Reference Visuals
One-page references for the frameworks you reach for most — the four functions, the ABC contingency, reinforcement and punishment, and the prompt hierarchy. Built for the staff-room wall, not the textbook.
The Four Functions of Behaviour
Every behaviour is doing a job. Before you respond, ask what it gets — or gets the person out of.
To get a reaction or connection — being noticed, a response, time with someone.
Looks like: calling out, silliness, a poke — even if the reaction is a telling-off.
To get out of, delay, or avoid a demand, task, person, or situation.
Looks like: refusing, dawdling, or behaviour that spikes the moment work appears.
To get an item or activity — or to keep one that's about to end.
Looks like: grabbing, protesting tidy-up, a meltdown when a turn finishes.
Because it feels good (or relieves discomfort) in itself. No audience required.
Looks like: rocking, humming, behaviour that carries on when no one's watching.
EATS — Escape, Attention, Tangible, Sensory. The same behaviour can serve different functions, and more than one at once. Confirm with data and an FBA rather than guessing.
The ABC of Behaviour
Behaviour doesn't come from nowhere. Read what comes before it and what follows it.
What happens right before — the trigger or context. An instruction, a transition, someone walking away.
What the person actually does — described tightly enough that two people would count it the same way.
What happens right after — and whether it makes the behaviour more or less likely next time.
The consequence writes the future: reinforced → happens more, not reinforced → fades. Watch what follows the behaviour — that's what's teaching it.
Setting events (hunger, tiredness, illness, a bad morning) quietly raise the odds before the antecedent even lands. Capture it on an ABC chart or build one with the ABC data sheet generator.
Reinforcement & Punishment
Four ways a consequence can change behaviour. The labels are more literal than they sound.
Add something wanted → behaviour goes up. Praise the moment they finish the task.
Add something aversive → behaviour goes down. An extra chore after a deliberate mess.
Remove something aversive → behaviour goes up. The demand pauses when they ask for a break.
Remove something wanted → behaviour goes down. A token is lost.
Positive and negative mean added and removed — not good and bad. And whether something counts as reinforcement or punishment is defined by its effect on the behaviour, never by what you intended.
The Prompt Hierarchy
How much help you give — from doing it together to no help at all. Independence is the target.
- Full physical Hand-over-hand — you do it together.
- Partial physical A nudge at the elbow to get started.
- Model You show it, they copy.
- Gestural A point or gesture toward the answer.
- Verbal A spoken cue or instruction.
- Visual A picture, symbol, or written cue.
- Independent No prompt. The goal.
Most-to-least: start with enough help to get it right, then fade — fewer errors, good for new skills (errorless learning).
Least-to-most: offer the least help first, step up only if needed — good once a skill is emerging.
The exact order of the middle rungs varies by learner and skill. Fade as fast as the learner allows: prompt dependence is usually a fading problem, not a learner problem.