1. Dealing with Emotional Behavior at WoodsEdge:
Don’t do Talk Therapy
Written by Mitch Fryling, Fall 2003
While working at WoodsEdge there may be times when you encounter “emotional”
behavior. These behaviors may include crying, pouting, yelling “OUCH,” etc. Of course there
are times when these behaviors are appropriate and quite functional. Some more appropriate
times to display these behaviors may be when there is an obvious injury, a death of a loved one,
etc. Autistic children often do these behaviors because they have produced powerful reinforcers
and/or escape from difficult tasks. While it may seem humanistic and caring of you to say
“What’s wrong Mikey” when your child is crying, in reality you are probably contributing to
Mikey’s maladaptive behaviors.
Some behaviors that we see frequently in the ECDD Classroom are crying, screaming,
collapsing to the floor, and exaggerating injuries. Dealing with these behaviors appropriately is
crucial to your child’s development of a repertoire that will lead to a higher quality of life. The
crucial distinction to make is when these behaviors are appropriate and when they are not.
Seldom is crying appropriate in the ECDD classroom. Despite the behavior analytic orientation
of the room, many people are often prone to reinforce these behaviors. Regardless of your
theoretical orientation, or “feelings” you may have about autism, while you are working at
WoodsEdge you are working as a behavior analyst.
The children are quick to discriminate between who reinforces these behaviors and who
does not (stimulus discrimination). Often time students engage in these behaviors in the
presence of one tutor, and not in the presence of the other two. DO NOT BE the tutor who is
responsible for the excessive crying. Here is an example of dealing with inappropriate behavior.
Mike is a four-year old diagnosed with autism. Despite his young age, he has been in the
Autism Preschool for a year and a half. Over this time Mike has had a variety of tutors. During
the Winter 2002 semester Mike again got three new tutors, three new people that were now
responsible for the quality instruction that may have everlasting impacts on his life. Mike’s 8:30
tutor was named Sheri, 10:30 was Monica, and 12:30 was Ben. Mike loved coming to
WoodsEdge, and was always laughing and joking around with all of the staff involved in the
room. All of his tutors were comfortable with the procedures, and knew all of the rules of the
room. Occasionally Mike would cry loudly, sometimes screaming “Momma,” and sometimes
“OWIE!” Many tutors dealt with these behaviors quickly either by extinguishing them (not
providing the likely functional reinforcer  attention), or by quickly saying ONE TIME
“Momma later,” or “Let me see, ok looks ok you’re not hurt.” This technique was fairly
successful, and of course most tutors knew when he was really hurt and when his crying was a
result of reinforcement by attention/escape from DT. Monica was uncomfortable with the way
we were dealing with these behaviors. When she wasn’t being monitored she would often deal
with these behaviors in a very mentalistic way. Monica would often say “What is wrong Mikey,
do you need something?” or “Let me help you, are you ok?” This reinforcement quickly
increased the frequency and intensity of Mike’s crying. Before we knew it Mike was crying
often, but ONLY in the presence of Monica. At one point Mike would begin crying as soon as

2. he saw Monica, and stop as soon as she left. At this time she finally began to take her TAs
feedback seriously, and stopped attempting to do talk therapy with a young child who was hardly
vocal. Mike’s crying behavior was done within 2 sessions…rarely to be seen again.
Here are some possible diagrams of these contingencies that may increase and decrease
inappropriate “emotional” behavior at WoodsEdge.
Possible reinforcement contingency:
Mikey does not Mikey has
have comforting comforting
statements from Mikey cries statements from
his tutor his tutor
Possible Escape contingency:
Mikey is in a Mikey is not in a
demanding demanding
academic Mikey cries academic
situation situation
Possible Avoidance Contingency:
Mikey will be in a Mikey will not be
demanding in a demanding
academic academic
situation in 2 Mikey cries situation in 2
minutes minutes