' needs:

Checklists, like the one above and below are great resources for teachers and other school staff to use for checking in with themselves: Is my students' positive behavior being supported in every way possible? Am I still seeing a "problem behavior"? What can I do to support positive behaviors to replace it?

Pros of PBIS

Here are some examples of how PBIS can be used to support students with autism.

Cons of PBIS

“When the “kids do well if they want to” philosophy is applied to a child who’s not doing well, then we believe that the reason he’s not doing well is because he doesn’t want to. This very common assumption is usually wrong and causes adults to believe that their primary role in the life of a challenging kid (and the goal of intervention) is to make the kid want to do well. This is typically accomplished by motivating the kid, by giving him the incentive to do well, by rewarding him when he behaves in an adaptive fashion and punishing him when he behaves in a manipulative fashion. By contrast, the “kids do well if they can” philosophy carries the assumption that if a kid could do well he would do well...First, assume he’s already motivated, already knows right from wrong, and has already been punished enough.” (Greene, 2014, p. 10-11)

Understanding Autism