By Emma Ryan | The Learning Garden
Let’s talk about function of behavior…
I once worked with a student–we’ll call him Adam–who had a biting behavior. He was new to our district, and the teachers of the sending district informed us of this behavior. They had been unable to stop the behavior, and it presented a challenge–and a significant danger–to staff and students.
Their strategy for dealing with this behavior had been to ignore it. Someone along the way had determined that the function of behavior for biting was attention, and so everyone who worked with this student placed this behavior on extinction, withholding the reinforcing attention that had previously followed (and presumably maintained) the behavior.
I met with my staff prior to the student’s arrival and let them know, due to the function of behavior, they should block any biting attempts and that, if the student had bitten them, they should detach themselves with as little attention to the behavior as possible (no eye contact, no verbal behavior, ect.). Yes, this is very difficult!
However, shortly after the student had arrived, I noticed something. When this student became agitated, he turned his head around and bit the first thing he came into contact with. Usually this was a person (he was provided 2 paraprofessionals to support him, so someone was always nearby) but occasionally, it was an object.
This student also manded (asked) for crunchy foods when feeling agitated. After eating these crunchy foods, or biting on a person or object, Adam seemed calmer.
It became clear that we did not understand the function of behavior entirely.
And that changed everything.
What Is the Function of Behavior in Special Education?
The function of behavior is the reason a behavior occurs — specifically, what the student gets or avoids as a result of engaging in that behavior. In applied behavior analysis, we identify four primary functions:
Attention — For attention-maintained behaviors, the behavior results in social attention from adults or peers. This can be positive or negative. Redirection or chastisment is still attention! For Adam, eye contact and the, “ow!” of the individuals who had been bitten was reinforcing. This makes sense for an individual who does not yet have the skills to initiate social interactions with his peers or adults around him.
Escape — For escape-maintained behaviors, the behavior results in removal from or delay of a non-preferred task, activity, setting, or person. The student who asks to go to the bathroom when a writing assignment is scheduled is engaging in an escape-maintained behavior.
Tangible — For tangible (access)-maintained behaviors, the behavior results in access to a preferred item, activity, or person. An exhausted parent who finally gives in and gives the requested candy to a tantrumming child to avoid public embarrassment in the grocery store is unwittingly reinforcing the tantrumming behavior, and teaching the child that the crying and yelling is an effective means to gain access to the candy.
Sensory or Automatic — For sensory or automatic-maintained the behavior itself is reinforcing because of the feeling it gives the individual. The key with this behavior is that it will occur even if the individual is totally alone. Rocking, humming, hand-flapping, and skin-picking are some common examples. To learn more about stereotypy behaviors, and hear from a BCBA’s perspective on eliminating these behaviors, check out my article, Is Eliminating Stereotypy Harmful?
Every single behavior serves one or more of these functions.
Here’s the mistake that we make very often in special education settings, and it’s totally understandable: we see a behavior, we decide it’s a problem (usually for us or for other students, not necessarily for the student exhibiting it), and we design an intervention to stop it.
The problem is that the same behavior can serve completely different functions for different students — and an intervention designed for the wrong function will fail every time, no matter how consistently it’s implemented. Additionally–and this is the part that I missed–a behavior can serve more than one function. And if it does, the intervention must address both of these behaviors.
Consider three students who both refuse to come to the carpet for morning meeting:
Student A refuses because the texture of the carpet is overwhelmingly uncomfortable for her. She is seeking an escape from sensory discomfort.
Student B refuses because last time she failed to come to the carpet, her teacher offered her a special chair to sit in. She is seeking access to preferential seating.
Student C refuses because when he does, his paraprofessional leans down close to him and talks with him. He is seeking attention.
Treating the behavior without knowing the function is like treating a fever with a bandage. You have the right intentions, and you’re working hard, but you’re just using the wrong tools.
How to Start Identifying Function of Behavior in Your Classroom
I’ve been there: one behavior is derailing the entire class, and you need help yesterday, but the BCBA won’t be available for a few days.
