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Case Scenario

Emily is an 18-month-old toddler developing typically. She attends a for-profit childcare center full-time. Emily’s parents are divorced and she lives half-time with each parent. She has two older brothers, ages 6 and 10. Emily’s father is a plumber and her mother is a cashier at a local grocery store. Emily has begun biting other children at the childcare center. You have just been assigned to act as the lead educator in her classroom. The assistant is concerned about Emily’s biting and so are some of the parents of the other children, as she has left bite marks on two children, though the skin was not broken. During your first day in the classroom, you observe the following:

Emily is playing alone with a doll. Janesta, who is 23 months old, walks over to Emily and takes the doll Emily was playing with. Emily then bites Janesta on the arm. You swiftly pick Emily up and tell her, “We don’t bite,” and hold her in your lap for a few minutes. Then she runs to play with blocks.

Later in the day, you witness Emily walk up to a boy in the class and bite him on the shoulder, without any apparent provocation. The assistant quickly picks Emily up and moves her to the reading area and reads her a book. Emily stays there for 10 minutes, quietly turning pages.

Part 1: ABC Analysis Chart

You will use the case scenario above to develop a hypothesis as to what is the likely function of the behavior. Be sure to use your Unit 6 readings on Functional Behavior Assessment to assist you in filling out the ABC chart template in DocSharing.

A=Antecedent. What happened immediately before the behavior? Was there any event or activity that preceded the behavior?

B=Behavior. The behavior should be defined in observable, objective terms.

C=Consequence. What happened immediately following the behavior?

Function of behavior = this is your hypothesis. Using what you have learned about behavior, what is the most likely function? Is the child trying to get something, and if so, what? This could be tangibles such as access to a toy, a preferred activity or even attention. Is the child trying to escape from something, and if so, what? This could be escape from an unwanted task such as cleaning up toys.

Part 2: Behavior Change Chart

For Part 2, using your hypothesis and the information from your ABC chart, fill out the template in DocSharing and manipulate variables to determine if your hypothesis is correct in order to pick the best course of action to take with Emily. You can only manipulate one variable at a time in order to determine what would be most effective in modifying Emily’s behavior. First you will manipulate the antecedent. When you changed the antecedent (A), what do you predict will happen and why? If you do not get the desired behavior change (B), then you need to try manipulating another variable. In this case, you will then manipulate the consequence (C). What do you predict will happen with the behavior (B) and why?