Robert: What is a behavior type? Do we all have them? And what, if anything, do they tell us about our kids? Today, on Just Seven Steps. 

Intro: Welcome to the Just Seven Steps podcast with Robert Schramm, a board-certified behavioral analyst, educator, author and developer of the Seven Steps to Successful Parenting. For more than 20 years, Robert has been teaching parents and professionals how to support children and developing the values and priorities necessary to live a successful life. In this podcast, you’ll hear from some of the biggest experts in the fields of education, parenting and behavior analysis. So buckle in and get ready for a wild ride where you’ll learn to be your best in just seven steps. 

Robert: Hi, I’m Robert Schramm, a behavior analyst, education specialist, author and dad. And I’m also the developer of the Seven Steps to Instructional Motivation. Each week, I’ll provide you with helpful information based on the Just Seven Steps approach. So if you haven’t already subscribe to my YouTube channel, please take a second and hit us up. I’d appreciate it and you will be glad that you did so. Whether you’re a parent looking to help your child live their best life or a professional charged with the education of children with or without disabilities, you will find a ton of help and information here, all filtered through just seven steps. In today’s episode, I want to discuss a concept that you may or may not be familiar with. That is the concept of behavior types. One thing that is very clear in the science of behavior is that every behavior, big or small, meaningful or seemingly insignificant, has a purpose or function. There is a goal to our behavior, whether conscious or not that your child is hoping to achieve, or at least a situation the behavior is likely to offer them. Relief from behavior types are formed by identifying what is the most commonly used function for a person’s behavior. We all likely have a behavior type, although some of us are far more typecast by the functions of our preferences than others. But before we can get into what someone’s behavior type is and what we can use this information to help us with, we need to first break down the basic functions or purposes of behavior as described in the behavior analytic research. But because my audience is not necessarily limited to behavior analysts, but instead an open tent for teachers, parents and therapists of all kinds, I’m going to avoid getting into or using the strict behavioral jargon and definitions, try to explain the value of understanding behavior by function in ways that are clear and would make sense to anyone who might be joining us today. 

Robert: In traditional behavior analysis, depending on where you’ve learned it, you might have learned that there are three or maybe four basic functions for any behavior. While it’s true, you can probably identify and label a thousand different specific purposes for a behavior that your head is using. What behavior analysts try to do is categorize and group these purposes into useful functions that will give us some kind of idea about how we would be able to reinforce or not reinforce them. Depending on the situation we’re in. The first two of these categories are often combined into one category in behavior analysis. They’re called attention and access to tangibles. Now, I would argue that in practice, both of these purposes require gaining the attention of another person. Whether you want someone to see you listen to you, pay attention to you, talk to you, or give you something that you can’t get for yourself. You’re still going to need to gain and maintain their attention to achieve that goal. Attention as a behavior function relates to anything someone might do to try to gain access to another person or something from another person. Whether I’m singing, yelling, crying or shouting, if it’s related to trying to gain something from another person, it would fit under the umbrella of the purpose of gaining attention. So attention seeking behavior is the first of the main behavior function categories that you need to be aware of when considering your child’s goals with the behavior that they use. Now, we don’t always want things from other people. Sometimes we actually don’t want attention, influence or expectations of others. Any behavior that has the goal of trying to remove and or reduce the influence of others would fit under the behavioral function of escape avoidance. Again, whether someone is singing, yelling, crying or shouting, if their goal if the goal of the behavior is to remove or avoid anything from another person, it would be for the function of escape avoidance. So when your child says no, when they ignore you, walk away, pretend not to understand you, or just don’t do what they’re asked. We are most likely dealing with the second possible purpose of behavior escape avoidance. Now, technically, behavior would be for escape when a task has started that the child would like to see and an avoidance would be used. When a task is in the environment and the child is trying to avoid having to engage in that task. But because both of these situations are addressed the same way, they’re considered one basic function called escape avoidance. The third possible function or purpose for any behavior might be that the behavior itself just happens to feel good or it is self-reinforcing. This means that unlike attention or escape avoidance, it doesn’t really rely on another person for its reinforcement. Any behavior your child chooses based on their enjoyment of the behavior would fall into this category. This stimulating or automatically reinforced behavior can include eating foods for their taste or nutritional value, singing alone in the shower just for the joy of singing, rocking back and forth in a chair or pacing chewing gum or playing a solitary game with no contact to other people. Behavior of this kind can be some of the more challenging to plan for and adjust to based on the fact that the behavior is being reinforced with or without our involvement. And it will likely continue to be if we don’t somehow find a way to change that. This means that as long as your child has access to this behavior and can use it, they will continue to get the benefit of that behavior and therefore will continue to receive the reinforcement value of that behavior, making it likely to continue on. Self-reinforcing behavior has to be addressed differently than attention or escape avoidance maintained behavior. But luckily, we have the ability and a lot of experience to do this. And the way that the seven steps are designed, they can actually be used to help with all the basic functions of behavior, regardless of the child’s ability to switch from one to the next. 

