Indispensable People
Making the Gospel Accessible to people of ALL abilities so that they may know Christ, grow in Him, and serve Him with the gifts He has given them.
Indispensable People
Complex Functions of Challenging Behaviors
Can understanding the intricacies of human behavior transform your church community? Join me, Tracie Corll, as we embark on an enlightening journey through the complex functions of challenging behaviors within ministry settings. We promise you'll gain valuable insights into sensory, escape, and attention-seeking behaviors, learning how to create more inclusive and supportive environments for everyone involved. Discover when accommodating sensory behavior is more beneficial than attempting to change it, and explore strategies for helping individuals manage escape behaviors through breaks or task division. Through real-world examples, we guide you in responding effectively to attention-seeking actions, encouraging positive behavior and fostering a stronger, more understanding community.
In the second chapter of our podcast, we delve into the essentials of understanding behavior through the ABCs: antecedent, behavior, and consequence. By unraveling these elements, you'll learn to identify the root causes behind actions, such as attention-seeking or avoidance, and implement positive replacement behaviors inspired by Christian teachings. We discuss the challenges of limited interactions in church environments, yet emphasize the profound importance of supporting each individual's spiritual journey. By recognizing behavioral patterns, we can guide individuals to serve and glorify God with their unique gifts, ultimately enriching the fabric of your church community.
Hi, my name is Tracy Correll, and welcome to Indispensable People. I'm a wife, mom, teacher, pastor and missionary, and I believe that every person should have the opportunity to know Christ, grow in Him and serve Him with the gifts that he has given, no matter their ability. Over 65 million Americans have a disability. That's 25% of the population. However, over 80% of them are not inside the walls of our church. Let's dive into those hard topics biblical foundations, perceptions and world-changing ideas.
Speaker 1:Hey, hey, and welcome to today's episode. We're talking about behavior, everybody's favorite topic, or at least the one that has the most questions. So we're going to talk about the functions of behavior. So I want you to pull up a seat and learn why these challenging behaviors occur and how we can respond most effectively. First of all, let's pop into the types of behavior responses, and the first one is sensory. This is one that we've probably spent the most time talking about. These behaviors provide access to sensory stimulation. It feels good to engage in that behavior, and that is why it's happening. When does it happen? Sensory behaviors occur at any time, in the presence or the absence of another person. How can we respond to those so we can teach a functional replacement behavior that provides compatible sensory input. Now, listen, not every behavior that occurs to a sensory need needs to be changed or replaced. Stimming and fidget, play or body movement, any of those kinds of things that are happening that are not becoming a distraction or disruptive or a safety issue, they don't need to be addressed. Those are just the person's response to their sensory needs and how they are trying to experience that. So let me just remind now, if it is, you know, someone putting an inedible object in their mouth and it's unsafe, we want to replace that with, maybe a hard piece of candy or something that they can chew like a piece of gum. Or there are also sensory toys that are called chewies and they can use those. Another option is considering, you know, behavior that becomes unsafe, like like pushing or hitting or shoving where a fidget toy may be or, a better term, a fidget tool can be used to help that individual in that moment to use their hands in a way that is safe for everybody around them.
Speaker 1:So let's consider another challenging behavior and how it functions and why, when and how to respond. So escape. This is probably a very scary thought because if we have someone in our realm of authority, right, Whether it's in children's church, whether it's in child care, a youth event, or maybe we're a buddy to an adult. If they try to escape, that's a safety situation. So why are they escaping?
Speaker 1:These behaviors remove an undesired situation or a person, and they can happen at a time in which something is viewed as being too hard, too boring or too loud. There's some kind of threat to the way that they're feeling right. So how do we respond? What do we do? We can teach the person to react or request a break when needed. We can divide tasks into smaller parts or we can give activity choices to keep up the interest. So there are some options to avoid or avert from the escape need. And again, the why is they're trying to remove themselves from an undesired situation or person. So how do we respond? We try to accommodate for that reason of escape, Okay. So another option that we want to consider, another behavior that is used as a function, is attention, and this is probably, I would say, some of the hardest things to deal with, because these behaviors provide a reaction from others.
Speaker 1:They are often described as acting out behaviors. I will give you an example. There's a young gentleman that attends our church and he is incredibly smart. He is diagnosed with autism. But when he does not get what he wants so this is kind of a twofold thing he will bring attention to himself until he is given what he wants. So it's helping him to get his desired reaction. So, for example, this morning I was giving him something and I asked him what color he wanted and he said my favorite color is poop. Well, why does he say that? Because he knows talking about poop gets a reaction, and so I did not give it to him and I said well, I'm sorry, I don't have that color, but these are the colors that I do have. And I gave him the choices that. So I didn't kind of come into that vortex of he's using this for those types of things, but I did answer properly and I did try to remain appropriate with his choices. Now that seems very, very minimal, but typically it's used for attention getting and then will grow if I entertain it.
