ABC Data for treating problem behaviors

First and foremost it is important to have data on your child's behaviors. Before we change our children's negative behaviors we first must specifically identify the behaviors as well what brought them on and how we handled them in the past. You can easily make your own data sheet by drawing three columns on a lined piece of notebook paper. Then make an A in the first column, B in the second column, and a C in the third column. This is called an ABC data sheet. The letters stand for antecedent, behavior, and consequence. Now you can begin recording data when your child has a behavior. Write down what occurred right before the behavior in column A (ex. told her no, asked him to come inside, etc). Next record actual behavior in column B (ex. hitting with open-hands, screaming "No!" etc.) and lastly record what the child's consequence was (ex. Mom yelled "Go to your room," Dad ignored behavior, etc.) and of course if your child complied with the consequence. This is so important because you will start to see patterns in your child's behavior. Behaviors that are reoccurring at high rates are being reinforced so you want to look at changing the consequence. Despite what you might think sometimes spankings and yelling can be reinforcers instead of punishers. Which is which has to do with the actual behavior of the child. If the behaviors occur more frequently they are being reinforced, if they occur less frequently they are being punished. The same is true for good behavior as well as bad behavior. For example your child might not give hugs or offer to help because he is not reinforced to do so, or worse he was punished in the past if a parent may have said "not now," or "I'm too busy." For a data sheet on a word document or just more info you can email me at: jennica.verbalbehavior@hotmail.com