Oct 2010
Why does my child do the things they do?
10/19/2010 04:40 PM Filed in: Archive
Why does my child do the things they do?
That is the question you should ask yourself every time your child does a behavior that you want to increase or decrease.
Children do things for a reason.
Everything that a person does is a behavior. Behavior has a function, meaning we do things to get a particular response or consequence.
In order to change a behavior, you must first know why the child is displaying the behavior. There are 4 main reasons children behave the way they do:
- To gain attention from others or to gain access to an item or activity
- To escape an undesired item, activity, or person
- Self-stimulation, which is a behavior that provides automatic reinforcement
- To communicate, especially children with limited communication skills
Once you determine the function of the behavior, teach the child a more appropriate way to get the same response. This is also known as teaching a replacement behavior. Provide positive reinforcement every time the appropriate behavior is displayed.
