A behavior plan that reduces a problem behavior without teaching a replacement behavior isn’t complete — and may not be ethical. Here’s what every plan needs.
Lucy the Golden Retriever
Let’s begin, for a moment, with my childhood dog, Lucy.
Lucy was a goofy, loveable, Golden Retriever. When Lucy needed to go outside to do her business, she barked. This was a very annoying behavior, but it was very effective. When Lucy barked, no one liked to hear it, and someone always immediately took her outside to relieve herself.
You don’t need a background in ABA to make a guess about what would happen if we decided to simply eliminate this behavior.
If we decided, one day, that the barking was too much and we’d no longer reinforce the behavior by taking Lucy outside to relieve herself, Lucy would stop barking.
But do you know what else she would do? Poop on our new carpet.
A Replacement Behavior for Lucy
So what could we do instead? How could we get rid of Lucy’s annoying barking behavior without worrying about any unwanted consequences?
Teach a replacement behavior.
We could get really creative with this: we could teach Lucy to ring a bell when she needed to go out, to hit one of those buttons that dogs are talking with these days, or to place her head in the lap of the person nearest to her.
The point is that it should be abundantly clear that we would not simply remove Lucy’s behavior. That behavior was serving a function, and Lucy’s need to serve that function would not go away.
The same is true for any behavior.
What Happens When You Skip This Step
If my family didn’t plan for a replacement behavior, a few things would have happened:
- The barking would have gotten worse. This is called an Extinction Burst, and it refers to the often very intense increase in the problem behavior. It happens because of a strong history of reinforcement following the behavior. Lucy wouldn’t just bark once and then decide, “Okay, I guess that’s not going to work anymore.” She would bark more feverently (“That’s weird. This always works. Maybe they just can’t hear me?”)
- Lucy might have developed a new behavior to serve her function. Maybe she would scratch at the door, leaving claw marks, until someone let her out.
- Sadly, Lucy, who is very praise motivated, would have lost the only tool she had to doing what she understands earns her praise (going to the bathroom outside of the house.)
- My family would have become frustrated because, although the barking may have eventually ceased, much of our time would be occupied by cleaning up after a previously potty-trained dog.
What does this look like for people?
The same thing happens with human beings, though it might not be as obvious.
For example, a child has historically gotten out of work (escape) because they have thrown their pencil across the room whenever they are provided a worksheet. However, the child’s teachers now ensure that the child is able to complete their work without throwing their pencil by attaching the pencil to a string which is attached to the student’s desk.
The student still doesn’t want to do the work. They still need to escape. So they simply find another way to do so: maybe they slam the pencil into the desk until the tip breaks off. Maybe they begin to throw their desk…suddenly this child’s teachers have a much more challenging behavior to deal with.
And it all could have been avoided if the child’s teachers simply taught him a replacement behavior, such as calmly asking for a break.
What a Replacement Behavior Actually Needs to Do
Developing a replacement behavior is a very important part of the behavior plan. Here are some things to consider when choosing the replacement behavior:
- The replacement behavior must serve the same function as the original behavior. (Teaching the child in the above example to ask for a break allows him to escape the demand.)
- It needs to be easier or at least as easy to perform as the original behavior (If a child does not have the language yet to say, “Can I have a break please?,” this is not the time to teach these language skills! Simply have the student point to a break card.)
- It needs to be explicitly taught, not just identified. (This can be accomplished with social stories, role play, or video modeling. Please note that the time to teach is when the individual is calm–not when they are already engaging in the problem behavior!)
- It needs to be reinforced every time it’s used, especially early on. (This shows that the behavior is easy to do and effective. If the behavior ceases to serve the desired function, the individual will revert to the problem behavior.)
This section is a natural place to mention the function-based replacement behavior categories (attention, escape, tangible, sensory) briefly, without going as deep as the toolkit itself.
A Brief Review of Functions
If you would like to learn more in-depth information about behavior function, please check out my article on behavior function.
Behaviors serve one of 4 functions, and the replacement behavior should also serve that function.
- Escape
- Attention
- Access to tangibles
- Stereotypy (or automatic reinforcement)
This Isn’t Optional — It’s Ethical Practice
Taking a way a tool from an individual (as distruptive, annoying, upsetting, ect. as that tool may be to us) is only ethical if another tool is provided in its place.
Adding another thing to the list when you are already feeling overwhelmed by creating a plan for behavior reduction might seem like a lot of extra work…and it is! But it is also the only way to create lasting behavioral change and to acknowledge the inherit human dignity of those you serve.
What This Looks Like in Practice
Here are 3 steps to get you started:
1-Identify the function of the behavior.
2-Identify a replacement behavior that is functionally equivalent and easier to exhibit than the problem behavior.
3-Train everyone who works with the individual to respond appropriately to both the problem behavior and the replacement behavior.
4-Take data. Make sure what you are doing is working. If it’s not, change it.
It will take time, but trust the process and take comfort in knowing that you are doing the best you can for your client!
Ready to Start?
If you’re designing a behavior support plan and want a structured system for identifying, teaching, and tracking replacement behaviors, my Replacement Behavior Teaching Toolkit walks your team through the entire process — with ready-to-use data sheets and a paraprofessional training guide included. View it in my TPT store →
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