So older sibling knows that okay if I pull out my sister's hair eventually she's to let go I can get what I want problem solved. Uh definitely undesirable and something you might exam uh you know encounter on a day-to-day basis or often. So that is access to tangibles. Then lastly we have our sensory function. Um this is when a behavior occurs because a behavior is internally pleasing to a child in some way. However, this could also occur um when wanting to remove an unpleasant um stimulation or feeling. Um it can be due to any one or multiple of our five senses. Uh so sight, smell, hearing, taste, or touch. And I see here a question here. Um where does manipulation fall when a child wants something from separated parents? Um, see, Glenda, um, could you provide a maybe an example? So, is the child wanting access to an object or, um, or what does that look like?
Glend, I'm bringing you into the space to talk. You can check yourself off mute if you'd like to explain instead of Am I off mute? Mute. Okay. Um the child lives between his mother and father. Let's say for example every time there is an exchange the child says are you do you promise that you're going to get me that stuffy you're going to buy me my shoes promise. Promise you know and kind of it's manipulation. I in other words the next thing you know is I don't want to go with you if you don't promise. Does that help? Yeah. Yes. That helps a lot. Yeah. So, that could possibly fall under um and depending on the situation. Um I mean, if there's a little bit more behind that, um it sounds like it could be that like bargaining or um yeah, the bargaining could be maintained by access to tangibles.
Um where maybe if you know, one parent says, "Okay, hey, if you come over and you do really great at home, you behave well, then I'm going to buy you a new toy." Um, and that could definitely fit into this category of access tangibles. Um, if there's a little bit more to that where maybe um, the child is getting attention from parents, that also could be part of that as well. Um, but I'm thinking kind of based on what you provided me with, it looks like this behavior that behavior like that bargaining or that manipulation might fall into this category of access intangibles. Um and we'll go into detail about kind of how to um work on some replacement behaviors based on um the function of a behavior and then also we'll discuss how can we um how can we react to that. So if we can't prevent the behavior by teaching that replacement appropriate behavior and it does happen, how can we react to it and how can we deescalate the situation?
That kind of answer your question there? Yeah. Okay. Awesome. Hey. Oops. Okay. Um, so going back to our last function, sensory. Um, this is when the behavior occurs um because when the behavior occurs because it is internally pleasing um to the child in some way. So it could also be removal of an unpleasant feeling as well. Um again this is due to one or more of our five senses like sight, smell, hearing, taste or touch. Um and generally during a behavior maintained by sensory, it's the child or the person themselves that's producing that that sensory stimulation. It's not maintained or social and not maintained by another person or socially mediated. So in this example, our parent is doing everything and anything. Maybe going about their day, just doing their task. Um maybe coming in and saying hi to the child. Um and then the child's just biting their nails or maybe rocking back and forth.
Um just kind of doing it randomly maybe. So in this case um if the child is engaging in this kind of behavior um regardless of whatever others are doing then this behavior is most likely maintained um by a sensory function. Okay.
Now that we know or actually before we go into um how we can um work on alternative behaviors or teaching appropriate behaviors and how to how to deescalate situations, um do any of you have any examples or maybe stories of um things that you've encountered that fit maybe into one of those four functions or um any questions about that? and I'll monitor monitor the chat in case anyone has questions or examples. Okay, I'll move on. But if anyone has questions or examples, feel free to chat them in there and I'll definitely keep an eye on that. Okay, so now that we know what the behavior is and why it's occurring that function, now what? What do we do? So these are some strategies to avoid whiting or non-compliance. So how to um try to prevent it from occurring but also how can we support our our children um and maybe coping and also engaging in that appropriate replacement behavior.
So our three top strategies um to decrease behaviors are providing choices uh priming and then also using clear and simple instructions. And these are some of my favorites. So our first strategy um again is choices. So and choices enhance a person's quality of life. It definitely provides a lot of buyin for the individual and increases the motivation. If we're just giving instructions out and giving demands out, um sometimes the child might feel like like they're being bossed around. So if it's possible, you can provide choices. So maybe, hey, we're going to go on a walk today. Do you want to go walk to the park or do you want to walk down um towards this really cool statue over here? And maybe the child likes to walk towards the park. Um so you're still going on a walk, but providing a choice and letting them choose which way they want to go.
