Kelly is in seventh grade and has been diagnosed with high functioning autism. She is very bright but sometimes will struggle in school. She is verbal, but her conversation skills seem awkward compared to her peers. She struggles a lot with writing tasks, and she will tell her teacher she doesn’t like to write. When Kelly is given a writing task, she has refused to complete the task and has even thrown items to the ground such as her paper or pencil. This usually results in Kelly being told she needs to calm down, and she is then left alone for a few minutes. Kelly is a very good flute player and enjoys participating in band. Kelly talks about the flute a lot. When the teacher starts giving a lecture, Kelly will often turn to her peers and start talking about the flute. The teacher then will tell Kelly she needs to be quiet. However, within a few minutes, Kelly is usually talking with her peers about the flute again.
Answer the following questions based on what you have learned in this Module:
1. Choose one of her interfering behaviors described in the above paragraph. Explain why it is an interfering behavior.
2. Identify the 3-Term Contingency: What are the antecedent, behavior, and consequence?
3. Suggest one preventative strategy and one strategy to use when the behavior happens.
