The other function of a behavior is escape. Escape refers to negative socially mediated reinforcement. This involves escaping from an aversive experience, involving another person, in the outside environment (e.g., noisy classroom, difficult task, etc.).
Most children with Autism often resort to challenging behaviors to get out of work. They may display various types of behaviors, for instance, throwing into tantrums, self-injurious behaviors, property destructions, and at times self-stimulatory behaviors (e.g., hand flapping, body rocking, etc.) to escape a difficult task.
These inappropriate behaviors can last for a long time because they are effective. They work. When a child cries, and tears the paper at school when presented with a math worksheet activity, and is brought outside for time out – the child stops doing the work. This is exactly what the child wants; to escape from the task. Teachers may think that they are teaching the child a lesson and hoping that the child would learn to comply next time. But no, they are just teaching the child to continue engaging in those types of behaviors to escape from the task. They are just reinforcing the escape behavior of the child.
Parents encounter these types of situations as well at home. They also struggle on how to have their children comply with simple instructions without the child resorting into challenging behaviors (e.g., brushing teeth, wearing clothes, putting away their toys, etc.) The main key is to figure out some ways to stop these behaviors and have the child comply to have the task done.
There are some effective strategies like enriching the environment, using high probability sequence (e.g., easy task, difficult task, then easy task), giving the child choices of activities, setting up schedules, being creative in presenting the activities, using a token economy system, FCT (Functional Communication Training), using the Premack principle – First and then, and more other techniques for the child to be more motivated in completing a certain task and not resort to escape it.
In addition to those strategies, don’t forget to use highly preferred items/activities as reinforcers. You can easily see which items or activities are reinforcing to the child as those are the items they choose to play with or activities they engage in most if not all the time at home. Simple tips. After finding out those reinforcements, try to keep them and just have the child access to them after completing a certain task or demand. In presenting the task, make it enticing and fun for the child. You can do this by knowing what your child enjoys doing (e.g., flying him like a superman or like an airplane or moving like his preferred animal - hop like a bunny to go to a room in your house where you planned on doing the activity, etc).
Let’s go back to the strategies. As you can see, there are lots of different strategies to motivate the child to complete a task. But keep in mind that one child is different from another. We can actually just use one strategy or combine some strategies, whichever fits the child’s needs. For now, let’s learn how to use three strategies together like using FCT (Functional Communication Training), giving the child choices of preferred activities, and the use of the Premack principle that parents can use easily and effectively at home to teach their children to comply, stay on task and use more appropriate behaviors in escaping a demand.
Functional Communication Training (FCT)
We have already learned how to teach the child to communicate to gain attention and to access a preferred item/activity. This time, teach the child a replacement behavior for escape. Teach the child to ask for a break, go or I want to go. Why do we need to teach the child to ask for a break or ask to go? Because we much rather have the child verbally imitate us to say ‘Break or I need a break, I want to go, or get handed a ‘break or go ’ card than a child slap you on the face, or throw into tantrums for an extended period of time. So let’s replace it with an appropriate behavior because if we don’t teach them a replacement behavior to get what they want, they will continue to engage in those inappropriate behaviors to escape.
We have to remember that the child can be escaping a social situation, a specific environment or a person, and not just from a task or demand. There are different techniques to teach the child how to request appropriately to escape from a demand. The strategies can be tailored to their language skill level and the severity level of their behaviors. You can use break/go cards, verbal prompts, visual cues, social stories, scripts and more. You just need to be creative and make sure to match it to your child’s needs and abilities.
Giving Choices
Knowing the child is the key here. You can start with simple preferred activities that you think are easy for the child to do it to completion. Present two preferred activities (e.g., inset puzzles, sorting colored toys, matching colored cars, or any activities that you see the child engage in most of the time). In this technique, the child will have a higher probability of complying and completing the task. So for instance, ask the child ‘Which one do you want? The puzzle or the cars?’ as you present the two preferred items in front of the child. The child can either respond verbally or use gestures (e.g., pointing or touching the chosen item).
