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Psychminds and Behaviour Change

Attention Maintained Behaviour

May 02, 2022 Nicole Season 1 Episode 5
Psychminds and Behaviour Change
Attention Maintained Behaviour
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Psychminds and Behaviour Change
Attention Maintained Behaviour
May 02, 2022 Season 1 Episode 5
Nicole

On our last And ABA episode we discussed escape maintained behavior. For this episode, we will dive into what attention maintained behavior could look like, how to modify the environment before it happens and how to manage it after it occurs.

This is a bit of a more personal, story time episode as I share some of my experiences with clients (whilst maintaining confidentiality, of course).

To begin with, what is attention-maintained behavior? I've defined it as, "behaviours your child engages in to access attention (whether positive or negative)." It can look very different based on each child's learning and reinforcement history.

Some strategies to consider implementing before any challenging behavior occurs include:

  • Teaching alternative responses, such as "excuse me," "hey," or tapping your arm. 
  • Pairing positive attention statements with tangible items to reinforce the idea that positive attention is a signal for good things
  • Noncontingent reinforcement: this involves providing lots of attention regardless of what your child is actually doing. This helps to beak the association between the maladaptive behavior and receiving attention. 

Some consequence strategies could include:

  • Ignoring the maladaptive behavior if it is possible and safe to do so (ensure to only do this is your child has an alternative way to ask for attention and this can be prompted).
  • If behavior escalates quickly, reinforce the lower levels of problem behavior. For instance, if your child is acting silly to get attention, reinforce that with attention as opposed to the escalation response which could be biting/hitting. If you reinforce the escalated response because you feel you have no choice at that point, you are teaching your child what to do for next time (ex - hit to get attention). Whereas if you reinforce at an earlier point in the behavior chain (acting silly) then the behavior will typically remain there (your child may continue to act silly to get your attention until a different response is taught and reinforced).

For more tips, check out the FREE workbook which mentions all of the strategies discussed in the podcast. All you have to do is head on over to the resources section on Psychminds and subscribe. You will then have access to the ENTIRE resource library. 

To access similar content, check out Psychminds platforms below:

To connect with Nicole:

To purchase Nicole's book:

If you enjoyed this episode, I would be so grateful if you left a rating and/or review. Thank you for listening!

Music Credit
ZakharValaha from Pixabay 

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Show Notes

On our last And ABA episode we discussed escape maintained behavior. For this episode, we will dive into what attention maintained behavior could look like, how to modify the environment before it happens and how to manage it after it occurs.

This is a bit of a more personal, story time episode as I share some of my experiences with clients (whilst maintaining confidentiality, of course).

To begin with, what is attention-maintained behavior? I've defined it as, "behaviours your child engages in to access attention (whether positive or negative)." It can look very different based on each child's learning and reinforcement history.

Some strategies to consider implementing before any challenging behavior occurs include:

  • Teaching alternative responses, such as "excuse me," "hey," or tapping your arm. 
  • Pairing positive attention statements with tangible items to reinforce the idea that positive attention is a signal for good things
  • Noncontingent reinforcement: this involves providing lots of attention regardless of what your child is actually doing. This helps to beak the association between the maladaptive behavior and receiving attention. 

Some consequence strategies could include:

  • Ignoring the maladaptive behavior if it is possible and safe to do so (ensure to only do this is your child has an alternative way to ask for attention and this can be prompted).
  • If behavior escalates quickly, reinforce the lower levels of problem behavior. For instance, if your child is acting silly to get attention, reinforce that with attention as opposed to the escalation response which could be biting/hitting. If you reinforce the escalated response because you feel you have no choice at that point, you are teaching your child what to do for next time (ex - hit to get attention). Whereas if you reinforce at an earlier point in the behavior chain (acting silly) then the behavior will typically remain there (your child may continue to act silly to get your attention until a different response is taught and reinforced).

For more tips, check out the FREE workbook which mentions all of the strategies discussed in the podcast. All you have to do is head on over to the resources section on Psychminds and subscribe. You will then have access to the ENTIRE resource library. 

To access similar content, check out Psychminds platforms below:

To connect with Nicole:

To purchase Nicole's book:

If you enjoyed this episode, I would be so grateful if you left a rating and/or review. Thank you for listening!

Music Credit
ZakharValaha from Pixabay