The patient, Matt, was found to alert and willing to engage in social and academic activities, however, his approach to social activities leads to his peers avoiding playing with him. One of the causes of their response to him is his inappropriate social greetings, as he approaches his potential playmates in a rough manner such that they are afraid of playing with him (Han et al., 2019).
Furthermore, the patient seeks to hug his peers as well as adults and moves constantly during the class activities. This has led to the patient developing affinity for self-selected activities, whereby he has absolute control of his play sessions. Matt is a socially interested child, who is yet to understand the meaning, context, and norm of greetings.
It is also important to mention that the fact that he keeps hugs his peers and adults cannot be solely be attributed to his preference for gross motor skills, and instead of an attempt to connect with the people around him socially. Matt’s rocking behaviors are also very interesting especially due to their impact on his learning progress as well as that of the people around him (White et al., 2018).
This target behavior begins when he is passive, this indicating that the predominant cause for his problematic behaviors is his inability to cope with the learning environment. The rocking behavior could indicate boredom, or even the patient having attention deficiency and hyperactive disorder (ADHD).
Another passive behavior that the patient avoids is reading, but he does not refuse to do work that involves his active participation, for example acting as the work, in the story of three pigs. However, the rocking behavior along with inappropriate greeting, are both indications of a mild form of autism (Maynard et al., 2019).
TABLE 1–1 Questions to Consider before Identifying Target Behavior as Challenging
- Does the target behavior interfere with the student’s learning?
- Rocking stereotype.
- Refusal to do work.
- Inappropriate social greetings.
- Does the target behavior interfere with other students’ learning?
- Rocking stereotype.
- Inappropriate social greetings.
- Refusal to do work.
- Does the target behavior interfere with or impede social relationships?
- Rocking stereotype.
- Inappropriate social greetings.
- Refusal to do work.
- Does the target behavior harm the student’s self-esteem?
- Rocking stereotype.
- Inappropriate social greetings.
- Refusal to do work.
- Is the target behavior harmful or dangerous to the student?
- Rocking stereotype.
- Inappropriate social greetings.
- Refusal to do work.
- Is the target behavior harmful or dangerous to other individuals?
- Rocking stereotype.
- Inappropriate social greetings.
- Refusal to do work.
- Does the behavior occur frequently or infrequently?
- Rocking stereotype.
- Inappropriate social greetings.
- Refusal to do work.
- Is the target behavior age-appropriate?
- Rocking stereotype.
- Inappropriate social greetings.
- Refusal to do work.
In this part, the inappropriate target behaviors were ranked based on the criteria provided in Table 1-1. The most problematic behavior, the rocking stereotype, had the most impact on the student as well as his peers. This would be ranked as the most problematic behavior of the three. I also exposed the student and his peer to harm, as he could hurt himself and others while making the rocking movements (Han et al., 2019).
Inappropriate greetings had an impact on the students’ social relationships as well as self-esteem. The three potential behaviors were found to be inappropriate for the student’s age, given the fact that this was not as common in Matt’s class. Inappropriate social greetings, rocking stereotype, and refusal to do work Were all found to be challenging behaviors.
Inappropriate social greetings
Appropriate greetings would pose no harm to Matt and his peers thus score 0. It however occurs frequently thus attached a score of 3. In terms of the long-standing of the skill deficits inappropriate behavior would score 3. An appropriate social greeting is very relevant to the fact that mat would be autistic, thus leading to a score of 4. The changing of this target behavior would reduce the negative impact from others and thus assigned a score of 4.
Changing these behaviors would lead to reinforcement from others and thus assigned a score of four. It is highly likely to change Matt’s behavior, an aspect with a score of four, however, it may be expensive leading to a score of three.
Rocking stereotype
Rocking behavior exposes Matt and his peer to harm, aspects assigned a score of 2, at Mat is likely to hurt himself or his peers even though this is not expected to make severe consequences on either. Mat engages in rocking behavior during most of the passive learning activities, an aspect assigned a score of 3. The target behavior is not very longstanding as it changes as soon as the class activity changes leading to a score of 1.
Matts Rocking behavior does not lead to high reinforcement leading to a score of 3. For matt to develop accordingly the rocking behavior has to be eliminated, thus assigned a score of 4. Rocking behavior does not lead to reinforcement from others and thus assigned a score of 1. It is highly likely to change rocking behavior and thus assigned a score of 3, something that is less costly leading to a score of 2.
Refusal to do work
This target behavior does not expose Matt and others leading to a threat leading to a score of 0. Mat often refuses to o work leading to a score of 3. This behavior is long-standing in all passive activities leading to a score of 3 and produces high rates of reinforcement leading to a score of 3.
The target behavior is of relative importance to Matt’s future and thus assigned a score of 3. By changing this behavior, Mats’s social relationships are not likely to change thus assigned a score of zero. It is highly likely to be successful in any attempt to change the behavior, thus a score of 4. Refusal to do work is not a costly behavior to change and thus assigned a score of 0.
Part three of this assignment has illustrated that the ranking of Matt’s potential challenging behaviors is as follows:
- Rocking stereotype.
- Inappropriate social greetings.
- Refusal to do work
References
- Han, Q., Jia, Z., Xu, K., Zhou, Y., & Du, X. (2019). Hysteretic behavior investigation of self-centering double-column rocking piers for seismic resilience. Engineering Structures, 188, 218-232.
- Maynard, B. R., Heyne, D., Brendel, K. E., Bulanda, J. J., Thompson, A. M., & Pigott, T. D. (2018). Treatment for school refusal among children and adolescents: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Research on Social Work Practice, 28(1), 56-67.
- White, J., Caniglia, C., McLaughlin, T. F., & Bianco, L. (2018). The Effects of Social Stories and a Token Economy on Decreasing Inappropriate Peer Interactions with a Middle School Student. Learning Disabilities: A Contemporary Journal, 16(1), 75-86.
