Antecedent Interventions

Power point about Antecedent Behavior Interventions

1. Antecedent Behavior Interventions PSY 3570: Practicum with Special Populations

2. Antecedents Antecedents are stimuli, events, or conditions that are present before a behavior occurs Discriminative stimuli ( S D s ) Motivating operations People Time of day Physical environment Absence of stimuli

3. Why Use Antecedent Interventions? Antecedent interventions reduce the probability that problem behavior will occur Antecedent interventions decrease or eliminate problem behavior by Eliminating the antecedent event Modifying the antecedent event Changing how antecedent events are presented

4. Identifying Antecedent Interventions Identified through functional behavioral assessment Results suggest or identify environmental variables that are associated with the occurrence or absence of problem behavior

5. Antecedent Interventions Antecedent Interventions with empirical support include Noncontingent Reinforcement High-Probability Request Sequence Functional Communication Training

6. Noncontingent Reinforcement Presenting known reinforcing stimuli on a fixed-time or variable-time schedule, independent of behavior Makes the reinforcer maintaining the behavior freely and frequently available Utilizes positive, negative, and automatic reinforcement

7. High-Probability Request Sequence Involves pairing two to five short tasks which with the student has a history of compliance with a task which with the student does not have a history of compliance May also be referred to as “behavioral momentum” Related to the Premack Principle

8. Functional Communication Training Establishes appropriate communication in place of problem behaviors Develops alternate behaviors that are sensitive to motivating operations Communication type and response dependent on behavior

9. Other strategies Other antecedent strategies include Modifying the task to include student interests Changing task difficulty Breaking one large task into several smaller tasks Creating bridging activities

10. What does this mean for your child? Some children at WE may have some of these interventions already in place If your child is having difficulty with a procedure, you can always try to use high-probability request Do two FUNCTIONAL ELO’s , then a procedure trial If you are having major difficulty, talk to the child’s support coordinator