The Problem

"In a simple world, an individual’s problem behavior would occur for just one of the reasons described above. Unfortunately, we do not live in a simple world...Finding out if individuals are being disruptive for more than one reason or motivation is important when deciding about treatment."

 A Case in Point

"We once worked with a young boy who would slap himself in the face very frequently and very hard...

"[T]he boy’s mother would send him to his room when he slapped his face. This “time-out” from her attention seemed to help him control the face slapping at home. However, when his teacher used a similar time-out at school, it made the problem worse. Even though his mother and teacher were being consistent (i.e., they both handled face slapping the same way), this boy was hurting himself at school. Why?

A Solution to the Puzzle

Through assessments such as the Motivation Assessment Scale, we found that at home with his mother, he would slap himself to get her attention. However, at school, things were completely different. In his classroom he would slap himself to escape from difficult task demands...

"[A]lthough the boy’s face slapping looked the same at home and at school, his mother and his teacher were really dealing with very different problems. His face slapping was attention-getting at home. The time-out worked there because attention was being removed when he hit himself. However, at school, he would hit himself to escape. For example, if his teacher would ask him to write his name, he would slap his face. When the teacher sent him to the corner for time-out, not only was she removing her attention, but now he didn’t have to write his name. For the boy, being sent to the corner when he hit himself was fine, because now he didn’t have to work. The more he hit himself, the less he had to do!"

The Importance of Understanding the Intent of Behavior

"This case points out a major issue. It may be more important to know why a behavior problem is occurring than to know what a behavior looks like. The boy we just described could have been biting his hand, screaming, punching others, or ripping up papers. Knowing that he was upset at home to get attention from his mother, and that he was disruptive at school to escape school work, tells us more about how to handle these problems than describing exactly what he was doing...Again, knowing why tells us more about what to do."

"Should the boy’s mother and teacher have been dealing with his face slapping in the same way? Clearly not! They were really faced with two different “behaviors.” His mother was working on an attention-getting behavior and his teacher was working with an escape-motivated behavior. Just because these behaviors looked the same (i.e., he would slap his face) didn’t mean they really were the same. The teacher will certainly need to deal with the face slapping in the same way each time it happens at school. And his mother should continue what she is doing at home. They should be consistent in dealing with his behavior problem in their own way. However, in this case, being consistent does not mean that everyone should do the same thing in every setting.

As you do assessments for behavior problems, keep this issue in mind. Do not assume that you have to respond to a behavior problem in the same way in every setting. It is possible that the person you work with is disruptive for several reasons. Come up with a strategy for each setting that is important, and be consistent with your strategies.

A final point. Being faced with a behavior that seems to have multiple motivations in a variety of settings may be intimidating. Do you really have to design ten or fifteen different treatments to match all of the motivations in each setting? Maybe not. We will often select a time and place during the day where the behavior is most disruptive (e.g., during group activities). We then design an intervention based on the individual’s needs during this time period and observe what happens. Frequently, this one approach to treatment will be enough to reduce many problems."