The ABCs of Behavior Reporting
Amanda Surdock, M.A.

Many staff members are already at least some-what familiar with the format of the incident and behavior report. It is the piece of paper that staff should fill out to keep track of and document all important behaviors. Important behaviors would include anything out of the ordinary, challenging, or otherwise informative.

When the behavior report is turned in, the Behavior Specialist enters the information into the computer. Once it is in the computer, we can then use the information to monitor behavior, make changes to behavior programming, or identify areas that are a challenge for the resident. Additionally, this information is compiled and reported to the psychiatrist for those residents who are taking psychiatric medications. In order for us to use this information, these behavior reports need to be filled out as completely as possible. This article is dedicated to showing you what information we need in a behavior report and why.

A-Antecedents

These are the things that are happening before the behavior occurs. This is the middle part of the behavior report, in the section where we ask you to describe the incident. Antecedents include information such as: with whom the resident was interacting; what they were asked to do; whether they were doing something they liked or disliked; whether they had asked for something; and their physical / emotional state. This information is important because it helps to predict situations in which this behavior will occur. We need to be able to predict the type of situations in which a behavior will occur in order to help the resident learn new behaviors.

B-Behaviors

This is generally the first information that gets recorded into a behavior report, at the top of the form. This is a simple checklist for the staff member to indicate what type(s) of behavior are occurring. The important thing to remember is that people can be engaging in several behaviors at once, so you can mark multiple behaviors in this section.

C-Consequences

This is where you mark the staff response to the behaviors that you wrote about in the first section. This is the most frequently missed part of the behavior report. This section can be hard to fill out, but the important thing to remember is that you can never have "no response" to a behavior. When the resident says or does some-thing, they always get some sort of response, even if that response is to ignore the resident. The most important thing to remember when completing behavior reports is that we need as much detail as possible. Which of the following reports do you think gives the most information?

"XXX threw a cursing fit. OD was called"

"XXX came in for work, and another resi-dent started talking about a sporting event on TV the night before. The residents got louder as the discussion went on, and finally XXX cursed and threw his stack of work ma-terials across the room. Staff separated the residents, then called the OD"

In the first example, the report only gives the basics of the behavior and one of the consequences. It does not tell us anything about what was going on at the time or why that person might have been upset. The second report is more accurate way of describing the same incident, and gives us more information to work from, including who the resident was talking to and what a "cursing fit" looks like.

When to Write a Behavior Report

We often hear about behaviors for which a behavior report never comes. Sometimes we find that it was recorded in status reports or in a departmental log. Many times staff say they didn't want to write a report because they didn't think the behavior was bad enough for that. Truth is, we can never have too much information on a subject. A behavior report is not a form of punishment, nor is it "tattling." On the other hand, it should not be used as leverage for getting residents to do what you want them to do. It is a just piece of paper that we use to communicate with each other about the residents. You should write a behavior report under the following circumstances:

A resident exhibits a behavior that is unusual for that person. This includes inappropriate so cial behaviors as well as mood changes or strange behaviors. It also includes behaviors that are more intense than usual, or that tend to occur in "cycles."

A resident exhibits a behavior that hurts himself or someone else. "Hurt" includes emotional hurts, too, if they are mean-spirited or intentional. Remember also if there is an injury you must do an accident report and notify the clinic.

A resident exhibits a behavior for which she has no behavior plan, and you are responding with negative consequences (revoke date night privileges, restrict from activities, take away television privileges, etc.).

A resident exhibits a behavior that he exhibits all the time and you tried a new response to it. We'd like to know about that, whether it worked or not, because it will help us when the time comes to write a behavior plan.

A resident exhibits a behavior for which he has a behavior plan, and the behavior plan explicitly states that you should write a behavior report. Sometimes behavior plans will instruct you to document the behavior in another format. If so, you do not also have to do a behavior report.

A resident is taking a medication to address depression, anxiety, anger, hyperactivity, hearing things that are not there, talking to people who are not there, seeing things that are not there, repetitive or compulsive behaviors, or confusion; and you observe changes in the nature or fre quency of that behavior (especially around medication changes).

If you find yourself asking, "Should I write a behavior report?" Go ahead and write it. It's always better to over-report than to under-report.