Or maybe you're getting ready for bedtime and bedtime routine is a little bit difficult. Um, you can say, "Hey, we got to get ready for bed, but do you want to brush your teeth first or do you want to wash your face or do you want to brush your teeth first or put your animal your stuffed animals away?" Um, so you're giving the child again that chance to make a decision. Although it's it's controlled and a force choice, um, you're allowing them to make that opportunity to make a decision. Um, you can even make choices or provide choices with time. Um, so time frames. So, okay, we have to start getting ready for bed. We can get ready in 5 minutes or in 10 minutes. So, although you still have to follow through that demand, you allow them to uh choose a time when to start and again get their buy in for that.
You could also provide choices with materials. Um so maybe you're starting a homework assignment. Homework it maybe is difficult and not preferred. Um, but giving them an option to maybe start on a certain page or a certain topic. Um, even like using writing utensils. Do you want to use a marker or do you want to use a pencil? Maybe they just bought some markers and they're super cool and like, "Oh, I want to use this for my math homework if it's appropriate." So, again, it it's a really awesome strategy to to get that buy in and increase that motivation for um completing any kind of tasks. Our third strategy is priming. Um, priming signals when a transition or demand is coming up. Um, it basically allows the child to know when something is coming or when to anticipate a transition or a task. U, when you are using priming, you want to keep the language simple and easy for the child to understand.
So, keeping it short and concise and depending on your child's age or maybe um their understanding of language, you can change the phrase phrases. So, some things that I like to do like, hey, okay, in five minutes we're going to get ready or um okay, first we're going to do um we're going to do homework and then we can take a snack break. So, you're giving them the option. You're not giving option, you're giving them the heads up of when to anticipate a transition. Um, a couple other, um, tools for ping that are really helpful are the use of timers and visuals. Um, so they can see when that time is kind of counting down and when they have to make a transition or when they have to do a task. Um, and then also a visual, you could use it for routines. So maybe when to get ready in the morning, uh, afternoon or in the evening.
Or you can make a visual for smaller parts of the day. So maybe like when to what to do in the next hour or um even part of a task. So these are really helpful. And um with visuals for like schedules, you can use pictures, you can also use text. So writing out the the tasks or activities um whatever is most appropriate for your child. Our third strategy uh for decreasing um whining and non-compliance is the use of clear and simple instructions. Um with the use of clear and simple instructions, it helps the child understand those expectations. Um and it also increases a compliance. Um sometimes if we just kind of give like a general vague instruction like put away your stuff, maybe they have a ton of toys out, they have their clothes and they're like ah this is a lot. like what do I have to do?
Um instead, we can be very specific and clear. It's like, hey, let's let's put away your shoes by the front door and hang up your coat. Okay, that task seems a lot more simple than putting away all my stuff. So, just breaking it down for your child and making it more simple, clear, and concise. Um being very specific. Again, it also gives them the understanding of um what is coming, what is to come next. Um, this also could be used for what kind of behaviors to engage in. So, um, maybe you're going to present a demand, a demand like, "Hey, we're going to we're going to start homework in five minutes." Okay, when we're doing homework, we need to have a nice calm body. We have to use our words. We can ask for a break. So, you can give them those clear um rules and expectations um of what behaviors to engage in during that task.
it gives them that little reminder. Okay, so those were our our preventative strategies. Um, have any of you use those strategies before in your day-to-day life? Um, with your children um or maybe with students? Um, any success with those strategies or maybe um some barriers to using those strategies as well? and feel free to chat. Oh, Jackie, go ahead. Yeah, thanks Eva. And as um folks are leaving in their chat, I think just to note these, you know, what we always experience is that proactive strategies are going to um have there's going to be more effort on the parent part to set up the environment. Um, and sometimes it's just easier of, you know, when we're go go go and we're in the moment and we're rushed, we might not have that time to set up, you know, the different ways to follow through or set different ways to be um setting up the environment in that way, but it goes a long way.
And really what it does is to create um that learned behavior of this is what I can expect. And so in that example um that we heard in terms of at every drop off or every transition between mom and dad maybe this has become a repeat pattern of I'm going to now say this and this is the type of response that you know I'm going to um be getting from mom and from dad. And so some of it can just be attention and some of it can just turn into learn behavior. So really important to kind of set these up in advance and um put the effort in um on that end of it. Awesome. Thank you. Okay. And now we got a got a hand raise for comment. Go ahead, Glenda. Thanks. Um, if you're beyond the strategies and you've done all those with your child, you're trying to get them to be a self-starter and they're not making that transition to a self-starter, you really don't want to have to go back through this because it adds frustration to you of having to repeat all this over.
