Looking for triggers of ‘challenging behaviours’ in autism: It is not as simple as ABC
Olga Bogdashina
Chief Research Fellow and Lecturer at the International Autism Institute, KSPU
When we come across a behaviour that’s difficult, there’s a popular method that’s used to help parents and carers to analyse what’s happening and do something about it. You may have heard about it – or even used it. It’s called the ABC approach, the idea of which is, that you find a trigger for the behaviour (Antecedent), define the Behaviour and provide the ‘Consequence’ (for example, ignore/ time out) for this (often deemed ‘inappropriate’) behaviour.
However, to find the trigger is not as simple as ABC… this approach doesn’t always work for a number of reasons. Sometimes the antecedent cannot be easily identified. Let me explain. Read more: https://www.olgabogdashina.com/post/looking-for-triggers-of-challenging-behaviours-in-autism
Lead Psychologist
3 年This beautifully describes the challenges we face when assessing behaviour and what it is communicating. We are often told by observers of a child’s behaviour that there are no triggers, but we need to improve our skills of observation to truly understand these.