Stop That Seemingly Senseless Behavior!: FBA-based Interventions for People with Autism

Once you've determined the purpose of a child's or student's seemingly senseless behavior by doing a functional behavior assessment (FBA), the next step is to work on changing or modifying the behavior. Stop That Seemingly Senseless Behavior! follows up on Dr. Glasberg's previous book, Functional Behavior Assessment for People with Autism, with a guide to developing an effective behavior intervention plan to stop undesirable behaviors such as hitting, screaming, or repetitive questioning.

Stop That Seemingly Senseless Behavior! outlines an educational approach for parents, teachers, adult service providers, and aides that not only quickly reduces the problem behavior but also teaches the individual with autism new skills to get his needs met. It covers:

Review of what an FBA is

How behavior is learned and unlearned

Preventing challenging behavior

Replacement behaviors

Reinforcement techniques

Pros & cons of reinforcement vs. punishment

Interventions tailored to the function of the problem behavior

Collecting and graphing data

Writing behavior intervention plans

Troubleshooting

Positive Behavior Supports

Full of case studies and Keep it Simple tips, plus forms, figures, and graphs, Stop That Seemingly Senseless Behavior! offers families and professionals proven strategies to change a person's challenging behavior, helping him to have a more productive and inclusive future.

An example from the book of an FBA-based intervention:
Marie's problem behavior was swearing. An FBA revealed that Marie's swearing functioned to obtain attention from a preferred teacher. Her behavioral intervention allowed her five fewer swear words per day in order to obtain her reinforcer: 15 minutes of special time with her preferred teacher. In order to increase her chances of success, once Marie was only swearing 20 times per day, the allowed swears were reduced by only one each day. The teachers used a token board to help her visualize how many "swears" she had left. After two months, Marie was down to zero swearing incidents per day, and maintained this decreased level one year later.

Also by Beth Glasberg:
Siblings of Children with Autism: A Guide for Families

Beth A. Glasberg, Ph.D., BCBA, is the director of Glasberg Behavioral Consulting Services, LLC in Allentown, New Jersey. She is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst and two-time recipient of the Lebec Prize for Research in Autism. She is the author of FUNCTIONAL BEHAVIOR ASSESSMENT FOR PEOPLE WITH AUTISM and the co-author of SIBLINGS OF CHILDREN WITH AUTISM, both published by Woodbine House. She lives in Central New Jersey.