When we hear about a family in crisis it can mean a lot of different things. When talking about students with disabilities, a crisis can include the child demonstrating behaviors that are harmful to themselves or others. Many times, when a child is demonstrating these behaviors it is difficult for the people around them to understand why it is happening, let alone the steps needed to de-escalate the situation while keeping the child and anyone else in the environment safe.

This presentation will cover common situations that occur in the home and school settings when working with children and adolescents that display maladaptive behavior. Maladaptive behavior can include tantrums, aggression, self-injury, elopement and a variety of other behaviors. In this presentation we will identify functions to behavior, as well as, other factors that can contribute to these stressful situations. We will use the principles of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) to dissect a variety of case studies to identify cause, functional alternatives, and strategies to de-escalate situations. This will include learning about setting events and the three-term contingency of behavior to understand why these factors contribute to crisis situations. Proactive strategies including antecedent manipulations, environmental variations, and use of visuals will be reviewed, in addition to, retroactive strategies for de-escalating crisis behavior. A variety of case studies will be discussed to examine how different responses from adults and the environment could change the outcome of the scenario. Teachers, BCBA’s and related service providers will learn how to best identify cause to a crisis situation and strategies to prevent and most effectively de-escalate the situation.