Antecedent A Specific Meaning for Analyzing Difficult Behaviors

In preparing a functional behavior analysis, special educators, behavior specialists and psychologists use an acronym, ABC, to understand a target behavior. The A stands for antecedent, the B for behavior, and the C for consequence. ABC is a fundamental concept for those working with children, particularly students with special needs. Antecedent Definition To understand the definition of ABC, its important to know the meaning of each of its component parts. Antecedents are events or environments that trigger a behavior, and the behavior  is an action that is both observable and measurable that is generally provoked or induced by the antecedent. The consequence, then, is the response to the student’s behavior, generally by the teacher, counselor, or school psychologist. Put in more basic terms, the antecedent involves something that is said to the student, something the student observes, or, often, a situation in which the student is placed. Any of these things can then evoke a behavior by the student, such as acting out, throwing a tantrum, screaming, or just shutting down. The consequence is not necessarily—or even preferably—a punishment. Instead, a consequence is what educators or others impose on the student after the behavior. Education and behavior experts note that the best consequence is one that redirects, rather than punishes. The ABC concept is important because it causes educators, counselors, and others involved to loop back to the antecedent and try to determine what in the environment or situation might have provoked the behavior. Since the behavior must be observable and measurable, using the ABC concept takes emotion out of the equation. Examples of Antecedents Before delving into gathering information about antecedents, its helpful to view some examples of antecedents. These are environmental or even physical situations that can initially spark undesirable behaviors: Invasion of personal space: Students, or really anyone for that matter, can react negatively when someone invades their space. Its important to give students adequate physical space in which to complete their tasks. Excessive visual or auditory stimuli: Students with autism, but other students also, can become overwhelmed when there is too much auditory stimulation, such as loud noises, excessive talking by peers, the teacher, or members of a class, overly loud music, or even environmental noise, such as nearby construction sounds. Visual stimulation can have the same effect; often this might be too many pictures and other items on the walls of a classroom that can easily distract some students. An unpleasant texture from clothing: Autistic students, again, may be prone to this. A wool sweater, for example, might feel fine to most people, but for some student with autism, it can feel like sandpaper, or even nails, scratching against their skin. It would be hard for anyone to learn under such a condition. Not understanding the task presented: If directions are unclear, a student might act out in frustration or even anger when they are unable to comprehend what is being asked of them. Overly demanding tasks: Students with learning disabilities or emotional disorders can also become overwhelmed when the task required seems daunting and unmanageable. To avoid this issue, it can be productive to break up the assignment into smaller tasks. For example, give a student only five or 10 math problems at a time instead of 40. Unexpected changes in routine: Students of all types, but especially those with special needs, require a strict and predictable routine. If there needs to be a change in the daily schedule, you can often avoid creating an antecedent to an outburst by telling students ahead of time what the change will be and why. Bullying or taunting: Any person would react badly to bullying, mocking, or taunting, but particularly those with special needs. If a student does experience bullying or taunting, its best to discuss it openly with the student(s) right away. Lessons on how to stand up to bullying can also be productive. Questions to Gather Information About the Antecedent The ABC principal involves collecting or asking the right questions about what might have provoked the behavior. In other words, you need to try to determine what antecedent(s) led to the behavior. Questions might include: Where does the target behavior occur?  This addresses the impact of the environment on the antecedent or setting event.  Does it only happen at home?  Does it happen in public?  Does it only happen in a specific place and not in the other?  If the antecedent is school and not home, it probably reflects that little or no demand is put on the child in the other environment. Sometimes, if a student has been abused in a school or residential facility, and the environment looks very much like that setting, the students behavior might actually be reactive:  a means of protecting himself.   When does the target behavior occur?  Does it happen mostly at a certain time of days?  Is it perhaps related to the child being tired after working hard to meet demands (near the end of the day)?  Could it be related to hunger (at 11 a.m. before lunch)?  Could it be related to anxiety about bedtime if it happens in the evening? Who is present when the target behavior occurs?  It is possible for certain people or people dressed in a certain way may trigger a behavior.  Perhaps its people in white coats. If the child has been frightened or undergone a painful procedure at a doctors office, she may be anticipating a repeat of the experience.  Often students, especially students with developmental disabilities, are frightened by people in uniforms if their parents have had to call the police to get assistance with a particularly violent meltdown. Does something happen just before the target behavior?  Is there an event that triggers the behavior?  A student may respond in fear to something that happens, or even if a peer moves into his space.  All of these things may contribute to the setting event or antecedent to the event. How to Use Antecedents in an Educational Setting An example of ABC in a real-life classroom setting might be as follows: In the morning upon arrival, when presented with her work folder (antecedent), Sonia throws herself out of her wheelchair (behavior). Clearly, the antecedent is being presented with the work folder, and it happens at the beginning of the day.  Knowing that giving Sonia a work folder in the morning provokes exactly the same response every day, it would make sense to create a different antecedent in the morning for Sonia, instead of enforcing a punitive consequence. Instead of giving her a work folder the minute she comes into the classroom, the teacher, or education team, might ask: What does Sonia enjoy? Suppose Sonia enjoys social interaction, the simple give-and-take of dialogue between a teacher, paraprofessionals, and the student. In that case, to create a better outcome, the educators would present Sonia with different a different activity at the beginning of the day, such as a short, social talk with the teacher and staff. They might ask Sonia what she did last night, what she had for dinner, or what she plans to do over the weekend. Only after this five-minute discussion would the staff offer Sonia her work folder. If she still exhibits the same behavior—throwing herself out of her wheelchair—the staff would again do an ABC analysis. If Sonia simply doesnt react well to an offer of work first thing in the morning, the staff would try another antecedent, such as changing the setting. Perhaps a brief morning excursion outside on the playground might be the best way to start Sonias day. Or, giving Sonia her work folder later in the morning, after a talk, excursion outside, or even a song, might lead to a better outcome. As noted, the key to using ABC is taking emotion out of the equation. Rather than a knee-jerk reaction to Sonias behavior, the staff tries to determine what the antecedent was, what observable behavior occurred, and what consequence was enforced. By manipulating (or changing) the antecedent, the hope is that the student will exhibit a different, more positive behavior, negating the need for a punitive consequence.

