Lesson 15: Problem Solving


Attention

Remember these things? I couldn't solve them either!! But in Behavior Management, we have some tricks to help us solve problems!


Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this lesson's material, students will be able to:

  • Discuss role of ongoing assessment in Behavior Managment Plan Implementation

Teaching

Assessment

Just like in this class, assessments involve using tools to determine if your plan is working. Each "Lesson Plan" in this class is sort of like a Behavior Contract. It tells you what you need to know, teaches it, and then tests to see if you actually know it!

(The good grades are your reinforcer! I hope they are working!)

So the key to know if something is working is to get them to show you! "Show me the money!" right??

When we design a Behavior Plan we put a lot of work into it and we want to know if it is making a difference. We engage in Assessment in a number of ways:

  • Baseline Assessment
    • This form of assessment measures the occurance of the behavior before you start the plan...that way you know where you started! (And you know if it is really a problem worth going through all this trouble to solve!)
  • Ongoing Assessment
    • When you create a behavior plan you are always, and I mean ALWAYS measuring the occurance of the behavior itself. You cannot trust your memory or judgement as to how things are going...you need hard, cold numbers!
  • Formative Assessment
    • This type of "testing" occurs along the way so that you can determine if you need to change a plan or not. You might find out, for example, that a particular reinforcer has lost it's ability to strengthen behavior...so, you find another one and replace it. You can only KNOW this if you are measuring the occurrance of the behavior all the time.
  • Summative Assessment
    • This type of assessment is, as the name implies, at the end where we measure how much behavior has changed...it is too late to change the plan really, so we are measuring how effective the plan was.

Is it working?

This is the key question for anyone developing and implementing behavior plans. The only way we can know is if we measure the behavior all the time and chart it on a graph. I'm not kidding!! This is part of the SCIENCE of behavior management...we don't trust our memory, we don't trust our hunches...we need numbers...we need DATA!


Well, this is Data, but I don't mean THAT kind of Data!

But, it is getting worse!

It is an identifiable trend that in Behavior Management, things will often get worse before they get better. Think about it!

Let's say you have a kid who has been acting out at home. You take away the phone, the TV, and the computer and tell them that when they behave more appropriately (and you define what that is!!) they can get their stuff back. Well, they are pissed! They might act out even more!

You need to hold your guns, dig in your heels, face the music, be courageous...whatever analogy you want to use...eventually, they will turn around!

When we talk about "consistency" in parenting...well, THIS is what we are talking about...are you going to DO what you SAY you are going to do? If not, don't say it. If you are not going to really follow through, it is worse to just threaten it.

That is where all this "disrespect for elders" comes from...if those elders actually followed through with what they said they were going to do, they would have a lot more respect!

Ask for help!

If things are going badly, and you have tried all you can think of...don't give up...GET HELP! Call up one of your classmates who has taken this class and see what you can come up with!!

(Great album!!)


Assessment

Lesson 15 Discussion

In this discussion why you think it is better to collect data than to rely on your own observations and memory. In addition, I would like to see a discussion on some of the challenges of implementing a behavior plan and why it might be difficult to ask for help when things go wrong.