The Burkhart Center
for Autism Education & Research
Module Three: Social and Behavioral Issues

 
 
Module Three

Behavior Overview
Behavior in ASD
Social Behavioral Effects
Managing Behavior
Different Approaches
Glossary
About the Authors

 

    

 

 

Module Two Burkhart Center Home TTU Special Education Module One Module Three

Identifying the Causes of Misbehavior (Antecedents)

Scheuermann & Webber, 2001, Fouse & Wheeler, 1997

What is an Antecedent?

Antecedents are the conditions that immediately precede the occurrence of the child's behavior (Cooper, Heron, & Heward, 1987; O'Neill et al., 1997; Hieneman et al., 1999).

Antecedents include the specific times of day, settings, people, and activities that either occur or are present before the child exhibits challenging behavior.

Example:

Alex screams and pounds on his desk whenever his teacher asks him to work independently on his assignments. The request for Alex to work independently may be an antecedent to his behavior.

Antecedents According to Alberto & Troutman

A. Frustration due to:

1. Response ignorance

2. Complex materials, lacking in appropriate adaptations

3. Lack of functional vocabulary to communicate (verbal or augmentative/alternative communication system)

4. Goal or performance interruption

B. Understimulation

1. Being ignored

2. Meaningless repetition beyond criterion

3. Nonfunctional activity

4. Pacing too slow

5. Boredom

C. Overstimulation

1. Environment: For example, number of students, noise

2. Rate of physical prompting or verbalizations

3. Pace of activity

D. Environmental expectation or models

 

Social Antecedents

  • Verbal requests for work or other demands
  • Teacher asks the individual to move to the front of the line
  • Critical feedback from others
  • A coworker calls the individual attention to a misatake made in a project
  • Absence of Attention
  • The individual is asked to pay attention during an activity
  • Unexpected change in routine
  • An unscheduled meeting which interrupts the normal daily routine
  • Specific tasks or activities

Sensory Antecedents

  • Sounds of lights humming
  • Seeing florescent lights flickering
  • Taste of certain foods; toothpastes
  • Being stared at by an individual
  • Certain mannerisms of others
  • Large, discount stores
  • Certain ordinary smells

Emotional Antecedents

  • Unexpected change in routine
  • Viewing unexpected actions
  • Parental squabbling
  • No relaxation in the home environment
  • Anxiety over high-stakes testing

Antecedent-Behavior-Consequence Chart

  • An A-B-C Chart is used to identify patterns which identify specific antecedent events that are associated with undesired behaviors.
  • The A-B-C Chart is utilized during scheduled observations.
  • The types of behaviors observed, the events leading to the behavior and the events occurring after the behavior are collected.
A-B-C Chart

Antecedent: event that occurs before a behavior is exhibited

Behavior: refers to specific observable behaviors exhibited by students (appropriate and inappropriate)

Consequence: refers to what a student experiences after a behavior and determines whether or not the behavior will be repeated.

  • The A-B-C Chart analyzes the purpose or function of a specific behavior used to find out under what conditions the behavior occurs, what antecedent precedes the behavior, and what consequences follow the occurrence of that behavior.
  • The most useful functional analysis includes sensory and communiation issues identifying conditions, antecedents, and consequences related to the behavior.
  • A simple way to remember how to complete A-B-C is to ask the following questions before and after the behavior occurs:

WHAT happens?
WHEN does it happen?
WHERE does it happen?
HOW does it happen?
WHOM does it happen with?

Sample A-B-C Chart
Date
Time
Antecedent
Behavior
Consequence
Possible Function
4/15/05
10:30am
Other students speaking while teacher is speaking
Student places hands over ears and screams
Increased social isolation
Communication of frustration and overstimulation
4/15/05
10:35am
Teacher yells at students about being loud
Student, still holding hands over ears, crawls under desk
Trip to the principal’s office
Escape from overstimulation
4/16/05
10:25am
Relative comes to visit and hugs individual 3 times in 4 minutes
Individual runs out of the room
Relative assumes that the individual dislikes them
Escape due to touch sensitivity
4/16/05
10:30am
Mother retrieves individual from room and forces individual to stay in room with relative - more hugs
Individual shoves relative away from him or her
Mother becomes very angry and sends individual to his or her room
Escape
4/16/05
10:40am
Mother threatens to take something to do with area of interest away from individual
Individual cries
Mother thinks that everything is better
Communication of increased frustration and despair

 

Blank A-B-C Chart
Date
Time
Antecedent
Behavior
Consequence
Possible Function

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

~ Return to Top ~


2005 Burkhart Center for Autism Education & Research