FBA as a learning tool with your ASD kid
Functional Behavioral Analysis is one of those things on the learning curve that is autism. That curve is SO steep that you get mental whiplash over and over and over. FBA comes in pretty early though, on the steepest and most vertiginous curves that you will probably face in the road course that is autism. FBA consists of breaking a behavior down (and it's always an unwanted behavior, which is stupid, because wouldn't you want to analyze the whys and wherefores of desired behaviors in order to increase them?) into its ABCs - antecedent, behavior and consequence. First, you define the behavior in very narrow terms (not aggression, but biting other students), then the antecedent and consequence. In this case the antecedent might be "peer in student's personal space" and consequence might be "peer goes away." Then you take lots of data and look at it for a pattern. Today, however, I used it as a learning tool with my teenager, who had a hard day. ...