The Importance Of Genetic Engineering - 1282 Words

Genetic engineering is defined as the modification of the characteristics of an organism by altering its genetic material. Although the definition makes it seems clear and concise, it is far more complicated. This new advancement has caused a huge debate over the ethics and laws of what it is able to do. Genetic engineering is immensely important because of the potential benefits it contains and the advances it allows for in the future. The ultimate goal of genetic engineering is to prevent, treat, and cure genetic diseases and disorders. Because this new discovery is still in its early stages the possible effects are still not known. This is causing many questions to arise. As with anything when questions are left unanswered concerns,†¦show more content†¦While some people saw this new discovery as a necessary technological advance for the future, others saw it as an endangerment. Unpredictable and challenging to control became a few of the words being used to frame genetic engineering. Russ, and Nadia Rosenthal. â€Å"Genetic Engineering: Manipulating the Mechanisms of Life.† Find in a Library with WorldCat, Facts On File, 2 Sept. 2017 www.worldcat.org/title/genetic-engineering-manipulating-the-mechanisms-of- life/oclc/237402598. Genetic engineering has the ability to discover information about family histories and their genes. This ability has brought up the concern of privacy. The expectation for genetic engineering is to find cures and treatments for genetic diseases. Scientist are learning new ways to confront the impacts these discoveries have on society. After the clone of the first mammal, a sheep, concerns had arisen that humans were going to be next. An abundance of questions regarding the ethics of the situation soon emerged. The ethical questions emerging are thought to be arising because genetic engineering is still new to science and is not completely safe and productive. Chodosh, Sara. â€Å"It Looks like We re One Step Closer to Creating Genetically Modified Humans in a Lab.† Popular Science, 27 July 2017, www.popsci.com/genetically- modified-humans-CRISPR-embryo. The United States has altered a human embryo’s DNA, with the help from a group of biologists.Show MoreRelatedThe Importance Of Genetic Engineering1708 Words   |  7 PagesWhat is genetic engineering, and is it helpful in today’s society? Genetic engineering is a direct artificial manipulation of DNA in order to alter an organism (Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica). There are many different techniques of genetic engineering: modification of genes, cloning, and preimplantation genetic diagnosis. 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Notebook Analysis Free Essays

