Johnny arrived to class late and sat down in his desk.Soon after siting down. He put his head down on the desk.His teacher said “Johnny, I need your eyes o me”.Johnny replied “leave me alone”.The teacher reprimanded him for being disrespectful and again requested that he attends her.Johnny yelled at the teacher and threw all of his books and materials on the floor.The teacher withdrew all further demands and allowed Johnny to lay his head on his desk for the rest of the class period.

Please answer the following questions.

• What is the motivating operation that appears to be at work? Is it a conditioned or unconditioned motivating operation? Why?
• What is the effect of the motivating operation on the problem behavior?
• Based on your understanding of the influence of motivating operations, what would you do to address the problem behavior in each scenario?

Veronica is a seven-year-old student diagnosed with autism.Veronica’s teacher and para-professional are trying to increase her functional communication board to express her desires.The training session for the communication device occurs immediately after lunch during fourth period.The teacher has been using M&Ms, which is Veronica’s favorite snack, as a reinforcer for participation in training on the communications device. The reinforcement schedule is one M&M for every correct response on the communication device.Veronica barely even attempts to respond during training, thus progress is extremely slow.

Please answer the following questions.

• What is the motivating operation that appears to be at work? Is it a conditioned or unconditioned motivating operation? Why?
• What is the effect of the motivating operation on the problem behavior?
• Based on your understanding of the influence of motivating operations, what would you do to address the problem behavior in each scenario?

Brian is a fifth-grade student at Bright Futures Academy.Brian’s teachers have all expressed concern over his constant class disruption, as he is constantly talking out during class, talking to other students, making jokes, and laughing out loud when the teacher argues with him.The only teacher that has no problem with Brian is Ms. Dooright, Brian’s math teacher.Ms. Dooright says that she takes a couple of minuets of 1:1 interactionwith each student before class to provide encouragement and attention.She states that Brian needs a couple more minuets than the other students but notes that he is usually quiet and on-task for most of her class.

• What is the motivating operation that appears to be at work? Is it a conditioned or unconditioned motivating operation? Why?
• What is the effect of the motivating operation on the problem behavior?
• Based on your understanding of the influence of motivating operations, what would you do to address the problem behavior in each scenario?

Reference

Steege, M. W. (2009). Conducting School-Based Functional Behavioral Assessments, Second Edition, 2nd Edition. [Purdue University Global Bookshelf]. Retrieved from https://purdueuniversityglobal.vitalsource.com/#/b…