Behaviour Intervention Plans: What They are and Why They are Useful

What is a Behaviour Intervention Plan?

A Behaviour Intervention Plan (BIP) is an outline that describes, monitors and aims to replace a targeted behaviour. A targeted behaviour is typically one that is harmful or inappropriate, and causes disruption in other aspects of daily life. Targeted behaviours can include non-compliance, tantrums, and self-injurious behaviours. By creating a BIP after an assessment of the client, behaviour analysts are able to determine and describe the target behaviour, and create a treatment plan to decrease the occurrence of said behaviour. Every BIP is specific to the client, meaning we decide what intervention approach to use based on the strengths and needs of each individual. We realize each individual learns differently, which is why we spend quality time ensuring the BIP is the best practice for that client. 

Breaking Down a BIP

Now, when looking at a BIP for the first time, it may seem daunting and confusing. Let’s break it down into the individual components, along with an example to really paint a picture of what exactly a BIP looks like. For example purposes, we will use the random name “Bobby” as our client.

Date: The date the BIP was created.

Ex: 15 April 2018

Behaviour: The target behaviour we are aiming to reduce, and the setting we are working in, i.e. at home, school or in the clinic.

Ex: Tantrum (Clinic)

Operational Definition: Defining the behaviour in a way that can be observed and measured.

Ex: Any episode of crying, flopping to the floor, disrupting objects and/or screaming. Onset is 10 seconds; offset is when he’s calm for 30 seconds. Does not include crying when he is hurt.

Measurement: How we measure the behaviour appropriately; do we measure how often the behaviour occurs, or how long the behaviour occurs for? (These are a few examples, among others, of how we can measure a behaviour).

Ex: Duration

Functional Behaviour Assessment Date: The date the client was assessed to determine the “where”, “when” and “why” of their challenging behaviour.

Ex: 14 April 2018

Function(s): The “why”, or the reason behind, the target/challenging behaviour.

Ex: Attention and Escape 

Function Statement: Specifically describing the function of behaviour.

  Ex: Bobby engages in tantrum behaviour to escape non-preferred tasks, and to gain attention from therapists/peers.

Baseline: Data collected before the intervention starts. 

Ex: January 2018: Baseline data was taken over a period of 10 days and 25 individual sessions in the clinic. Bobby engaged in tantrum 55% of sessions, ranging in duration from 0 seconds to 55 minutes. 

Current Goal: The goal, which is specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely, in place for the target behaviour.  

Ex: By August 2018, the behaviour of tantrums will last no longer than 1 minute per episode in the clinic setting, across two different therapists, for a period of 2 weeks. 

Progress: The data collected to determine whether or not the client has made progress with the intervention plan. If this is a new behaviour plan, this section will not be applicable until therapy has started. 

Ex: N/A, as this is a new goal and behaviour plan. 

The next 3 sections of the BIP are the specific intervention strategies used for the client, and are all based on the client’s specific strengths and areas of need. 

Antecedent Manipulations: Preventative strategies must be done before the behaviour happens, not as a reaction to it.

Functionally Equivalent Replacement Behaviour(s): Replacement behaviours are the healthy behaviours we are reinforcing, instead of the challenging/target behaviour we are trying to decrease 

Consequence Manipulations: Reactive strategies are planned responses that all stakeholders must follow, across all environments 

Putting it all Together: Why do we use a BIP?

A BIP is an essential element of ABA therapy. The BIP provides us with all the information needed to implement a behaviour plan and monitor the client’s targeted behaviour(s). As time goes on, we analyze the data taken during therapy sessions, and determine if this behaviour plan is allowing the client to make any progress towards the current goal. If progress is not being made, behaviour analysts will take a step back, and make changes accordingly. A client’s BIP is the foundational resource that is used to ensure the best practices and measures are implemented for their specific needs.

The 4 Functions of Behaviour Series: Automatic/Sensory Stimulation

We engage into different behaviors every day, and there are reasons why we engaged into those types of behaviors. This implies that there is always a function why each of us behaves the way we are and it’s always connected to the reinforcement and punishment that we experience every day. We have already shared to you the first three functions of behavior (gaining attention, access to tangibles, and escape). Now, lets see the last function, which is automatic or sensory stimulation.