Robert: So these are the three basic functions or purposes for any behavior. It can be argued that any behavior your child engages in would easily be categorized into one of these three basic functions. The idea of behavior analysis is that if we understand the function of a behavior, we can plan to make that behavior either more or less successful at meeting its purpose based on whether or not the behavior is one that we would like to see our children use more of over and over the long term. So that brings us back to this concept of behavior types. Do people have a behavior type? Well, the answer to that question is yes and no. Some people definitely have a strong behavior type, and that is one specific function of behavior that they tend to focus on in most of their interactions with the environment throughout the day. Some kids are just plain attention kids. They crave attention and they work to gain attention with almost every behavior that they choose. These kids are going to ask for things constantly debate you on any topic that you discuss, not take no for an answer. Push and push the envelope and you will hardly ever see them engaging in activities alone. Instead, they may prefer to spend most of their time with others playing games, cuddling, watching TV, or just being together in the same room. These are often the kids who find that positive attention may be too fleeting or may only intermittently be available based on their behavior. But that attention is almost always ensured by using negative or more challenging behavior. So some children can become masters at finding ways to pull their attention from others through negative behavior. Because when the attention is the goal, even negative attention can be far better than no attention at all. Conversely, other kids who are going to be far less interested in obtaining and maintaining the interactions or attention from others, instead they seem consistently focused on avoiding the influence of others. They may seem to not talk as much. They are likely just as happy doing their own thing as they are with others, but will take any opportunity to end an engagement or fight against the requests and influence of other people. Additionally, these kids can be defiant in nature. Some kids can get diagnosed specifically because they have such a strong connection to this escape avoidance behavior, arguing against any work or task that they can possibly get out of. These are all kids who choose escape avoidance behavior more than anything else, so I consider them to be of the escape avoidance behavior type kids who would have been diagnosed with oppositional defiance disorder may be kids who fall into this category. And then there are some kids who just plain aren’t interested in others that much at all. They learn through self-discovery. They may seem shyer, reserved, or just plain uninterested in what others have to offer them. They prefer to tinker or explore. They may be considered very tactile or sensory seeking. They might love chewing gum, rocking in a chair, pacing back and forth. Some hyperactive kids might fall into this behavior type. Anyone who has very sense based on their interests and desires can add. Someone who cares less about the input or exclusion of others might fit into this behavior type that I would call independence and self-discovery. 

Robert: Now those are the three behavior types that line up with the three basic behavior functions. Again, attention, escape, avoidance and independence and self-discovery. Now, I’d like to spend a few moments to discuss with you what I consider to be a fourth behavior type. And to be honest, this will fly a bit in the face of current behavior analytic convention. What I’m talking about is a subset of kids who don’t seem to have a single behavior type because they instead seem to have every behavior type all at one time. These are kids who quickly and seamlessly change their behavior, function from moment to moment, regardless of their original goal or intent. For example, a child might be trying to escape a task, but as soon as you respond in a way that reduces the value of escape, they then turn to attention getting behavior. And then this causes you to respond to that behavior, lowering the availability of attention only to see the child go off and start finding reinforcement and self-discovery and kids who can change their behavior from one purpose to the next. From moment to moment. Without feeling like they’ve lost. They’re usually not that invested in the behavior in the behavior function to begin with. They’re more likely invested in trying to maintain a position of power or control over others in the environment and the strong, overriding desire to be in control and the willingness to immediately give up on any specific behavior function in the moment. If it means not, losing control overall is a behavior type worth understanding and being able to plan for as well. In my estimation now, you may have to may have noticed that some behavior I mentioned above, such as singing, yelling or crying, could have more than one function depending on how or why it’s being used in the moment. You cannot just hear someone sing and say, Oh, singing. It’s an attention behavior. And this is because the same behavior can be used for multiple purposes. And here’s a fun example why let’s say my wife is trying to give me a bunch of instructions for things to do on my honey-do list after I’ve already asked her to give me a moment to rest. I could start singing out loud, but this wouldn’t be an attempt to gain or maintain attention or anything from her. But instead, the singing would be used as a ploy or an effort to get her to stop giving the instructions. This would make the behavior of singing a form of escape avoidance. Additionally, I could also choose to sing to myself purely for the enjoyment of hearing my own voice. People sing in the shower for this purpose all the time. The truth is that so much of our behavior will ultimately become multiple, be controlled, meaning that a single behavior could be used for multiple reasons, depending on the situation and context that’s being used. I know kids who will cry at the drop of a hat and they’ll do it when they want something that they’re not getting attention, when they don’t want to do something that they’re being asked to do escape avoidance. But they might also cry alone in their room when they’re sad. Independence and self-discovery. 

