If your child is having behaviors that are impeding his/her learning (ie,
hitting, kicking, spitting, not paying attention, off-task and non-attending
behaviors, escape or avoidance behaviors like throwing a tantrum to get out
of something, saying "I don't know how" or "I don't want to do that" or just
plain "no", or any other types of behaviors, you can request a Functional
Analysis Assessment (FAA). Unfortunately, some districts play games so you
must specify you want ABC data taken (Antecedent, Behavior and Consequence)
as well as hypothesized functions of the behavior, a schedule of
reinforcement, etc.

here goes an example...
Julian is playing outside, he is called in...

1...he is now crying
2...he is physically brought inside
3...he wants to back outside,
try and figure out why he is crying.

Behavior...crying.
Consequence...he is brought inside.
Antecedent...what happened before he was brought in...

now you realied all this happened because he wanted to retreive his toy he had taken outside...
He was followed to see what it was he wanted outside...he retrieved his toy and was happy to go to speech...Most of the time it is the adults you want controll and do not take time to stop, look and listen.

ABA uses BCA. It really is easier to document behaviors if you write out the behaviors first, then the consequences and then try and see what caused it all...we as parents do this 24/7 with all our kids...Just think about how you react towards your normal kids...behaviors...why did you do it...consequences...punishments... antecedent...what made you act this way, is what we ask...same thing as ABA...looking for answers...ABC...charting...BCA... easiest way to try and solve the problem...

I like how you explained the ABC that for a visual person like me helps me understand this procress . Thanks for doing that. Quincy

Boy do I love ABC charting. (A = antecedent/what occured before --- B=Behavior ----- C = consequence/what was the result) I use it with some of the kids when I am trying to decide why a behavior is occuring - because then I have more info to problem solve with. (Also, think from the child's point of view.) Let me give you an example....

Little Johnny (not his real name) was 2.5, diagnosed with Autism and participated in a day care with 5 other toddlers. At lunch time, the children all sat down together, ate together and then were supposed to sit in their chairs until the others were done. (this is a whole different discussion and I will not get into it here.)

When Johnny was done eating, he would take his silverware, plate, cup, what have you and throw it. A consultant who was familiar with behavior disorders (but not Autism - this was before Johnny's iagnosis) came to the classroom and recommended that Johnny get up and pick up his silverware. For many months, the staff had been getting Johnny up and using hand-over-hand to assist him in picking up. No progress was noted.

So I did ABC charting with the teacher and we came up with the following:

A = Johnny is done eating
B = Johnny throws his things
C = Johnny must clean up

A=Johnny throws his things
B = Johnny cleans up
C = Johnny can return to the table with his friends.

Well - you all know children with Autism - do you see the problem here? I then told her to think like a child with Autism. What did Johnny want - was it to stay with his friends? OR to get out of a difficult-to-comprehend social situation? The new ABC chart looked like this:

A = Johnny is done eating
B = Johnny throws his things
C = Johnny gets to get out of his chair!

A = Johnny throws his things
B = Johnny picks up his things
C = Johnny is forced back into the social situation.

It appears that we may be rewarding the misbehavior and punishing the behavior we want! I cannot say for sure that this was the way it worked in Johnny's mind, but I can tell you that we put a bucket beside Johnny. When he was done eating, his things needed to go in the bucket and this was done hand-over-hand at first. When all his things were in the bucket, he could get up and go do things quietly. (BTW, if anything was thrown, a teacher retrieved it and helped Johnny to put it into the bucket.) By the end of the next week, Johnny put all his things in the bucket when he was done. (Of course, it is not magic, and Johnny continued to revert at times, but eventually a new pattern was established.)

So........ I hope this story helped you to all understand the way ABC should work. It should be the building block to all behavior planning (in my opinion) because if you dont know the reason for the behavior, how can you plan an appropriate response? Deb

I have heard this called a FBA (functional Behavioral Assessment). They are VERY useful when done correctly. I know a psychologist who does an excellent job with these. One of the secrets is to do the ABC charting and do it all the time - so you get a very accurate reading. The problem is that you need a qualified behaviorist or psych to do the assessment - and cooperation of those who work wiht the child - not cheap/not easy. Deb

Hi I came across this . I am not experiencing this but was hoping that other foggyrock members could explain (FAA) . I know a few members have talked about behaviors befor. Thanks