You don’t need to wait!
As the BCBA will probably tell you, you can get started collecting data to inform the intervention. And your BCBA will thank you for it! The data is called ABC data, and this what it might look like:
(A) Antecedent
What happens immediately before the behavior? Is there an assignment, or class where the behavior is more likely to occur? Does the behavior usually occur with a specific person, or at a specific time of the day? Answering these questions can give you clues about what is bringing about the behavior.
(B) Behavior
This might seem like the simplest part, but it is really important that it is done correctly. Be sure that you have identified the exact behavior on which you are collecting data. This means defining the behavior objectively and measurably. So the behavior is not “hitting.” The behavior is “striking an adult or peer with an open or closed fist from a distance of at least 6 inches.” This is critical when working with a team. You need to ensure that everyone is marking an occurrence when the exact behavior is happening, and that they are not marking instances that do not fit that definition.
(C) Consequence
What happens immediately after the behavior? What does the student get or avoid? Keep in mind that this consequence doesn’t have to happen every time to maintain a behavior. Do they escape work for a little bit? Does engaging in the behavior make them late for their next class? This is your most important observation. Whatever follows the behavior consistently (again, it doesn’t have to be every single time!) is likely maintaining it.
Another option is to collect scatter plot data. This sounds complicated, but its actually really simple. You’ll record data on a grid to indicate when during the day the behavior occurs for several days. The very visual results usually speak for themselves: a high concentration of data points around math class might indicate escape from math. A random scattering of data points suggests sensory or automatic reinforcement.
Even while you’re waiting for a behaviorist to complete a more official assessment, you can ask yourself: what would the student need to do differently to get the same outcome? If it is “ask for a break” — it’s probably escape. If the answer is “tap the teacher’s shoulder” — it’s probably attention. This is also important to consider when planning to teach replacement skills!
Once all of this critical data is compiled, you and your BCBA will be able to sit down and write a hypothesis statement (you might even have some ideas before this point, but it is important to let the data do the talking!)
“When [antecedent], [student] engages in [behavior] in order to [get/avoid something], which results in [consequence that maintains the behavior].”
Once you can fill in that sentence with confidence and with data to support it, you’re ready to design an intervention based upon the function of behavior.
Please be sure to work with a professional specifically trained in behavior prior to implementing any intervention to ensure that the intervention is safe and ethical!
What Happens When You Get the Function Right
When the function is correctly identified, interventions work. Not immediately, and not without a lot of hard work — but in a more sustainable way. You shouldn’t feel like you’re constantly running around, putting out fires.
For Adam: ignoring the behavior was not enough. He’d been in his previous district for 2 years, and he’d still been engaging in at least 5 biting episodes per day. It turned out that attention was only a secondary function for Adam. The primary function was sensory. The feedback that Adam got from biting various materials (objects and also skin!) was reinforcing to him. Once we provided sensory chews for the client, and added chew breaks into his schedule, his rates of biting people were significantly reduced. ABC data helped us to identify this function.
If an intervention, implemented with fidelity, is not reducing a behavior, it may be time to reconsider the function. Knowing the function (or functions) of a behavior is the most important thing.
A Note for Teams
Identifying function of behavior is not a job for one person. It requires consistent observation across settings and across adults — which means every member of the team needs a shared understanding of what they’re looking for and how to document it. (Again, this is one of the reasons that an objective behavioral definition is essential!)
This is especially true for paraprofessionals, who are often the adults closest to the student during the behaviors in question. A para who understands that they are inadvertently reinforcing an attention-maintained behavior by engaging with it can shift their response in a way that supports the intervention rather than undermining it. That shift can make or break a behavior plan.
Looking for tools to help your team identify behavior function systematically? My Behavior Intervention Resources includes ABC data collection sheets, a scatter plot template, a function hypothesis flowchart, and a team communication summary — all in a digital, no-prep format. View it in my TPT store →
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