Module 3: Behaviour is Communication

Behaviour is Communication

Dr. Ross Greene, a child psychologist and expert in working with children with challenging behaviours, writes that children only exhibit these behaviours when the expectations placed on them outstrip their skills to communicate in other ways. Greene stresses that:

“It is in these situations that they communicate their difficulties through challenging behaviours, be it whining, withdrawing, screaming, swearing, hitting, spitting…In other words, challenging behaviour is simply the means by which a child communicates that he is having difficulty meeting certain expectations.”

According to Dr. Greene, the way to reduce these challenging behaviours is to identify the lagging skills (skills the student needs to develop) and unsolved problems (the specific expectations they are having difficulty meeting). According to Greene’s definition, behaviour truly is communication.

Communicating Needs

Behavioural psychology also views behaviour as communication. From this perspective all behaviour can be understood as having one of four functions:

  1. To obtain a preferred item or activity (I want that)
  2. To get attention from others (I want your attention)
  3. To escape or avoid (I don’t want that)
  4. Self-stimulation—when the behaviour itself is reinforcing (I like how that feels)

Behaviours can start off subtly such as rubbing a hand down the face, but it can quickly escalate toward others (hitting or yelling). Subtle beginnings and rapid escalation of behaviours can mean that those who support the student miss the first attempts to communicate. Behaviour escalates when the student does not feel heard in their first attempt to communicate.

Having limited oral language skills means other methods (behaviours) are used to communicate needs. For example, the student can’t just say “my pants are itchy,” but instead they rely on other ways of telling us what is wrong or what they need. To do this, they might grab your arm, or pull at their pants, or in some cases take their pants off. They may also use a gestalt (sometimes called a ‘script’) which may be difficult for others to interpret (for example, they might say “Mr. Grumpy Pants!”, a line taken from a book, to indicate that something is wrong). These other ways of communication require us to pay attention and interpret what is happening. The key point is that the student is trying to communicate. The first response from those supporting the student is to understand that the behaviour is communication.