Automatic or Sensory stimulation may be classified as either positive (presentation of a stimulus) or negative (removal of a stimulus) non-socially mediated reinforcement. In this type of behavior function, the individual may repeatedly engage into a certain behavior specifically when alone, to either feel good or to remove unpleasant feelings.  This type of sensation is rewarding to the person doing it and so he/she will tend to do it often to get the same sensation. 

To understand this term better, let’s find out some things that we do everyday that would fall into this function. We have some activities that we normally do everyday that would give us an automatic positive reinforcement / makes us feel good  (e.g., adding sugar or milk to your coffee, watching a movie or listening to music) or automatic negative reinforcement / remove something that we don’t like (e.g., washing hands to remove dirt, turning on car wipers to remove rain, turning off lights when going to sleep, or rubbing your leg to sooth pain).

In our practice, we typically see children with autism engage into self-stimulatory behaviors when they are not engaged in any activity or when they are alone. They may at times resort to self-injurious behaviors because it produces a desirable sensory experience. These children may as well engage into inappropriate behaviors to escape an aversive sensory experience (e.g., head banging may temporarily reduce the pain caused by an ear infection, skin scratching to reduce itching from a dermatological condition or compulsions carried out by people with OCD which briefly reduce distress). At times, they engage into persistent, non-purposeful, repetitive self-stimulatory behaviors (e.g., spinning, head/ body rocking, tip toeing, hair pulling, hand flapping, etc.) to escape from a task or a demand because it makes them happier to do it or it is easier to hand flap than to attend to your task.

Parents may observe this type of behavior as well at home. It may be difficult for them on how to address self-stimulatory behaviors as it can have more than one function (e.g., escape from a demand). Once we understand the function of the different self-stimulatory behaviors, it becomes easier to modify them. Parents must follow the recommendations provided by the child’s therapy team for consistency.

In ABA, one way to address self-stimulatory behaviors especially those behaviors that can cause harm to the child is Sensory Extinction. Behaviors sustained by automatic reinforcement are placed on extinction (a.k.a. sensory extinction) by masking or removing the sensory consequence. It simply means that in the application of the intervention, the person can still do the problem behavior but that behavior will not produce the same reinforcement anymore. Let me show you some examples of applying Sensory Extinction to address Self-stimulatory behaviors from research studies that are proven effective.

Examples of applying Sensory Extinction



As you noticed from all of the examples, they can still do the self-stimulatory behaviors even after the intervention is applied, but they don’t get the same type of reinforcing sensations anymore, so they stop doing the behavior.

Another approach is blocking the behavior. The applications of response blocking to reduce problem behaviors appear similar to sensory extinction. Response blocking, however, is not an extinction procedure. With all extinction procedures, including sensory consequences, the person can emit the problem behavior but that behavior will not produce the reinforcement anymore. By contrast, response blocking prevents the occurrence of the target behavior. An example of response blocking is having the individual wear goggles to prevent him from eye poking. In this scenario, the child can no longer reach and touch his eyes and can no longer feel the same reinforcing sensation anymore, thereby  decreasing the occurrence of eye poking behavior.

In our practice, we encounter children who engage in verbal stimulatory behaviors. We just usually redirect the child in answering simple questions, naming pictures upon instruction, or counting the pictures about the current activity (e.g., puzzle) that he/ she is engaged in to block him/her from verbal stimming or scripting and to divert his/her attention back to the task. We at times use green and red card to indicate the times where the child is allowed to do verbal stimming/ scripting (green card) after a certain task is done and when not to (red card) when at the moment of completing a task. It’s just presenting the red card (cue/ block the child from scripting) on the table while the child is doing the task and presenting the child the green card (allowed to do verbal stimming/ scripting) upon the completion of the task. There are several ways in addressing self-stimulatory behaviors (e.g., the use of goggles, gloves, helmets, wrist weights, etc.) to block the occurrence of responses maintained by automatic reinforcement. 

In this regard, it is crucial to choose the most effective intervention management in addressing self-stimulatory behaviors to meet your child’s needs. It is essential to have an effective behavior plan in place to these types of behaviors, as some behaviors can be harmful and dangerous.