And it's sort of like um the the child thinks, I won, I'm here, he's going to remind me again, he's going to do this, do that, he's gonna whatever. And that's what a parent's trying to get away from. So, can you help that parent? Yeah, that's a great question and also a great concern too. Um, I think the huge part of that is um ensuring that we or as as parents ensuring that um you know that followth through is is maintained over time. Um because sometimes once we implement these strategies, things kind of go really well and then um you know if we kind of slip up a little bit sometimes those behaviors um then kind of resurge and come up and then you don't want to backtrack again. But I think as long as we maintain that um that maintenance of those strategies then fading out your assistance and promoting those other behaviors becoming more independent um and maybe um you know instead of reinforcing you know compliance of you know let's say uh doing one page of a homework then after and then setting the expectation to something a little bit more difficult to okay you have to do all of your homework um or you have to start it by yourself and then you get reinforced for that.
Um, so you definitely kind of have to shake those expectations little by little um and follow through with those new ones. And I see Bill left a comment here uh just to add on to that. For self-starting, I found that consistently modeling and redirecting behaviors eventually and sometimes very surprisingly just suddenly flips into habituated and automatic compliance. Yes, definitely. Yeah, thank you, Bill. Yeah, it sounds like a lot of folks are familiar with ABA, which is really, really wonderful to see. Um, and another, you know, kind of followup to that is even as adults, we need a lot of prompts. And so oftentimes I joke, but I'm not joking, is that if if it's not on my calendar, I'm not going to remember to do it. Um, and those are prompts that we're used to and they're, you know, socially acceptable for us. Um and so trying to just like Eva said is to shape and kind of maybe fade away maybe certain prompts but maybe create them into more um appropriate types of prompts or which ways that you know a child can kind of um set reminders for themselves or set reinforcers or you know contracts for themselves um to be engaging in certain behaviors.
But even as adults we need prompts and we'll continue to need those as well. Yeah, I agree. I always say that if I don't have a schedule for work or calendar then I'm not going to remember my meeting. So I think as we as we age and progress and even the children like they we can find ways to support them in a more um developmentally appropriate way. For sure. Yeah. And Bill wrote the most critical element is consistency across all adults as much as possible. Yes. Huge. Consistency across as many adults as possible is huge because um even though let's say one person is implementing all these strategies and then we have someone else kind of goes out the window then that creates a lot of confusion for the child. So if we can get as many people as possible on board with those same strategies then that's going to go a long way for the child for sure.
So thank you. Great. All righty. Um, so now we'll get into our reactive strategies. Um, so the top three strategies that I'll be talking about today are following through, planned ignoring, and redirection. Okay. Here, just move this around. Okay. So for following through uh when whining and non-compliance is occurring for escape, so wanting to escape a demand or non-preferred task, we want to prompt an appropriate way to escape that task or demand for a short period of time. Um so allowing the child to know that they can use our words to communicate that they need a break or um they need a second to then, you know, come back to it. Um because you want to promote that appropriate language. Although that followthrough and completion is important, their communication is as equally if not even more important as well. Um after that short period of time, you want to represent that initial task and help the child complete it.
Um sometimes that short little like break or a little kind of takeaway time is not enough and sometimes we have to even modify the task. So maybe you're doing, let's say, um, cleaning up and we have a whole box of Legos all on the floor, like hundreds of pieces. Um, which is a lot, a lot even for me as an adult. Um, and maybe you, you know, the child starts to engage in non-compliance is whining. You say, and you probably say, I need a break. Okay, you can have a break. You know, we'll come back to this in two minutes. You come back, maybe they do a couple, start engaging in some non-compliance again. Maybe you say, "Okay, how about we do two more or three more pieces and then we can be all done and come back to this later this evening." Um, so you're still following through, modifying, um, but still letting the child know that, you know, they can't escape appropriately and then come back to completing that task or demand.
Our third strategy is planned ignoring. Um, this is very helpful when wanting or non-compliance occurs for attention. Again, attention can be any kind of thing. So, it can be that positive attention like hugs, cuddles, yay, praising. Um, but also can be that that reprimanding that maybe that scowl or that don't do that little kind of finger. So, all attention is attention. So, what we want to do is let's say whining occurs to get attention like in this picture here. uh we want to prompt an appropriate way to request that attention. So maybe tapping the shoulder or maybe tapping the body. However, it's really important to limit the amount of verbal or non-verbal attention during this process. Um so one thing that I do recommend is just trying to avoid any kind of intentional eye contact or like startled responses. That's still attention, but um just prompting the client or your child to request for that attention appropriately.