There’s always a reason…
Filed under: Autism Spectrum Disorder, Inclusion of Students with Disabilities, Resources For Teachers, Resources for Families
All behaviors serve a function, it’s the forms that those behaviors take that are sometimes objectionable. It is useless to try to address a behavior if we do not understand its function because any “interventions” we try will not be maximally effective.
The way in which we can address this is by doing a functional behavior analysis. By conducting this assessment we can determine whether a behavior is serving to access or avoid tangibles, demands, attention, or sensory input. Once we know the function of a behavior, it can be effectively addressed.
Too many times children with autism are treated as if their behaviors (i.e. screaming, bolting, hitting, biting, rocking, ignoring, etc.) are symptoms of the child being naughty or misbehaved or not disciplined. They are put in time out, seclusion rooms, ignored, physically prompted, have things taken away, or are given things without really considering whether or not these “consequences” for their behaviors will effectively decrease the unwanted behavior and increase the desired behavior.
Conducting a functional behavior analysis or assessment should be done by someone who understands the forms and functions of behavior and what interventions are most effective in addressing the behaviors. Additionally, it is important that any interventions implemented are well planned and followed as consistently as possible to be the most effective. It is not possible for an intervention to be implemented in one environment and not in another and a still have the most long-lasting effect. Most importantly, the results of the intervention should be tracked by quantitative data to prove that they are effective.
The last note about interventions to address behaviors is that it is not enough to try to eliminate a behavior, because the function of the behavior still needs to be served. For instance, if a child is exhibiting a behavior to gain attention but the form of the behavior is unacceptable…they need to be taught acceptable ways of gaining attention. If the child is not taught appropriate means to get their needs met, we are not doing all we can to help them grow and learn. After all, that is the point of teaching and the reason why we teach…not to eliminate unwanted behaviors, but to help children learn and grow and be accepted and loved for who they are.
Stereotyped Motor Movements
Filed under: Autism Spectrum Disorder, Community Development, Individualized Education Plans, Resources For Teachers, Resources for Families
Stereotyped motor movements in people with autism include hand flapping, rapid eye-blinking, spinning, and rocking. It is postulated that the seemingly “odd” behaviors usually occur in response to stress or excitement. The video below is a great example of how we all have stereotyped motor movements in response to stress or excitement…the difference being that many of these seem “normal”. When our bodies produce neurochemicals in response to stressors our bodies react in the form of stereotypical motor movements to help regulate our responses. We tap our pencils, twiddle our thumbs, shake our legs, bite our nails and pace back and forth in an attempt to cope with a chemical overload. This is no different than what happens in people with autism; therefore, I argue that these stereotypical motor movements are not something that we should try to stop because they are normal reactions to normal neurochemicals. I’ve heard the argument that the stereotypical motor movements of people with autism interfere with learning and social interaction so they need to be stopped. My counter-argument is that learning and social interactions can be stressful experiences for people with autism and therefore elicit stress responses in the form of stereotypical motor movements. What we need to do, rather than trying to stop the movements themselves is to work with the child and give them the skills to make learning and social situations less stressful. Stopping the stereotyped movements themselves does nothing for the underlying cause of the reaction.
Ritualistic Behavior in Children with Autism
Ritualistic behavior is defined as restricted, repetitive and stereotyped behaviors which present themselves as obsessive interests, rigid adherence to routines, stereotyped motor movements, and preoccupation with parts of or whole objects.
I’ve gotten many questions about how to “get rid” of these behaviors in children. My answer to that comes in the form of a questions: How do we get rid of our OWN ritualistic behaviors? The ultimate answer is that we don’t. What we do is shape these behaviors in ourselves and children with autism to not allow them to control our lives…but all ritualistic behaviors serve a purpose and ultimately make us individuals.
Take, for example, the ritualistic behavior of having obsessive interests. This can manifest itself in many ways, but for simplicities sake let’s say a child with autism is obsessed with a character from a TV show. So much so that the child will only watch that show, only play with toy that are characters from the show, and will only draw pictures of the characters from the show. Does that mean that this child is unreachable? Or that they will always only like this? No what it means is that they are interested in something that we can use to connect with them and help them stretch and branch out their interests. Using this character we can teach the child to role play and work on social skills, read using books about this character, or write books about this character.
In my opinion, it is unfair to make children with autism “stop” engaging in their ritualistic behaviors. What we can do is help children learn how to manage these ritualistic behaviors so they do not control their lives. I, for instance, am obsessed with books. Reading is something that I cannot get enough of and if I could I would read all day every day; however, I have learned how to manage this in order to meet the other obligations in my life. What I have taught myself to do it reward myself with access to a good book after I’ve completed my obligations.
In conclusion, I urge parents and educators to stop worrying about how to stop the behaviors and start figuring out how to use these ritualistic behaviors to engage the child and help them learn and grow.
Seclusion Room (aka Time-Out Rooms)
A practice that is unfortunately still way too common is the use of seclusion rooms, also known as time-out rooms, in schools for the “behavior management” of children with special needs. This practice is unethical for many reasons, not the least of which being that isolating children in seclusion rooms borders on abuse because children are literally locked in these rooms until they’re deemed “calm enough” to be let out. Since when is it okay with anyone to lock a child in a cage?!? It is unfathomable to me that schools continue to use this practice without more regulations.
Currently, most states still allow the use of seclusion rooms with limited to no training and limited documentation. The biggest problem is that many use seclusion rooms without any other interventions to actually address the behavior (i.e. through the use of Positive Behavior Supports), rather these “educators” are content to continue to abuse these children and make them fear being tossed into the “cage”. Parents and teachers need to take a stand against the use of these seclusion rooms anywhere and hold the schools and educators accountable for actually teaching these students using positive practices.
Please click on the link below for a recent news story about the use of seclusion rooms: