Sandra L. Harris, Ph.D., series editor
Woodbine House
© 2006 Beth A. Glasberg; © 2015 Beth A. Glasberg & Robert H. LaRue Second edition
All rights reserved. Published in the United States of America by Woodbine House, Inc., 6510 Bells Mill Road, Bethesda, MD 20817. 800-843-7323.
The Library of Congress has catalogued the print edition as follows:
Glasberg, Beth A.
Functional behavior assessment for people with autism : making sense of seemingly senseless behavior / Beth A. Glasberg and Robert H. LaRue. -- Second edition.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-60613-204-3 (pbk.)
1. Autism. 2. Autism in children. 3. Behavioral assessment. 4. Behavioral assessment of children. 5. Behavior disorders in children--Diagnosis. I. LaRue, Robert H. II. Title.
RC553.A88G63 2015
616.85’882--dc23
2014046172
ISBN for print edition: 978-1-60613-204-3
ISBN for e-book edition: 978-1-60613-206-7
Manufactured in the United States of America
This book is for all of the parents and teachers who have broken a few rules—like giving that cookie to a child when he didn’t ask exactly as expected, laughing at a wisecrack when they meant to keep a straight face, and offering a hug here and there when it wasn’t quite the right time.
Forget perfection: we salute parents and teachers who are out there every day doing their best.
And for our families for giving us the love and support we need to accomplish our goals. We could not have completed this book without them!
Introduction
Is This Your Child?
Does your child engage in a behavior that just doesn’t seem to make any sense? For example, does his behavior hurt or disturb others, or appear to go against what your child wants for himself? Has your child been punished for the behavior, yet he keeps on doing it? Would you just give him what he seems to want if only he would use his words? As a parent or teacher of someone displaying these seemingly senseless behaviors, you might find yourself feeling frustrated and confused. You are not alone. Unfortunately, these perplexing behaviors are fairly common among individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Take a look at the four stories below and see if any of them sound like your story.
Grace Carmichael
By October, Ms. Brandt was ready to quit her job. While she had thoroughly enjoyed teaching her second grade class for the last several years, this year was different. Little Grace Carmichael was ruining her life. Grace was an eight-year-old girl with ASD who was included in Ms. Brandt’s regular education classroom. Grace was very interested in other children and repeatedly told her mother how excited she was to be in her new classroom and to make friends. Grace might go days with no problems at all, and then suddenly, she might stand up, pick up her chair, and smash it on the foot of the child seated next to her. While doing a crafts activity, she might bite the arm of a student working with her. While standing in line, she might slap the child in front of her.
Grace’s victims would yell at her or try to hit her back, but Grace persisted in her aggressive behavior. Grace had been sent to the principal’s office, lost her dessert at lunchtime, and had her mother called to come and pick her up—all to no avail; the behaviors persisted. Ms. Brandt wanted to help Grace, but she had virtually no experience with special education or behavior problems. The school psychologist had never worked with behavior problems this inconsistent or severe. Although Grace was making progress in her academics, socially her classroom placement was a failure. The other children had become afraid of her. Ms. Brandt hesitated to ask for Grace to be placed in a more restrictive setting because she felt that Grace had the potential to benefit from the inclusive setting, but she believed that these dangerous and disruptive behaviors were leaving her no choice.
Jamaal Brown
Four-year-old Jamaal Brown had been doing very well in his home-based discrete trial instruction program. In fact, his parents and teachers were starting to eye the inclusive kindergarten classroom as a possible placement for the upcoming school year. Not only was he flying through his academic, self-help, and motor programs, but his social skills programming was also going swimmingly. He could have entire conversations about various topics while using appropriate body language and intonation.
His parents and teachers were sure he was ready for typically developing peers, and enrolled Jamaal in a children’s gymnastics class to see how he would do. Much to their surprise, Jamaal did not interact well with the other children. Although he watched them closely and seemed interested in their activities, he did not go near them. When peers approached him, Jamaal would look right at them while making a strange face and adopting a crooked posture with his body. Sadly, the other children quickly stopped trying to play with Jamaal.
Darra Littman
If Darra Littman’s mother had told her once, she had told her a thousand times: no more discussion of the boy band One Direction (One-D). Darra had seen One-D on television and hadn’t stopped talking about them since. At first, Darra’s parents were excited—finally, their daughter with high functioning ASD was interested in an age-appropriate icon. The embarrassment of having a preteen who adored Sesame Street characters was at last at an end. And her peers noticed! They were very impressed with Darra’s knowledge of all things “One-D.”
Unfortunately, Darra’s interest in One-D continued to mushroom. She began to turn almost any conversation in the band’s direction, no matter how unrelated. These odd changes of topic made her peers uncomfortable and eventually resulted in them avoiding her. Nevertheless, Darra’s focus on One-D intensified. She could discuss nothing else. At this point, her mother decided to end the obsessive talk. She forbade any discussion of One-D. Furthermore, she made a rule that any mention of the group would cost Darra ten minutes of evening television time, which she treasured. Nevertheless, the “One-D” talk persisted. Last night, Darra lost all two hours of her allotted television time in the evening. The strange part was, this had no discernible impact on the “One-D” talk. Mrs. Littman could not understand why this behavior was so out of control.
Anthony Cappozolli
Mr. Cappozolli heard that familiar, unwelcome sound in the living room and went running. Just as he’d expected, he found Anthony, his nonverbal, fifteen-year-old son with ASD, banging his head against the windowpane. “Anthony!” he yelled, pulling him away. He sternly reminded him that head banging is dangerous and not allowed. Mr. Cappozolli then led Anthony over to a box of beads, off limits at other times, that the family used to distract him from continuing this perilous behavior.
Today, the Cappozollis were lucky—Anthony hadn’t broken the glass. Other times, they had not been so lucky. This behavior had cost them numerous trips to the emergency room and numerous windowpanes. More importantly, it had cost Anthony’s parents an untold amount of worry and grief, and had given them a sickening sense that they were helpless to protect their