The key to solving problem behaviors is to describe what the learner actually does and to place that behavior in a context, not inside the learner. Behavior does not occur in a vacuum or spray out of learners haphazardly. There are always conditions on which behavior depends. Therefore, changing conditions necessarily changes behavior. This is good news because we do have direct control over many of the conditions in which learners behave. This simple app will help you take the first step in developing any behavior change program. It guides you through the process of developing hypotheses about the functional relations among antecedents, behaviors and consequences the behavior ABCs. The following key questions can help focus your observations on the ABCs: * What does the problem look like in terms of actual behavior, i.e., what do you see? * What does the learner get, or get away from, by emitting this behavior? * Under what conditions does the learner do this behavior, i.e., what events predict it? * What do you want the learner to do instead? The answers to these questions will improve your understanding of relations between the problem behavior and the environment in which it occurs. Examining the ABCs reveals that there are no problem behaviors, just are problem situations in which the behavior is just one element. The other two elements, occasion setting antecedents and functionally related consequences, are environmental elements that you can change to change the learners behavior.
