Georgia Association for
Positive Behavior Support
2013
Presented by Barbara T. Doyle, MS
Clinical Consultant
Unsafe people have:
Limited lives
Less access to environments
Need for more expensive and intrusive supports
Less participation and satisfaction
Limited belonging and relationships
Can end up in jail, institutionalized, depressed,
isolated or dead
Dangerous to self or others now
Potentially dangerous behaviors (do
not cause harm now, but could in the
future)
Dangerous situations that we now
control
that present risk if the
controls are not present
Eliminate behaviors that can
become or be misinterpreted as
threatening or criminal
Eliminate behaviors that could
Prioritize!
Identify functions (always multiple, not just
about attention and avoidance, usually related to communication issues, and physical or emotional needs)
Teach several alternate skills instead of one
replacement behavior
Teach more communication skills
Give more control to the person
Cash and prizes! Motivation changes brain
functioning in all humans.
For a safe lifetime, it is more
important what you DO than what you
KNOW.
Be careful what you teach, because
someone might learn it!
Dangerous
Stigmatizing
Unconventional
Conventional
Take a look at the
Behavioral
Prioritization Grid
Individualized prioritizing of goals vs.
following a predetermined curriculum
of academic focus only
To select these ten skills: we looked at
lifetime outcomes for people with
special needs who did not have these
skills.
Teaching Essential Skills for a
Safe and Independent Life
Could there be more than ten essential
Don’t give away your money
Don’t buy something from someone who wants
to take your money first
Don’t go into someone’s house uninvited
Know who to let into your house
Don’t give advice to people who have not
asked for it
Medical: Take a deep breath and expel it
through the mouth at least four times on
demand, open mouth and stick out tongue on
demand, allow abdomen to be palpated
Use objective description of behavioral issues:
follows, not “stalks;” takes, not “steals” See your handout: Objective vs. Subjective
Teach the names of every body part
Teach the names of every person the child or
adult comes in contact with
Teach the answers to the questions in your
handout: Safety in Society
Teach First Responders and legal advocates. Use
“And Justice for All…”
Cannot learn new skills if preoccupied,
hyper-vigilant, on “patrol” and avoiding
For people with developmental disorders, Fight or
Flight might be based only on experience, due to difficulty imagining or remembering a different outcome
Identify what people need to stay out of Fight or
Flight. Help them learn to access or avoid.
Don’t try to teach or consequence
an already upset person.
Open up, back up and shut up.
If there is no imminent danger to humans, don’t
touch upset people
Create Calming Strategies to do when the child
or adult is already upset: practice when calm
The goals: identify level of arousal and
bring SELF under control
Engage the person in something
calming and liked
Introduce the smallest increment of
what the person cannot now tolerate
Inform that s/he has “coped” and
reward
Gradually
increase the amount,
duration, or intensity of the
intolerable
A resource for teaching
self-care: an essential safety skill
ISBN
#
1-885477-94-5
The Movie on DVD
7 Episodes
The Movie PLUS a
300-page Curriculum CD
Explosive/Noncompliant Children and
Adults
Implementing collaborative Problem
Solving (CPS)
and
The Explosive Child, ISBN 006-093-1027
Both by Ross W. Greene, Ph.D.
Very good ideas about prioritizing behaviors
to be changed and effective ways to deal
with explosive, problematic behavior.
More information at the Center for
Collaborative Problem Solving
Progress without Punishment,
by Donnellan,
LaVigna, Negri-Shoultz and Fassbender,
1988, ISBN# 0-8077-2911-6, a
must have
manual for everyone, teaches how to use
behavioral interventions, analysis of
behavior, how to use reinforcement, and
many other useful topics
Institute for Applied Behavior Analysis
Visual Strategies for Improving
Communication by Linda Hodgdon, M.ED.
CCC-SLP.
Solving Behavior Problems in Autism:
Improving Communication with Visual
Strategies by Linda Hodgdon, M.ED.
CCC-SLP.
(Applies to people with special needs
who learn visually.)
QuirkRoberts Publishing, PO Box 71, Troy, Michigan Phone 248-879-2598,
Perfect Targets Asperger Syndrome and Bullying, Practical Solutions for Surviving the Social
World by Rebekah Heinrichs, 2003 ISBN# 1-9311282-18-8
An excellent book for parents and
professionals working with any person who is
at risk of victimization (not just Asperger
The Law Enforcement Awareness Network
Safety Identification Cards for Children and Adults
I.C.E Fact Sheet ~ Cell Phone Emergency Contact Sharing
Example of Emergency Contact Information Database Sheets
