Ncuab Tina Yang

Behavior Change Project

Guiding Child Behavior

Functional Behavior Assessment

The child is a 5 year old female. She lives with mom, dad, and her 5 month old sister. At home
she has a routine Monday-Friday of waking up for school at 6:00AM and is out of the house
until 4:00PM. She then comes home and has dinner with her family along with nightly
homework and sometimes visits to grandparents house or other family members. WV has a
little sister who is fairly new to the world, so a lot of time her parents is spent nurturing her
sister. This is a big change for WV being she was the only child for 4 years. Her negative
behavior happens most in places she is comfortable. But mostly happens at home or
grandparents house.

Antecedent:

When asked to do something which involves her putting down the electronic device, she has a
temper tantrum.

Sometimes when asked to get off her phone WV is not given a verbal warning on when to get
off, her parents say, "time to get off your phone now." And expect her to stop what she is doing
right away.

Behavior:

She cries when it is time to stop using her electronics

She says, "no" and refuses to get off the phone/iPad until it is physically taken away from her.

Consequence:

She gets a few extra minutes on her electronic device

SMART Objective
Specific:

WV will calmly stop using electronics when asked to do so. She will be given a 5 minute warning
before it is time to put the Iphone/Ipad away.
Measureable:

Have at least 5 out of 7 good days without a temper tantrum when asked to put electronics
away.

Attainable:

WV will put away the electronic within 5 minute warning.

Realistic:

She is given a verbal warning before having to put away her iPhone/iPad.

Timely:

May 8th

Process of behavior change

4/12/2016

First, I started doing observations of WV to know what behavior I wanted to change. Using a
running record I documented for a few minutes her interactions with her parents and aunts.

4/15/2016

I chose to focus on the temper tantrums she has when being asked to put away her electronics.
At this time I observed WV recording the information using event sampling. I wrote down how
many times she was on her electronic device in a 5 hour time frame. At this time I was still
working on observing her reactions and no plan was implemented yet.

4/19/2016 (1st week the plan was implemented)

I made a plan and had a meeting with mom, dad, and WV. I also documented observations
using anecdotal recording and running record.

Plan:

Explain to her the rules about electronics

Explain to her that she cannot keep being sassy when asked to put away her technology or the
end consequence will be no electronics at all.

Explain to her about the SMILE jar. If she listens and doesnt have a negative attitude when
asked to put electronics away she earns a sea shell and it gets put into her SMILE jar. She can
earn up to 1 shell a day and has to have at least 5 out of 7 for the week. If she has 5 or more for
the week she gets to pick a prize from the magic bag (bag full of prizes). Her parents will be the
ones who decides if she receives a shell for the day. I will count her SMILE jar every Tuesday.
New week starts on Tuesdays.

4/26/2016 (2nd week plan in progress)

The first week was a success and she achieved her goal. She used good listening skills and
earned 5 shells. She got to pick from the magic bag.

5/3/2016 (3rd week plan coming to an end)

The second week wasnt too good. She only earned 3 shells. I had to remind her that she could
do it and to try hard.

But soon after this conversation she was being sassy. And did not listen to her mom. She was on
her Iphone and refused to eat because she wanted to finish a show. So that day she did not
receive a shell. Before she left my house I told her she had a really good first week and to try
hard this week so she can visit the magic bag.

This third week was cut a day short but she still managed to receive 5 shells.

Analysis:
To document events in my behavioral change project I used running record, anecdotal
recording, time/event sampling, and multimedia tools.

I found that a running record is very time consuming but it gives you an opportunity to learn
about the child. Because you focus on only one child and write down everything you see as it is
happening.

Anecdotal recording was used after meeting with the family. For example, I wrote down what
was talked about in the meeting and who was present and where the meeting occurred.

Time/sampling events was used to measure how many times and how long the child was on
electronics

I found that multimedia tools was the observation technique for this project. This way the child
and the parents have a visual of how both of them act when the negative behavior was
happening. I showed WV the video I recorded of her and she was embarrassed about her
behavior and asked why I recorded her. We had a discussion on how she felt about her attitude
and how she treated her mom. She understood it was very sassy because she watched herself. I
also asked her how she would feel if someone didn't listen to her when it was her turn to talk.
She could empathize on how she hurt her moms feelings by not listening.
Weekly behavior chart
SMILE JAR and Magic bag