Intervention for Severe Problem Behavior

 

No one wants to see unhappy children. Problem behavior may be manifest for any number of reasons. Careful assessment is required. Sometimes, the rules for learning may be unclear and inconsistent or there may exist unrealistic expectations that may be contributing to a child's frustration and resulting "challenging behavior". Sometimes, the "help" we offer is not "helpful" and may make things worse. Ineffective 'rewards' (consequences) may be offered or not offered enough so that a child's demand tolerance is stretched beyond its limits. However, there are times when challenging behaviors are so acute that they prevent assessment concerning these and other considerations. When this is the case, we've found the use of pragmatic functional assessment (using Interview Informed Synthesized Contingency Analysis) to be phenomenally useful and efficient.