Let me tell you a story about David. David is a student with autism who has many problem behaviors, including biting other people. His mother says he gets upset easily because he has a unique way of thinking and people at school don’t understand him. His teacher says he behaves this way because he doesn’t have the skills and behaviors needed to learn in the classroom. His psychologist says he does it because he has learned that biting means he can escape school lessons and leave the classroom.
Who is right? Is the biting behavior due to (a) emotional upset, a child-centered interpretation of the problem; (b) lack of skills, a developmental interpretation of the problem; or (c) anticipation of the escape consequences, a behavioral interpretation of the problem?
Is it possible that all of these people have a piece of the answer? Perhaps David gets so overwhelmed, he has to express this upset physically. Perhaps he gets so upset because he doesn’t understand what he is supposed to be doing in the classroom, due to a lack of skills. And perhaps he bites consistently because he knows this behavior leads to the desirable outcome of being removed from the classroom.
If you think about the biting behavior from these three different — yet complementary — approaches, it may change how you choose to address the problem. First, you might follow a child-centered approach and train people to interact with David in a certain way, giving him the supports he needs to feel as comfortable as possible. Second, you might follow a developmental approach and try to ensure that lessons are a good fit for his skills, providing any needed accommodations and adaptations. Third, you might follow a behavioral approach and change the consequences of the biting behavior — instead of removing him from the lesson, you might redirect him to a “break” request card for a short cooling off period, then redirecting him back to the lesson.
When we simplify ways to target problem behavior to a singular approach, child-centered, developmental, or behavioral, we risk an over-simplification of the issues. Autism is complex and so are the children who have it. We therefore need to be broad in our thinking and embrace a comprehensive set of strategies when looking for possible solutions to problem behavior in our students.