The 4 Functions of Behavior series: Escape

The other function of a behavior is escape. Escape refers to negative socially mediated reinforcement. This involves escaping from an aversive experience, involving another person, in the outside environment (e.g., noisy classroom, difficult task, etc.).

Most children with Autism often resort to challenging behaviors to get out of work. They may display various types of behaviors, for instance, throwing into tantrums, self-injurious behaviors, property destructions, and at times self-stimulatory behaviors (e.g., hand flapping, body rocking, etc.) to escape a difficult task.

 These inappropriate behaviors can last for a long time because they are effective. They work. When a child cries, and tears the paper at school when presented with a math worksheet activity, and is brought outside for time out – the child stops doing the work. This is exactly what the child wants; to escape from the task. Teachers may think that they are teaching the child a lesson and hoping that the child would learn to comply next time. But no, they are just teaching the child to continue engaging in those types of behaviors to escape from the task. They are just reinforcing the escape behavior of the child.

 Parents encounter these types of situations as well at home. They also struggle on how to have their children comply with simple instructions without the child resorting into challenging behaviors (e.g., brushing teeth, wearing clothes, putting away their toys, etc.) The main key is to figure out some ways to stop these behaviors and have the child comply to have the task done.

 There are some effective strategies like enriching the environment, using high probability sequence (e.g., easy task, difficult task, then easy task), giving the child choices of activities, setting up schedules, being creative in presenting the activities, using a token economy system, FCT (Functional Communication Training), using the Premack principle – First and then, and more other techniques for the child to be more motivated in completing a certain task and not resort to escape it.

 In addition to those strategies, don’t forget to use highly preferred items/activities as reinforcers. You can easily see which items or activities are reinforcing to the child as those are the items they choose to play with or activities they engage in most if not all the time at home. Simple tips. After finding out those reinforcements, try to keep them and just have the child access to them after completing a certain task or demand. In presenting the task, make it enticing and fun for the child. You can do this by knowing what your child enjoys doing (e.g., flying him like a superman or like an airplane or moving like his preferred animal - hop like a bunny to go to a room in your house where you planned on doing the activity, etc). 

 Let’s go back to the strategies. As you can see, there are lots of different strategies to motivate the child to complete a task. But keep in mind that one child is different from another. We can actually just use one strategy or combine some strategies, whichever fits the child’s needs. For now, let’s learn how to use three strategies together like using FCT (Functional Communication Training), giving the child choices of preferred activities, and the use of the Premack principle that parents can use easily and effectively at home to teach their children to comply, stay on task and use more appropriate behaviors in escaping a demand. 

Functional Communication Training (FCT)

 We have already learned how to teach the child to communicate to gain attention and to access a preferred item/activity. This time, teach the child a replacement behavior for escape. Teach the child to ask for a break, go or I want to go. Why do we need to teach the child to ask for a break or ask to go? Because we much rather have the child verbally imitate us to say ‘Break or I need a break, I want to go, or get handed a ‘break or go ’ card than a child slap you on the face, or throw into tantrums for an extended period of time. So let’s replace it with an appropriate behavior because if we don’t teach them a replacement behavior to get what they want, they will continue to engage in those inappropriate behaviors to escape.

 We have to remember that the child can be escaping a social situation, a specific environment or a person, and not just from a task or demand. There are different techniques to teach the child how to request appropriately to escape from a demand. The strategies can be tailored to their language skill level and the severity level of their behaviors. You can use break/go cards, verbal prompts, visual cues, social stories, scripts and more. You just need to be creative and make sure to match it to your child’s needs and abilities.

Giving Choices

Knowing the child is the key here. You can start with simple preferred activities that you think are easy for the child to do it to completion. Present two preferred activities (e.g., inset puzzles, sorting colored toys, matching colored cars, or any activities that you see the child engage in most of the time). In this technique, the child will have a higher probability of complying and completing the task.  So for instance, ask the child ‘Which one do you want? The puzzle or the cars?’ as you present the two preferred items in front of the child. The child can either respond verbally or use gestures (e.g., pointing or touching the chosen item).

