Behavioral

When raising tiny humans behaviors that are less than ideal come with the territory. However, there is a big difference between tantrums, meltdowns, and the occasional throwing or yelling. In order to address this we use a behavioral approach. The first step is to identify the behavior itself. In other words what is the issue, are you concerned that your child screams, hits, or tries to bite you? The next step is identifying when this happens? Is it when you are changing them, when it’s time to eat, or when you are trying to leave the house? The third piece of this puzzle is what happens directly after their behavior. Do you stop, yell, or give in to what they want? All behavior has a communicative purpose, even if it is subconscious. Our job is to figure out what they are trying to communicate and how we can help that interaction go more smoothly.

Here’s an example:

Mom opens up a pack of crackers for Alex to eat. Usually Alex loves crackers. When she gives them to him he screams and throws them on the floor. This could be due to the fact that Alex has been working on his skills to open things and he wanted the opportunity to open the crackers all by himself. A simple question of “You want to open?” could have avoided this conflict that left everyone feeling upset.

Here’s another example:

Christina bites Mom whenever she is on her phone. As a result, Mom yells ouch, puts her phone down, and tells Christina “no biting!”. In this example, Christina wanted Mom’s attention and knew that biting her would get her off her phone immediately. When Mom put her phone down and talked to Christina, Christina actually got what she wanted out of biting.

There are many different functions of behavior, or why we do what we do. The major ones include Attention, Automatic/ Sensory, Tangible, Escape, and Control. We work with your family to figure out the undesired behavior, what they are trying to communicate/ what the purpose is, and how to change that to a desired behavior.

Update: 04/2024