What lays behind a presenting behaviour

By Kevin Ainsley DipSW, MSc (PBS)

Last time we looked at why it is important to reduce restrictive practices. The point was made that whilst sometimes necessary they are generally detrimental to the individual’s quality of life. Poor quality of life is known to increase the likelihood of distressed behaviours that may be perceived as ‘challenging’ behaviour. We looked at this in the context of schools. I made the case for Schoolwide Positive Behavioural Interventions and Supports as a vehicle for breaking more traditional ‘wait to fail’ models.  It’s emphasis on proactive preventative approaches and it’s tiered approach to behaviour support means that students needs are better met, staff and students are happier and therefore distressed (‘challenging’) behaviours are less likely. A natural corollary of this is reductions in restrictive practices (or should be).

One theme we picked up on was that for some students (Tier 2 and 3 especially) we may need to identify the ‘function’ of a behaviour. By function we mean the purpose the behaviour serves for the person. At PRICE Training we encourage our participants and instructors to be curious about what lays behind a presenting behaviour. Functional assessment is one way of doing that. In a later paper we will be looking at a simple tool that may help us to understand ‘functions’ of behaviour.

But for now let’s dip into some basics.

First of all;

1. What do we mean by ‘behaviour’
2. The two key components of behaviour; form and function
3. Functions of behaviour
4. General guidance on describing behaviour in the context of functional assessments

What do we mean by ‘Behaviour’?

Behaviour is everything we do and say. Behaviour is observable (can see it or hear it) and measurable in some way (frequency, intensity, duration).

All behaviour occurs in a context, the environment. Within the environment there will be certain variables which predict the occurrence of a behaviour (triggers and setting events) and variables that follow the occurrence of a behaviour (consequences) which will determine whether the behaviour is more or less likely to occur in the future. We look more closely at this aspect in our guidance on ABC charting.

Behaviour can be ‘external’ or ‘internal’.

External behaviour is fairly obvious, it is things that we can actually see people doing. Examples might include a child kicking a ball around, somebody waving their arms around and chanting at a football match, a student ripping up their work. Even sitting down and doing nothing or sleeping is behaviour as it passes both tests – we can see it and measure it (how long is the person asleep for, how deep is the sleep).

Internal behaviours are things that are taking place inside our brains and bodies. For example, neurological activity of the brain, the beating of the heart, and the processes taking place in the digestive system. These internal behaviours are still observable and measurable so long as you have the right equipment. Your smart watch can even measure some of this stuff!

Somebody once described ‘the dead man rule’ as a test for whether something constitutes behaviour. ‘If a dead man can do it, it’s not behaviour’. By default, everything else IS behaviour.

For the purpose of functional assessment, we are concerned with ‘external’ behaviours.

Form and function

The form or ‘topography’ of a behaviour is simply what it looks like. The function of a behaviour is the purpose it serves the person, what they get (access) or avoid by displaying it.

For example:

Stefan hits his cup on the desk (1) to draw our attention to the fact that he is thirsty (2).

In this example the form of the behaviour is hitting the cup on the desk – it is what Stefan did, literally what the behaviour looked like. We can see that the function of the behaviour is to draw attention to the fact that he is thirsty, he needs a drink, and his previous experience has been that when he hits his cup on the desk people respond by giving him a drink. This strategy works for him, it is ‘functional’ so he will continue to do it unless we teach him a different way to show he is thirsty and/or make sure drinks are readily available and he can access them. The function in this respect is to get ‘something’ that he needs – this is described as a ‘tangible’ in terms of functions of behaviour (see below).

What is meant by ‘functions’ of behaviour

One of the defining principles of PBS is the premise that all behaviour happens for a reason. A particular behaviour serves a purpose (function) for the person exhibiting it. The person will have learned that it is a generally reliable way to access something they desire or avoid something they do not like.

The functions of behaviour

The functions of behaviour are categorised as to get (access) or get away from (avoid) certain things and are generally described as;

• Sensory or Stimulation – for example to obtain auditory, tactile or visual sensory stimulation
• Demand avoidance – e.g., to avoid non-preferred tasks, difficult or boring tasks, or tasks and activities that are too easy, physical demands
• Access social attention- for example from a teacher or peer
• Tangibles – access to ‘things’ such as desirable items, activities, games, food, drink
• Escape (Social avoidance) avoiding the attention of teacher or peer. For example, teacher reprimands, comments from other students

More recently ‘the avoidance of pain or internal discomfort’ has been added. This possibility would usually have been explored and hopefully ameliorated at the beginning of any assessment. This is particularly pertinent when working with people with Intellectual disabilities who may not be able to verbalise that they are in pain. Self-harming behaviour is often symptomatic of this need in situations where it is not being met.

Describing behaviour in the context of functional assessments

A functional assessment begins with a clear description of the ‘challenging’ or ‘problem behaviour’. In school settings in particular, a problem behaviour is one that is ‘undesired’ or one that educators or family members want students to stop using. Examples of ‘Undesired’ would include behaviours which;

• have a negative impact on the student’s ability to access learning
• have a negative impact on the learning of other students
• have a negative impact on the child’s quality of life (in school and family, wider community)
• result in exclusion from activities other students have the benefit of (in school and the wider community)
• result in staff using restrictive practices with them

When we are trying to understand the function of a behaviour the first step is to ‘operationally define the ‘problem’ behaviour. This means that it describes the behaviour in concrete and observable terms so that two or more people who are otherwise not familiar with the behaviour can consistently identify and measure it. Specifically, we are talking about its ‘form’ here which we mentioned earlier. The operational definition should clearly describe what the behaviour looks and sounds like including the frequency intensity or duration (O’neil et al., 1997). For example, a problem behaviour of “not doing work” does not really tell me much at all. In needs to be defined in terms that are observable and measurable e.g., “the student completes, on average 50 % of her independent work (Harlacher, Rodrigueez 2018 p109).

Examples of problem behaviours that are operationally defined

In the next article we can use this information and apply it to an easy to use tool that helps us identify functions.

• The PBIS Tier 1 Handbook. Djabrayan & Hauser. Corwin 2015 (3) (6) (8)
• The PBS Tier 2 Handbook. Djabrayan & Hauser. Corwin 2018 (18)
• An Educators Guide to Schoolwide Positive Behavioural Interventions and Supports – Integrating all three tiers. J.E. Harlacher, BJ Rodriguez. Marzano Research 2018) (5) (13)
• Horner, R.H., Sugai, G., & Anderson, C.M. (2010) Examining the evidence base for school-wide positive behaviour support. Focus on Exceptional Children, 42(8), 1-14 (15), (16), (17).
• Luiselli, J.K., Putnam, R.P., Handler M.W., Feinberg A.B. (2005). Whole School Positive Behaviour Support: Effects on student discipline problems and academic performance. Educational Psychology, Vol.25, Nos. 2-3, April-June 2005, pp 183-198. (1)
• Skiba, R.J., & Rausch M.K. (2005). Zero tolerance, suspension, and expulsion: Questions of equity and effectiveness. In C. Everston & C.S. Weinstein (Eds.), Handbook of Behaviour
• Management: Research, practice, and contemporary issues (pp.1063-1089). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. (9)
•  PBS isn’t about Rewards or punishment, it’s about building relationships. Kate Strutt, Redstone 2017 (2) (7)