ASSIGNMENT | Prioritizing Behavior

Part 1
Consider the following three potential target behaviors that have been identified for Jackson, a five-year-old boy with developmental disabilities:

When walking to the bus with his teacher, Jackson runs across the street toward the bus to touch the bus wheels. When eating lunch, Jackson chews with his mouth open, allowing some food to fall out of his mouth. When playing in the sandbox at recess, Jackson grabs toys from other children and screams when they resist or try to reclaim the toy.

Part 2
Prepare an electronic version of the “Worksheet for Prioritizing Potential Behaviors” (Figure 3.5 on page 64 in your Applied Behavior Analysis text) to prioritize Jackson’s behaviors for treatment. You may use Microsoft Word or Excel to create your worksheet. Use the key as identified on page 64 of your text to carefully rank each of Jackson’s potential target behaviors by the extent to which it meets or fulfills each prioritization criterion. You may add NA (not applicable) and UNK (unknown) to the key.

Part 3
For each of Jackson’s three target behaviors, explain why you gave each rating (on the 0–4 scale) for each of the nine points to consider when prioritizing behavior (that is, health and safety, longevity, likelihood of success, and so forth). Please note that Part 3 of this assignment is only asking how you would prioritize each behavior for eventual assessment and treatment. You are not to write an assessment or treatment plan. You are only required to describe your decisions for determining priorities.