Premack Principle – First and Then
The Premack principle is a principle of reinforcement, which states that an opportunity to engage in more probable behaviors (or activities) will reinforce less probable behaviors (or activities). For example, if a child enjoys playing games or listening and watching nursery songs on the iPad (more probable) and avoids putting away toys (less probable), we might allow the child to play with the iPad after (contingent upon) finishing putting away the toys.
This principle is often referred to as “grandma’s rule” because grandmothers (or any caregivers) often apply this principle: “First, you clean your room (less probable) then you can play with your computer (more probable).” This strategy is effective in teaching children with autism as it gives them a clear view of all the expectations.
Contriving teaching situations at home
Now, let’s learn how to combine these three strategies in teaching your child to comply and learn to escape from a task more appropriately. During your free time, set at least 10-15 minutes to contrive situations in teaching your child. Let's say that you’ve already chosen two preferred activities (e.g., 3 piece inset puzzle and matching superheroes card game) for the child to choose from. Present the two activities and ask the child “Which do you want? The puzzle of the Superheroes card? Let’s say the child chose the puzzle. Then, present the instruction ‘First do the puzzle then you can play with your iPad (highly preferred item). For starters, just ask the child to fit in one piece of the puzzle. Provide a physical prompt if needed to complete the task then gradually fade the prompt as the child learns to do it more independently. Upon completing the task, immediately prompt the child to say ‘break, I want a break, go or I want to go’ or physically prompt the child to hand you a break / go card. Then reinforce heavily for using his words. Give the child 5 minutes to play and repeat the process. So, one instruction, then break. This process may vary depending on the skill and severity level of the child. I was just setting an example.
You are maybe wondering why you just ask a child to fit in one piece of the puzzle and he/she gets a break for five minutes. One technique to avoid any challenging behaviors in presenting a task is to start from a quick, easy, and simple activity that ensures success. In this example, we are just teaching the child to learn how to complete a simple task and use his/her words ‘Break or I want a break or I want to go.’ to escape from a task rather than a child punching you in the face.
You can build up the difficulty level of certain demands at home from simple putting away toys, dressing up, or brushing then give the child time to play. Let’s say, for example, you presented two pictures (e.g., brushing teeth and putting away toys in the box), then ask “Which do you want to do? After choosing one of the activities, then present the instruction ‘First brush your teeth then iPad.’ You can have the child play for a certain period of time (e.g., five minutes) after teaching him/her to ask for a break / or to go appropriately and then present another demand. You can only present more difficult tasks once the child learns to escape more appropriately.
During the occurrence of challenging behaviors
When the behavior occurs upon presenting a demand, don’t let the child escape from the demand. Let’s go back to our example. When giving an instruction to fit in the one piece of the puzzle but the child starts crying, kicking, and throwing; physically prompt the child to fit in the puzzle if you still can and verbally prompt him to say ‘Break or go.’ Even if the child didn’t imitate you for a break, let the child go. You have already successfully had him fit in the puzzle even if it was with a physical prompt.
But if you can’t physically prompt him anymore because it was too late and the child is already in a full-blown tantrum, then disengage with the child. Do not continue giving the child a demand. Let the child calm down and keep him safe from hurting himself. Make sure not to attend to the child (e.g., don’t talk to the child and try to calm him down) and clear the room by removing all the toys or other things that could probably harm you and the child. Once the child calms down, allow a few minutes (e.g., 5 minutes) before you give the same demand.
We may or may not present another demand after the tantrums. It would depend on the situation. It is essential to present again the same demand after the tantrum so that the child would learn to complete a task calmly and ask for a break more appropriately. We don’t want the child to learn the pattern of throwing into tantrums, get prompted for a break then he can go and play. Children with autism can easily pick up a pattern of behaviors. We want to avoid having them learn a pattern of engaging in inappropriate behavior first and then end with a prompted response.
These are just some of the strategies in dealing with escape behaviors. Parents must learn just simple ways of addressing problem behaviors at home that are doable and easy to implement. Learning simple techniques at a time. Again, just remember to be consistent in dealing with the behavior.