Premack Principle – First and Then

 The Premack principle is a principle of reinforcement, which states that an opportunity to engage in more probable behaviors (or activities) will reinforce less probable behaviors (or activities). For example, if a child enjoys playing games or listening and watching nursery songs on the iPad (more probable) and avoids putting away toys (less probable), we might allow the child to play with the iPad after (contingent upon) finishing putting away the toys. 

 This principle is often referred to as “grandma’s rule” because grandmothers (or any caregivers) often apply this principle: “First, you clean your room (less probable) then you can play with your computer (more probable).” This strategy is effective in teaching children with autism as it gives them a clear view of all the expectations.

 Contriving teaching situations at home

Now, let’s learn how to combine these three strategies in teaching your child to comply and learn to escape from a task more appropriately. During your free time, set at least 10-15 minutes to contrive situations in teaching your child. Let's say that you’ve already chosen two preferred activities (e.g., 3 piece inset puzzle and matching superheroes card game) for the child to choose from. Present the two activities and ask the child “Which do you want? The puzzle of the Superheroes card? Let’s say the child chose the puzzle. Then, present the instruction ‘First do the puzzle then you can play with your iPad (highly preferred item). For starters, just ask the child to fit in one piece of the puzzle. Provide a physical prompt if needed to complete the task then gradually fade the prompt as the child learns to do it more independently. Upon completing the task, immediately prompt the child to say ‘break, I want a break, go or I want to go’ or physically prompt the child to hand you a break / go card. Then reinforce heavily for using his words. Give the child 5 minutes to play and repeat the process. So, one instruction, then break. This process may vary depending on the skill and severity level of the child. I was just setting an example.

 You are maybe wondering why you just ask a child to fit in one piece of the puzzle and he/she gets a break for five minutes. One technique to avoid any challenging behaviors in presenting a task is to start from a quick, easy, and simple activity that ensures success. In this example, we are just teaching the child to learn how to complete a simple task and use his/her words ‘Break or I want a break or I want to go.’ to escape from a task rather than a child punching you in the face.

 You can build up the difficulty level of certain demands at home from simple putting away toys, dressing up, or brushing then give the child time to play. Let’s say, for example, you presented two pictures (e.g., brushing teeth and putting away toys in the box), then ask “Which do you want to do? After choosing one of the activities, then present the instruction ‘First brush your teeth then iPad.’ You can have the child play for a certain period of time (e.g., five minutes) after teaching him/her to ask for a break / or to go appropriately and then present another demand. You can only present more difficult tasks once the child learns to escape more appropriately. 

During the occurrence of challenging behaviors

 When the behavior occurs upon presenting a demand, don’t let the child escape from the demand. Let’s go back to our example. When giving an instruction to fit in the one piece of the puzzle but the child starts crying, kicking, and throwing; physically prompt the child to fit in the puzzle if you still can and verbally prompt him to say ‘Break or go.’ Even if the child didn’t imitate you for a break, let the child go. You have already successfully had him fit in the puzzle even if it was with a physical prompt.

But if you can’t physically prompt him anymore because it was too late and the child is already in a full-blown tantrum, then disengage with the child.  Do not continue giving the child a demand. Let the child calm down and keep him safe from hurting himself. Make sure not to attend to the child (e.g., don’t talk to the child and try to calm him down) and clear the room by removing all the toys or other things that could probably harm you and the child. Once the child calms down, allow a few minutes (e.g., 5 minutes) before you give the same demand. 

We may or may not present another demand after the tantrums. It would depend on the situation. It is essential to present again the same demand after the tantrum so that the child would learn to complete a task calmly and ask for a break more appropriately. We don’t want the child to learn the pattern of throwing into tantrums, get prompted for a break then he can go and play. Children with autism can easily pick up a pattern of behaviors. We want to avoid having them learn a pattern of engaging in inappropriate behavior first and then end with a prompted response.

 These are just some of the strategies in dealing with escape behaviors. Parents must learn just simple ways of addressing problem behaviors at home that are doable and easy to implement. Learning simple techniques at a time. Again, just remember to be consistent in dealing with the behavior.