One example in the show today was if a team decided the function of the student's behavior was to avoid doing his work. A goal would probably be written for the student to complete so much work, given x amount of minutes. But if we ask WHY? the child is avoiding doing the work we will know more of the underlying cause.
If the underlying cause is because the work is too easy and the student is tired of being asked to do the same thing over and over, then that leads us to an entirely different change that needs to be made.
Instead of taking data on how much work a child gets done in so many minutes, we instead, need to change the level of work we give him to do.
So, the next time you're sitting in a meeting and they are talking about the "function" of your child's behavior, ask WHY is he doing that.
Is there an underlying medical reason, is it a stress responder...what lagging skills does the child have and how can we help support him learning new skills.
OR is it something we need to change as adults – making sure kids have meaningful work to do, allow kids to make more choices, build on their strengths...you'll be surprised how many "behavior problems" disappear when students are safe, happy, and learning with their friends every day.
