Child Observation

A teacher, Ms. Tooley, contacts my office to help her with a student of hers named William. William is a six-year old male who has been causing problems for his peers, mostly during recesses. These problems take the form of William biting, pushing, kicking and hitting the other students. Ms. Tooley has scolded William, and sent him to the principal’s office, and both of these strategies have had little to no effect on William’s aggressive behavior.

The target behaviors that I plan to address are the pushing, the biting, kicking, and hitting. The definition of pushing we will be using is to use the arms and the flats of the hands in a forward motion to physically move another person from the spot they were at. Biting can be defined as the act

After receiving parental consent to do so, the observation period that is chosen is during recess, a time that is less disruptive for the teacher and the rest of the class. This is typically when the students have less constraint, such as activities that involve being outside of the classroom and interacting with other students. This too, will allow me to observe and record behavior in a natural setting, allowing for a more representative sample of the target behaviors (Miltenberger, 2012). This will be an unstructured observation; I will sit in a far corner of the playground and watch William’s interactions with other children, and record any instances that the target behaviors are displayed. I will record any antecedent events, as well as the consequences of William’s displays of the target behaviors, what triggers the behaviors and what happens immediately after they are displayed. This will be done during half-hour periods for three to four visits, in order to determine a pattern and assist in the formation of a hypothesis of the function of William’s behavior. Armed with this knowledge, I will then be able to design an effective

The development of behavior modification procedures are to elicit lasting, changed behavior. The defining features are focusing on socially important behavior; demonstrating the functional relationships between environmental events and behavior; clearly described procedures; a relation to basic behavioral principles; and the manifestation of meaningful, generalizable, and long-lasting behavioral changes. Using a combination of techniques enhances the ability to elicit these