DRAGEN Academy · Free lesson · Parents, teachers, technicians, new BCBAs · 8 minutes
How to teach a child to ask instead.
What it is. Functional communication training (FCT) teaches a simple, acceptable way to ask for the exact thing a problem behavior was getting: attention, an item, a break, or help. The new way to ask is called the replacement.
Why it matters. A behavior that works keeps happening. Stopping it without teaching another way to get the same thing leaves the need in place, and the behavior, or a new one, comes back. FCT is one of the most common and effective treatments for serious problem behavior (Tiger, Hanley & Bruzek, 2008).
How to do it yourself
How to teach a replacement yourself, in six steps.
- Find out what the behavior gets, first. Attention, a thing, a break, or the feeling itself. ABC data and the four functions show you how. The ask only works if it gets the same thing.
- Pick an ask that’s easier than the behavior. A word, a sign, a picture card, a button. If screaming gets there faster than finding the card, screaming wins.
- Teach it in calm moments, before the hard part. Set up a small version of the situation, help them make the ask right away, and give the thing the moment they ask. Every time, at first.
- Stop paying the old behavior, as far as it’s safe. The behavior no longer gets the thing; the ask does. Expect it to get worse for a short while before it gets better. For hitting, biting, self-injury or anything unsafe, do this step with a BCBA.
- Fade your help on the ask until they ask alone. That is prompt fading.
- Only then, teach waiting. Once the ask is steady, stretch it: “Yes, in one minute,” then longer, so “not right now” stops meaning “never.”
- It gets attention
- “Play with me,” a tap on the arm, “Look!”
- It gets a thing
- “Tablet, please,” or a picture card of the thing.
- It gets a break
- “Break, please,” or a break card. If the work is too hard, teach “Help, please” too.
- It feels good by itself
- An ask fits less well here, because the behavior makes its own payoff. Talk with your BCBA about activities that give the same feeling.
Worked example
Eli, the worksheet, and a break card.
Eli is six. He throws his worksheet a few times a day, and the ABC data say the same thing every time: the throw ends the worksheet. That is a break, so his team teaches a break card.
| When | Throws a day | Break card a day | What changed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Before | 9 | 0 | Throwing ended the worksheet. |
| Week 1 | 6 | 11 | Card on the desk. At the first frown, the aide helps him hand it over: one minute away, right away. Throwing no longer ends the worksheet. |
| Week 2 | 2 | 14 | He reaches for the card on his own most of the time. |
| Week 4 | 0 | 8 | The team starts waiting: finish one row, then the break. |
Mistakes to avoid
Ways a replacement fails.
- An ask for the wrong thing, like a break card for behavior that gets attention.
- An ask that’s harder than the behavior: a full sentence when one scream works.
- Honoring the ask only sometimes. At first, every ask gets the thing, right away.
- Letting the old behavior still work. Then the child has two ways to ask, and the loud one is faster.
- Starting the waiting too early. Stretch it only after the ask is steady.
Try it
One question, then the answer.
A made-up case: Ruby screams at dinner, and the ABC data show that screaming gets her mom to come and sit next to her. Which replacement fits, and why not a break card?
Show the answer, and why
An ask for attention, like tapping her mom’s arm or saying “Sit with me.” The screaming gets company, not a break. A break card would teach an ask for something Ruby isn’t after, and the screaming would keep working, because it would still be the fastest way to get her mom.
Something to keep
Ask cards and a one-page plan.
Type the words for each card. After printing, cut along the dashed lines and draw or glue a picture on each. Nothing leaves this page and nothing is saved.
DRAGEN Academy · Ask cards · dragen.cloud
| Replacement plan | |
|---|---|
| The behavior, so a stranger could spot it | |
| What it gets (attention, a thing, a break, the feeling) | |
| The new ask (word, sign or card) | |
| When we practice it, calm and before the hard part | |
| When they ask, we | Give it right away, every time, at first. |
| When the old behavior happens, we (the BCBA’s plan) | |
| When we start teaching waiting | |
Print shows only the cards and the plan, in black on white, with your words on them.
Where DRAGEN helps
Do the hard parts with a behavior analyst.
FCT is simple to describe and easy to get slightly wrong: the wrong function, an ask that’s too hard, a plan that pays both behaviors.
Source
Where this comes from.
Carr & Durand (1985), Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 18, 111–126: the first study of FCT. Tiger, Hanley & Bruzek (2008), Behavior Analysis in Practice, 1(1), 16–23: a review and practical guide. Steinbrenner and colleagues (2020), Evidence-Based Practices for Children, Youth, and Young Adults with Autism, National Clearinghouse on Autism Evidence and Practice.
Examples on this page are made up. They contain no client, student or family information. This lesson teaches a method; it does not replace your BCBA, your program, or your payer’s written rules. If a behavior is dangerous to the child or anyone else, start with a BCBA.