Robert: So even though behavior analysts often teach parents and therapists to try to always identify the specific function of a behavior and then respond to it in a way that the function will either meet with or not meet with reinforcement that depending on your goal for that behavior, this can be extremely hard to do because so much of our behavior is multiply controlled. And if you are also willing to consider the possible control behavior type, you can see just how challenging this can be to correctly respond to as a parent. From moment to moment. One of the amazing side benefits of employing the seven steps to instructional motivation is that regardless of the behavior type, when you have found behavior that you need to focus on reducing for any reason, you’re guided to not allow any type of reinforcement to follow it. Well, except for possibly escape, you would be avoid you would avoid giving the behavior extra attention. You would avoid giving it access to additional reinforcers. You would avoid allowing it to lead to self reinforcing outcomes and you would allow the child to escape the behavior if they choose. But you would then work to reduce the value of that escape below the value of continued cooperation. So whether your child is trying to gain attention, escape or self-discovery, if the behavior is problematic and not one that you want to see your child to engage again in the future, you can apply step seven from the seven steps and through meeting its expectations, you can begin to limit any and all possible reinforcement that could maintain that behavior regardless of specific function in the moment. And because it is so universal in the way that it can generally extinguish or reduce behavior, it is a valuable tool that supports us regardless of the behavior type of your child that they’re most motivated by. When you consider the potential of power and control as an additional concern, you realize that using Step Seven to extinguish all functions regardless of their behavior, its current intent can be even more valuable and successful than trying to consistently guess the current function of behavior that is most likely affected by multiple purposes from moment to moment. 

Robert: I do want to take a moment and mention that I’m using the terms reinforcement and extinction as well as other consequences. And I did have a episode of my webinar earlier that did cover all of these consequences and explain exactly what they mean. So if you’re not aware of these terms, if it’s at all confusing to you, please go back to my earlier episodes. Check out the one on consequences and get that information for yourself before returning here and be listening to this topic. I would like to just mention that I have chosen to use this podcast as a way to talk about the benefits of evidence based education and parenting approaches that are based on the seven steps. But I’m not really trying to teach the Seven Steps program to anyone here. My hope is that those of you listening are doing so because either you’ve already learned to use the seven steps in your families or schools or clinics, and you’re here looking for additional ways to think about the seven steps in relationship to individual issues and concepts that come along in your daily experiences. Or you’ve heard about the Seven Steps and are just gathering your information to determine if it’s something that you would like to take a course on or participate in a workshop where you and the kids you care most about can begin to benefit from the Just Seven Steps approach as well, regardless of where you are in your education of the seven steps. I want to direct your attention to my website WWW Just seven steps dot com backslash quiz where you can find a free behavior types quiz. This quiz will give you a better idea of the main purposes of your child’s behavior and might offer you ways to focus on their behavior that will help you to have better outcomes in the development of their cooperation and support. I’d like to just mention that I’ve chosen to use this podcast as a way to talk about the benefits of evidence based education and parenting. And these approaches that are based on the seven steps. But I’m not really trying to teach the Seven Steps program here to anyone. My hope is that those of you listening are doing so because you’ve either already learned to use the seven steps in your families or your schools or your clinic settings. And you’re here looking for additional ways to think about the seven steps in relation to individual issues and concepts. Some of these things that may come along in your daily experience or you’ve heard about the seven steps and are in that process now of gathering your information, determine if you would like to take a course or participate in a workshop where you and the kids you care most about can begin to benefit from the Just Seven Steps approach, regardless of where you’re at and your education on the down the seven steps. I want to direct your attention to my Web site page WWW dot just seven steps dot com forward slash quiz where you can take a free behavior types quiz. This quiz will give you a better idea of what your child’s main purposes are for their behavior. And it’ll give you a way to focus on that behavior so that you’ll know how and what reinforcers you can use to help them develop more appropriate cooperation and learning behavior. And that quiz is available to you right now. You can find it only at the Just Seven Steps website. So head over there and take that free quiz today that’s at just that WWW dot just seven steps dot com forward slash quiz. 

Robert: So before we go, let’s recap the discussion for today. Understanding behavior based on its function is crucial to being able to respond to it effectively, whether by reinforcing behavior that you like and want to see more of, or making sure that reinforcement doesn’t follow problematic or otherwise non-preferred behavior choices. The basic behavior functions that guide our responses, our attention, escape avoidance and self-reinforcing behavior. And many kids are far more interested or motivated by a specific behavior function over the other desires that can become their overriding behavior type. And I call these behavior types attention, escape avoidance and independence and self-discovery. But I also keep a little eye out for kids who are seemingly overly motivated by maintaining some kind of power or control in their relationships. The benefit of knowing your child’s behavior type is that you can be prepared to always be in possession of the type of reinforcement that your child is most likely seeking. And then you can use the give and take of that type of reinforcer to help guide your child in their learning and development as they grow. So whether your child is an attention care, an escape avoidance type of child, or someone who’s really into independence, self-discovery, or they just want to be in control of their every interaction with all of the individuals around them. The seven steps to instructional motivation is a clear path towards helping you find ways to increase those behaviors or decrease them. And the best way to be able to do that is to get a good grip on your child’s behavior type and to know how you can affect that behavior in any form that you see it. Thank you for taking the time to join me today on the Just Seven Steps podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please take just a moment to leave me a comment. Give a thumbs up. Share the video with others and subscribe to our YouTube channel so that you won’t miss out on any of our Just Seven Steps videos designed to help parents of children with challenges. Find your family’s path to progress. See you right here next week.