In order to change your child's behavior it is important to assess how and why negative behaviors are sustained. Once this process is understood, you will be able to intervene and replace negative behaviors with more appropriate/desirable behaviors.
ABC MODEL: Antecedent → Behavior → Consequence
- Antecedents are events or circumstances that make a behavior more or less likely to occur.
- Consequences are events that occur after a behavior. If you want to increase a behavior, it must have a positive consequence. If you want to decrease a behavior, it must have a negative consequence. Consequences are most effective if they are:
- Immediate
- Consistent
- Frequent
- Highly motivating
- It is important for children to have a balance of positive (praise) and negative (ignoring, punishment) consequences. Because children with AD/HD experience so many negative consequences as a result of their behavior, they also need a lot of positive consequences
- Being clear and exact about expectations and consequences will reduce conflict.
- When you are trying to reduce a negative behavior by providing negative consequences, the behavior may increase at first, especially if the child is used to getting positive consequences for that behavior. If you are consistent, the behavior will soon decrease.