Maryland Positive Behavior Support Training

Once Andy and his team finished the gathering data, they summarized the findings to describe the function maintaining Andy’s challenging behavior. This visual shows the major elements of a hypothesis statement. So far, Andy’s team has learned more about the antecedents, the behavior, and the consequences by using a scatter plot and ABC Chart. However, Andy and his team also need to think about whether any setting events may be occurring.

A setting event precedes challenging behavior and can change the reinforcers in a person’s life. Setting events can be inside a person, they can be related to people, or they might be linked to the physical setting. For instance, if Andy has spent a lot of time alone, he may be more likely to seek out attention from others. Andy sometimes engages in challenging behavior as a way to reach out to other people. 

Adapted from Freeman, R., Matthews, K., Griggs, P., & Quick, S. (2013). Functional behavioral assessment. Lawrence, KS: University of Kansas, Schiefelbusch Institute for Lifespan Studies.

Examples of Common Setting Events

The following setting events are commonly associated with challenges for many people:

• Allergies or illness
• Death of important people or traumatic events
• Presence (or absence) of people
• Certain types of settings (loud/noisy, hot/cold temperatures, places that have a lot of people or where no one is around)
• Inability to predict what is happening

The team will continue to collect direct observation data until they are confident that the hypothesis statement is correct.