STRESS - MyHope

Go Ahead and Ask: Dinner Table Behavior

Question: My 3-year old daughter has a diagnosis of PDD-NOS. She is a very sweet child and is learning new things every day, although she isn’t quite talking yet. Our biggest problem right now is dinner time – she absolutely refuses to sit at the table with the family. She starts screaming and I end […]

Motivators Worksheet

DIRECTIONS: Think of behaviors that occur as a result of each of the four basic motivations. Motivation Appropriate Behaviors Inappropriate Behaviors Social Attention Ex: following directions (praised by parent) Ex: screaming while parent is on telephone Escape/Avoidance Ex: waving goodbye when wants to […]

10 Steps to Preventing Problem Behaviors

1. Apply Your Knowledge of the Child 2. Use the Problem-Solving Approach to Behavior Change 3. Teach Functional Communication 4. Adapt the Environment 5. Incorporate Visual Cues 6. Develop Predictable Routines 7. Adapt Your Interaction Style 8. Teach Alternative Behaviors 9. Provide Powerful Rewards 10. Catch ‘em Being Good 1. Understanding the Child The first […]

Intervention Approaches: From Least Restrictive to More Restrictive

1. REINFORCING THE ABSENCE OF A NEGATIVE BEHAVIOR Definition: Reinforcing the absence of an undesired behavior without pinpointing or teaching a specific adaptive alternative behavior, also called “catching the child being good” When to Use: When you first begin to target a negative behavior and you need to clarify your behavioral expectations to the […]

How to Employ Intervention Techniques for Reducing Problem Behavior

Step 1. REINFORCING THE ABSENCE OF A NEGATIVE BEHAVIOR 1. Clearly define the negative behavior and begin the assessment process to determine the function, frequency, duration, antecedents and consequences, etc. 2. When you observe the child doing anything but the negative behavior, provide additional attention, tangible objects, stimulation, or escape from tasks or environments. Use […]

A-B-C Worksheet

Steps: 1) Choose one behavior to observe. Example: Tantrums 2) Define/describe that behavior clearly on the top of the form.Example: “Tantrums — a tantrum begins when Jon throws his body onto the floor, shakes his arms and kicks his legs, makes loud noises, and rolls his body from side to side. A tantrum ends when […]

What is behavior?

Behavior is defined as the observable actions performed by an individual; it is what a child does and is usually expressed in verbs (e.g., runs, jumps, waits, requests). For our purposes, there are two kinds of behavior, positive and negative: By negative behavior, we mean those things that your child does that are potentially dangerous, […]

Healing Trauma

War. Rape. Fear. Violence. Molestation. Sexual assault. According to Bessel van der Kolk, MD, incidents involving emotional trauma and toxic stress are far more common than people generally understand. Since 2001, he says, far more Americans died due to family violence than in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Women are twice as likely to […]

Stress: What Causes It

Research has linked chronic stress to digestive disorders, urinary problems, headaches, sleep difficulties, depression, and anxiety. “Some studies have found the physical, emotional, and social effects of a disease like cancer to be stressful for patients, caregivers, and long-term cancer survivors,” says NIH’s Dr. Paige Green McDonald, an expert on stress and cancer biology. “However, […]

Stress: Signs and Symptoms

The human body responds to events that provoke stress (stressors) by activating the nervous system and specific hormones. The hypothalamus signals the adrenal glands to produce more of the hormones, adrenaline and cortisol, and release them into the bloodstream. These hormones speed up heart rate, breathing rate, blood pressure and metabolism. The physical changes prepare you to […]