PS563 Unit 2 Discussion
Establishing Antecedent Conditions for Behavior Change
For this discussion, you will discuss how to effectively implement antecedent interventions in behavior analysis. Please review the options to guide your response to the questions presented. You can select Option A or B for this discussion.
Option 1:
You have been asked to provide home services and parent training for a family who is in need of support. Luca is a six-year-old boy who frequently engages in disruptive behavior, especially during family dinners at home. His behaviors include yelling, throwing utensils, and leaving the table without permission. These behaviors occur almost every evening and disrupt the family’s ability to have a peaceful meal together. Luca is vocal but has developed a maladaptive mand repertoire due to continuous reinforcement of his problem behaviors. The functions of Luca’s disruption behavior are to escape the dinner table (he is a picky eater and rarely wants to eat what is served) and to access his toys or watch his favorite movies on the TV or tablet. Most of the time, after a few attempts to keep him at the table, Luca is allowed to leave the table to watch TV or play with his toys, and his parents give him an alternate meal in the living room because they are afraid that he will go hungry.
Option 2:
Provide a brief description of a client that you have, or are currently working with, including the behavior of concern, the context in which the behavior occurs, and the function(s) of the behavior (Use Scenario A as an example for organizing your description). In order to align with ethical and academic integrity responsibilities, be sure to develop this work independently from already “established” written BIP procedures for this client…pretend you are starting from scratch.
Answer the following questions related to the option that you’ve selected:
- Consider how the motivating operations (MO’s) contribute to the behavior by describing how establishing / abolishing operations may be influencing the current situation.
- What Sd’s might currently be in place that are evoking the problem behavior?
- Explain how you can alter MO’s to influence value-altering and behavior-altering effects.
- Select an antecedent intervention strategy to support the client as presented in Chapter 26 of the Cooper et al. (2020) reading.
- Discuss whether the strategy acts as an establishing or abolishing operation and describe how the intervention aligns with the function of the client’s behavior and their current skill repertoire.
Review two of your classmates’ responses, using the following ideas as a guide:
- To what extent is the description of the MO’s accurate?
- Are the Sd’s clearly identified?
- Are there other ways to consider how to alter the MO’s for their altering effects?
- Provide feedback on how the selected antecedent intervention aligns with function and client skillset.
- Ask at least one thoughtful follow-up question.