Parents Learn About Behavioral Assessment Process

Parents had the opportunity Tuesday night to gain in depth knowledge about what types of methods are done to help students with behavioral issues in the classroom.

The welcomed Julia Scozzafava a behaviorist with the South Bergen Juncture who walked the parents through the process of how behaviors are assessed and what types of methods are used to either decrease a negative behavior or increase a positive one.

Throughout the discussion parents also had the opportunity to interact and share some of their own experiences and learn from one another.

Scozzafava gave the parents some background on what type of role a behaviorist plays. She works as a consultant with staff members, observing students in a class setting helping to identify behaviors and what can be done to change them.

Once the behavior is identified the goal is to work towards replacing that behavior with another one that is positive, she explained. She believes only in the use of positive reinforcement  as she has found it is much more helpful than any type of punishment which she says is not beneficial or realistic in teaching students behavioral changes.

She walked the parents through the behavioral analysis process which is technically known as ABCs, identifying the Antecedent - what happens before the behavior,  the Behavior itself – and then the Consequences.

She explained an example where a student is called on to attend speech therapy, the student acts out which results in the student being passed over for therapy and getting to play instead. 

It is almost important to identify the function of the behavior, she explained. Sometimes a student does it for attention or for sensory need or to avoid a task.

In the case of the example, the student’s behavior was based on wanting to avoid the task of attending speech therapy.

It’s also important to analyze a patterns of the behaviors that need to be changed and from there a treatment plan can be developed, she explained. Identifying the right reinforcement is also key and is just about guaranteed to work in helping the student learn to change that behavior.

The Collaborative Parent Commitee will officially kick-off in the fall. An informal meet and greet kick-off for families is set for Oct. 16.