Defining the target behaviour

It is rare that a person presents with a single challenging behaviour. Often family members or support staff will report several behaviours of concern. A behaviour support practitioner will assist the person and their family and carers to prioritise the behaviours and select one for initial assessment and intervention. This will allow for targeted investigations to assess the cause and function of the behaviour, and to evaluate the effectiveness of any intervention.

The priority target behaviour will usually be the behaviour that poses the greatest harm to the person or others (ie it might not be the most frequent behaviour). In some cases, it might be appropriate to first target a high frequency, but low risk behaviour (eg if it interferes with other intervention strategies). Once the target behaviour has been addressed, additional behaviours can then be defined and become the focus of intervention.

The target behaviour needs to be defined so that it is easily recognised by all involved. Describe the behaviour objectively, including settings, triggers, duration, and consequences (eg its impact on the person, others involved and the environment, and the intensity of the impact). See this example of a poor versus a useful behaviour description:

  • A poor description of John's behaviour is: 'John gets angry and hits out when he is away from home.'
  • A useful description of John's behaviour is: 'John will grab and throw objects randomly at people using both hands with sufficient force to cause injury to others, during which he yells incoherently and loudly enough to be heard at least 50 to 60 meters away. This is most likely to occur when in buildings which are crowded such that he cannot see the way out of the room (ie the exit door). These incidents can last from 3 to 10 minutes, after which he will ordinarily calm down enough to be assisted outside.'

Where possible, seek information about the target behaviour from multiple sources to improve objectivity (eg parents, other support people, and from different places the person spends their time).

For questions to guide taking a history of challenging behaviour in a person with developmental disability, see Questions to guide taking a history of challenging behaviour in a person with developmental disability. This information is needed for a behaviour support practitioner to establish a working hypothesis of the cause of the behaviour. See also Considerations when assessing and managing challenging behaviour in a person with developmental disability for considerations when assessing challenging behaviour.

Behaviour support practitioners may use a number of assessment approaches to formulate a hypothesised function for the person’s behaviour, including:

  • World Health Organization (WHO) biopsychosocial approach to understanding disability and health, which takes into account:
    • physical and mental health
    • social and environmental circumstances
    • developmental, skill enhancement and support needs
  • functional assessment—to consider the function of the behaviour from the person’s point of view
  • ABC (antecedent, behaviour, consequence) or STAR (setting, triggers, actions, results) charts to help family members, teachers or support staff to record information.

These assessments will inform strategies to help the person exhibiting challenging behaviour to develop functionally equivalent, safe and socially acceptable alternative behaviours.