Introduction
The purpose of the article is to expound on the interfering behaviors in persons with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), formulate an approach for preventing and lessening interfering behaviors, and present a range of evidence-based applications that can be used to tackle interfering behaviors in children and youth with ASD.
Positive behavior support (PBS) is a common relevant study used in the prevention and intervention approach with children and youth who exhibit challenging behaviors. This practice is particularly promising for this population because of its emphasis on preventing interfering behaviors and reducing the occurrences by providing increasingly intensive interventions based on the results of high-quality functional behavioral assessment. PBS has become popular as a successful practice for lowering interfering behaviors in children and youths with a range of disabilities including ASD and its main is to prevent and reduce the probabilities of interfering behaviors like repetitive behaviors and disruptive behaviors (Neitzel, 2010, p. 247).
Summary of results
The author has used both diagrams and figures to demonstrate the results. From figure 1, the primary goal of PBS is to improve the quality of life for children by increasing their appropriate behaviors and adjusting the learning environment to prevent the interfering behavior from re-occurring. These preventive practices include organizing a high-quality learning environment, arranging an environment to support positive student behavior, and developing communication and social skill as part of the core curriculum as summarized in table 1. High-quality learning environments are safe, predictable, and focused on building positive relationships with adults and other students. Environmental modifications are often used in high-quality learning environments to provide ASD students with the structure, visual support, and predictability they need to learn new skills and develop a positive relationship with others. These types of modifications help the students with ASD understand what is expected of them during daily routines and activities. A final strategy in preventing interfering behavior is to teach key communication and social skills to children and youth with ASD. This is because communication and social skills are two of the pervasive areas of developmental delay in children with ASD. Being able to communicate effectively is critical for all aspects of social and cognitive development (Neitzel, 2010, p. 250).
The secondary prevention is designed to provide more targeted support for students who continue to exhibit interfering behavior despite the implementation of preventive strategies (Summarized in Table 2). Behaviors that might require additional support often are not dangerous; however, they continue to occur despite the implementation of prevention strategies. A functional assessment-based intervention focuses on three outcomes: using functional behavioral assessment (FBA) to design a compressive behavioral plan that guides interventions, implementing EBPs during ongoing routines and activities to decrease interfering behaviors, further developing communication and social skills. FBA is a proactive strategy to intervention planning that helps teachers and others understand the purpose of the student’s behavior and link it to relevant intervention strategies to reduce its occurrence (Barnhill, 2005, p. 137). Using the results of FBA, teachers and other members identify specific EBPs that can be used to decrease the interfering behaviors. These practices often focus on providing planned teaching episodes as part of ongoing classroom routines and activities so the student has multiple opportunities to practice engaging in the alternative behavior instead of the interfering behaviors. For students who continue to exhibit interfering behaviors despite the use of preventive strategies and interventions, intensive, individualization instructions are used. This intervention often is complex, time-consuming, and require more individuals to implement them (Neitzel, 2010, p. 254).
Recommendation
Engaging in disruptive and other challenging behavior is not necessary for a diagnosis of autism. That is to say not all types of repetitive behavior or disruptive behaviors exhibited by children with ASD necessarily warrant intervention. Some children only exhibit mild non-interfering repetitive behavior. For educational interventions to be successful for children and youth with ASD, positive as well as proactive behaviors must be considered and developed (Neitzel, 2010, p. 248).
References
Barnhill, G. P. (2005). Functional Behavioral Assessment in Schools. Interventions In School and Clinic, 40,131-143.
Neitzel, J. (2010). Positive Behavior Support for Children and Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Preventing School Failure, 54(4), 247-255.