Speaker 1:So when does attention seeking behavior happen? It occurs at a time in which the person desires a social interaction with another person, and you've, I'm sure, heard this before, that someone seeking attention doesn't care really if it's a positive attention or a negative attention as long as they're getting the attention, and so they will seek to get that in a multitude of ways and obviously the biggest problem is because it becomes negative or distracting and then it takes away from someone else in the space. So we need to respond to this particular individual by showing them how to request and receive the positive attention through engaging in desirable behaviors. And this is easier said than done, because most of us will respond quickly and easily to a negative behavior because we want to quickly stop it that sometimes we can let the positives go by and not give them the attention that they should receive because of those type of situations.
Speaker 1:So another example is a little guy. He wanted to participate and answer one of the questions. He didn't get called upon and so he started doing a whining, crying kind of thing, and at that point we looked at him, we told him what was going on, said you are more than welcome to tell us your answer, which was his buddy and move on and do that kind of thing. So we tried to help in that moment with what it was that he was struggling with and give him an option to achieve it in a different way. Option to achieve it in a different way.
Speaker 1:Another thing we want to think about is the function of a challenging behavior. This is going to sound strange, but we're going to use the word tangible. These behaviors provide success to highly preferred items or activities, and this happens. Preferred items or activities and this happens tangible seeking behaviors occur at a time in which the child desires a specific item or activity. So how can we respond? What can we do in that? Now listen, I said child, but this is anybody right. This has nothing to do with just a child. This can be all the way through adult. And what can we do to respond in that particular way? We can teach that individual to ask for, to wait or to show a specific behavior and then grant access to whatever that item or that person is.
Speaker 1:So, whether that's a snack, whether that's a sticker, whether that is something, a toy that they want to be able to play with, so you might say, okay, here's the schedule, we're going to do this, this and this, and then you'll be able to do that. Or if it is a snack or something like that, it's okay, well, we've got to complete this and this and this, and then you'll be able to do that. Or if it is a snack or something like that, it's okay, well, we've got to complete this and this and then we'll do that. So this, this if and then statements are really great with that. Visual schedules are really great for that. You can even create like a reward chart where they accomplish so many things and then they can have access to the thing that they are desiring.
Speaker 1:There are all kinds of options to do those types of things, because it's really really important to take the behavior that they're showing, to turn it into something positive, because we want to replace the negative behavior with positive behavior. So a replacement behavior is a related skill that serves the same purpose as a challenging behavior. So that skill allows the child to get their wants and needs met, but in an appropriate way. And again, I said child, but I don't mean just children, youth, young adults, older adults. Replacement behavior applies to them. It is different.
Speaker 1:So when we're talking about children, younger children, it's easier to think about them in this behavior, because a lot of this is actually very typical, but in a child with special needs it may be even more so. So that's why I keep saying children. So so that's why I keep saying children. But as we get into youth, young adults and adults, they're a little bit more set in their ways. So these strategies all apply and they can work with them. I think it's a little easier in younger children because they're forming those kinds of things, but in youth or young adult or adult, you are working. You're going to have to probably work a little bit harder in those respects because, again, they're kind of set in their ways. They have learned what that either attention-seeking behavior does, that sensory seeking behavior, how to achieve it, how to get it, the tangible things, all of that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1:So here's what we want to look out for. You have probably heard this before about the ABCs of behavior, and this is a great way so that you can pick up on things before you get to that point. Okay, so the ABCs of behavior are antecedent behavior, consequence. Okay, we want to kind of have a way to identify what's coming right, and that is, you see, the antecedent, which means an event occurs immediately before a behavior. So the next piece is the behavior, an observable action, and the last piece is the consequence. It's a response that follows the behavior and the function, which is what we were talking about, the function of behavior. That's the reason why the behavior occurred. Okay, that's access, that's to avoid or escape something, to receive the attention, whether it's positive or negative, or that sensory input, what are they looking for? And when we start to notice, okay, this happened, then the behavior happened and out of that came this. And now I know why. Because that helps you to put in place the positive of the replacement behavior so that you can begin to shift that behavior little by little.
Speaker 1:Now understand that the church setting is not the easiest to change this behavior, because you don't see them as much as you would if you were in a school or a workshop or a setting like therapy or something like that, but the church. We can still be aware of these things. We can still know that we can find positive replacement in the behavior and we can also understand the function of their behavior, what they're trying to achieve, so that we can help them get to a more positive place. It's not going to be perfect. It's not always going to be pretty. It's definitely not going to be easy all the time. However, building this understanding and walking alongside of another individual and supporting them and fulfilling their needs in a positive way will benefit that person in attendance, but also everyone else in the space, because it becomes a more positive fulfillment as opposed to a negative fulfillment.
Speaker 1:And that is what Jesus does, right? Is that not the replacement of sin and the covering of sin, so that we can do the right thing and be positive and live for and glorify God? That's what this is right. But we can't do it without identifying right. We have to identify our sin, we have to put it out there and then we need to overcome it. And we overcome it because we're covered by the blood, but also because Jesus gives us strength to do the things that are right. And we can do this in behavior. And we can see that and work through it in each and every step with the people that we serve, so that they can become more like Jesus every single day. Do I know all there is to know? Do I have all the answers to your special needs, ministry? I don't, but I want to keep the conversation going and I want to make sure that every person has availability and access to the gospel so that they can know Him, grow in Him and serve him with the gifts that he has given.
