Having Trouble, Not Being Trouble
In this presentation, I'm illustrating a pair of methods for helping manage children with disruptive, aggressive behaviours; Collaborative Problem Solving and Functional Behaviour Assessment. Both of these methods work towards the goal of understanding why a child acts in inappropriate ways, and both methods have the goal of finding ways to meet the child's needs, either through providing appropriate alternate ways of getting what they want, or through helping them develop the personal management skills needed to avoid acting out in the school or home.
Functional Behaviour Assessment
The above video is only one section of a longer talk, but it explains the simplest core idea of Functional Behaviour Assessment: Behaviour has purpose. All conscious behaviours of a child are strategies used to either gain access to a positive (gaining the attention of others, or gaining tangible things) or to evade a negative (boredom, unwelcome challenges, or sensory stimulus). The suggestion here is that behaviour is disruptive because the strategy being used is inappropriate, and that the step towards a good intervention is to find appropriate strategies which the child can use to get the things they need.
The above guide explains the way Functional Behaviour Assessment approaches analysing disruptive behaviours, which involves looking at the events preceding the behaviour, what the behaviour itself manifested as, and the direct consequences of it, the idea in this being to try to understand what the child in question is attempting to achieve through the specific behaviour, whether or not it succeeds.
I have located a sample form designed for aiding with this analysis, along with a video explaining how the form is typically filled out, with an eye towards explaining specific behaviours, and what those behaviours may be in response to, on the part of the student. The guide above, and the sample form with its tutorial below should help to illustrate the process of a Functional Behaviour Assessment.
I have located a sample form designed for aiding with this analysis, along with a video explaining how the form is typically filled out, with an eye towards explaining specific behaviours, and what those behaviours may be in response to, on the part of the student. The guide above, and the sample form with its tutorial below should help to illustrate the process of a Functional Behaviour Assessment.
Collaborative Problem Solving
In contrast to Functional Behaviour Assessment, Collaborative Problem solving (introduced in the video above) looks at troubled behaviour not as an inappropriate strategy, or at least, not necessarily as an inappropriate strategy. Collaborative Problem Solving focuses on the idea that there are vanishingly few children who want to have trouble at school and home, or who don't want to be able to get along with their teachers and classmates. Instead, the idea behind it is that it is not motivation which is lacking, but rather the personal skills needed to succeed.
Collaborative Problem Solving, as an approach, frowns on looking for a diagnosis, and the guide below mentions that looking to "diagnose" a child with disruptive behaviour can lead to assuming that once you know what's wrong, the problem can be simply fixed. CPS doesn't really approach troubled children in such a medical way. Instead, it treats basic organisational abilities, and personal management of impulses, reactions and emotions, as vital skills, which children may be lacking for any number of reasons. A skill deficit in these areas can lead to a child acting out, or reacting inappropriately because they simply don't have the ability to do otherwise.
Collaborative Problem Solving, as an approach, frowns on looking for a diagnosis, and the guide below mentions that looking to "diagnose" a child with disruptive behaviour can lead to assuming that once you know what's wrong, the problem can be simply fixed. CPS doesn't really approach troubled children in such a medical way. Instead, it treats basic organisational abilities, and personal management of impulses, reactions and emotions, as vital skills, which children may be lacking for any number of reasons. A skill deficit in these areas can lead to a child acting out, or reacting inappropriately because they simply don't have the ability to do otherwise.
How does this get implemented? It gets implemented through a process Dr. Ross Greene calls Plan B. Plan B is an approach which, quite originally, works by talking to the child, and being prepared to really listen and work through their response, and then putting forward an explanation of why the behaviour is troublesome, and then working together to solve the problem the child is facing, and hence the problematic behaviour. Dr. Greene's video, below, talks through the stages of this technique, although he has a great distaste for terms like "stages" and "technique", as this potentially smacks of going at the child's problems with a user manual instead of simply treating them like a person.
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How do Functional Behaviour Assessment and Collaborative Problem Solving differ?
Primarily, they differ on their interpretation of troubled behaviour in children. While retaining the same general approach, the models differ in that FBA treats the behaviour as something to be studied and analysed in itself, on the understanding that every behaviour is a strategy, and that troubling or disruptive behaviour is an inappropriate strategy, or one which is failing.
CPS, on the other hand, operates on the understanding that while disruptive or aggressive behaviour may be a failing strategy, the reason that inappropriate behaviour is deployed by a child is because the child does not have the kinds of skills to have a suite of appropriate responses to situations, or the felxibility to generate new appropriate responses.
CPS, on the other hand, operates on the understanding that while disruptive or aggressive behaviour may be a failing strategy, the reason that inappropriate behaviour is deployed by a child is because the child does not have the kinds of skills to have a suite of appropriate responses to situations, or the felxibility to generate new appropriate responses.
What do both models share?
Both models would not approve of practice based on this cartoon, lifted from Lives in the Balance. Using strict, one-size-fits-all rubrics, and trying to deal with individual problems as they arise instead of working with lagging skills or inappropriate strategies which children are using are practice which neither method would approve of.
How Do These Methods Complement Each Other?
Functional Behaviour AssessmentDisruptive behaviour is a strategy, used to access a positive, or escape a negative. The problem is not what the child wants, the problem is how the child is attempting to achieve it. If the child learns to use appropriate, harmonious strategies to get the things he or she wants, then the problem has been solved.
The child may need accommodations and understanding from teachers, parents and other adults in order for them to have access to appropriate strategies, however. |
Collaborative Problem SolvingDisruptive behaviour is an inappropriate response to stresses the child is under. The reason that the child has only inappropriate responses is due to lacking personal management and organisational skills, the skills which well adjusted children and adults use to navigate everyday life with minimal hickups.
If the child can be helped by adults to develop the personal skills which are lagging behind, then the problem can be solved, but this process requires truly listening and working together with the child to find a solution, not merely coming up with a solution, presenting it to the child, and compromising until the child accepts it. |
With support and understanding from the adults in the student's life, troublesome behaviours can be gotten past, and replaced with healthy responses to everyday stresses and appropriate strategies which the child can use to get the things he or she needs, particularly in the case of special needs students who have problems with communication, or who have issues with sensory overstimulation and emotional control.
Useful websites and references:
The main website for Collaborative Problem Solving. Very easy on the eye and friendly to use.
Testimonies from people who have used Collaborative Problem Solving's Plan B. Reference website for Functional Behaviour Assessment. |