Analysis of The Notebook Movie Clip Lindsey Scott ENG225 Allison Sansbury November 18, 2012 Analysis of The Notebook Movie Clip There are many people involved in making a movie possible. When everything is put together it seems as though it was just one simple camera shot. But looking closer and at a short clip of a movie shows a little light on how much was actually done to make it realistic. We will write a custom essay sample on Notebook Analysis or any similar topic only for you Order Now The first thing people notice and pay attention to are the actors. But who tells the actors where to stand, what to say, and what emotions to portray? Who adds that little bit of background music to bring out the anger, sadness, or love in a scene? When going through the â€Å"outtakes† of a movie it shows that there is someone responsible for putting just the right shots in the right place. There is more to a movie than just the actors and someone yelling â€Å"cut†. Watching a clip of the movie trailer for The Notebook brings all of these things to light. In the movie The Notebook the director is Nick Cassavetes. His role is to translate the screenwriter’s story so that the actors and crew can successfully play it out. It’s up to the director to turn the elements into film with words, images, and sound. This brings together an entertaining movie. Nick was able to take Nicholas Sparks book and bring the characters, emotions, and story to life. The way be brought together Nicholas Sparks’ vision and his own created an amazing movie. The production designer Sarah E. Knowles, was responsible for the overall look of a project. â€Å"They direct the art department and set builders to turn their imagination into reality. † (http://filmtvcareers. about. com/od/basics/p/CP_ProdDesigner. htm). In this clip the characters are outside a beautiful house. This setting is simply and an area that everyone can relate to. By not having them in some farfetched place Sarah kept the realistic feel to the couples argument. Art director Scott T. Ritenour over seed the artistic design of advertisements and print materials, as well as the filming of television commercials. He was the decision maker responsible for the finished product. â€Å"The art director chooses a photographer, an illustrator, models, and any props necessary for an ad. If a print ad comes back from the printer with an imperfection, the art director is responsible for retouching it. † (http://careers. stateuniversity. com/pages/115/Art-Director. tml#ixzz2CKahNlDp) This clip in particular is at night. The sky is dark with just the lighting of the porch light and driveway lights. Yet the lighting that the artists used allows us to be able to see the expressions on the characters faces. It sets a serious mood with the added emotion of trying to read each other’s faces in the dark. As the couple bickers back and forth they move along with the other to try and read their facial expressions. The clip ends with Noah driving away in his truck. As he is driving down the driveway the only light is the path lights. This allows him to drive into the dark of the night and sets the thought of him being gone. As this is happening it shows Allie standing alone. The darkness of the night emphases Allie feeling alone and left behind as Noah drives away. Allie is from a wealthy family while Noah is quite poor. Throughout the movie you are constantly reminded about their social class standing by their appearance. In the clip of them breaking up, Allie of course is in a very nice and clean dress and jacket. Her hair is curled and her natural makeup gives her the innocent girl look. She continuously has matching earrings to her outfits. While Noah is in a flannel jacket, messy hair and using his work truck. Having Noah in lower class clothes while standing in front of Allie’s parents house shows the difference and why he would feel misplaced. Her family has already made it very clear that they are not ok with their relationship. Back in the 1940’s (the time setting of the movie), it was not acceptable for a women from a wealthy family to court such a lower class man. We can see the struggle and heartache the two go through just to be together. Allis is always worried about what everyone else will think and what her parents want for her. Yet Noah is such a free spirit and just wants Allie to be happy. Showing Allie dressed so prim and proper whenever she is around anyone yet not caring if she is dirty, messy or dripping wet around Noah is a symbol of her love. It shows that she is so comfortable with him and truly does not care about the money or class statue. Noah tries to look his best when meeting her parents. By changing his appearance for Allie to try and make her feel more comfortable and have her relationship accepted by her family is such a kind gesture. Even though these costume changes are throughout the movie, it is How to cite Notebook Analysis, Essay examples

Knowledge Manegment Systems Essay Example For Students

Knowledge Manegment Systems Essay WEBSTER UNIVERSITY KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS? TIMOTHY W. HYDE COMP 5910 31 Mar 98 TABLE OF CONTENT TABLE OF CONTENT ii INTRODUCTION 1 WHAT IS A KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM 1 Technologies 2 WHY USE IT 2 Advantages 2 GOAL 3 SAMPLE PRODUCT 3 WINCITE 5.0 3 INTRASPECT 1.5 4 CHANNELMANAGER 2.0 4 Premise #1 4 Premise #2 4 BACKWEB 4.0 5 CONCLUSION 5 WORK CITED 6 INTRODUCTION In todays information based society, knowledge is power. By knowing theircustomers a business will have the ability to build products coveted by their customers. If a company is to get ahead in business today, they need to have a firm grasp on how toget the best production out of their employees. One way to help employees be all theycan be is to provide them with the tools necessary to do their job. With the explosion ofthe service industry, today more than ever what employees need to do their job isinformation. Information about warehouse and store inventories, hot and cold sellingmerchandise and most importantly inf ormation about the customers they service. Software developers have heeded the call of the corporate leaders and are creatingtechnology to help managers collect the data they need and put it in a useful form. Thispaper will discuss the emerging knowledge management systems being used today, in anattempt to take advantage of the enormous databases which have been created. WHAT IS A KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM Knowledge management is at various stages of development in Americanbusinesses. Some companies are just taking their first steps toward identifying andorganizing the components of their information systems. Others have already recruitedknowledge managers and are looking to revamp and improve established system. Thetools a majority of these companies are using in the renovation efforts are knowledgemanagement systems. A knowledge management system is a software tool that is intended to assist,through knowledge processing functions, users who desire to retrieve and manipulateinfor mation for different applications. The various tools of such a framework should helpusers to originate and organize ideas or understand and communicate ideas more easilyand accurately than can be done with most current tools. A knowledge managementsystems is an integrated multifunctional system that can support all main knowledgemanagement and knowledge processing activities. Knowledge management systems are difficult to understand because the businessprocesses it strives to computerize doesnt exist in the real world for most organizations. Unlike replacing a machine such as a typewriter or an office procedure such as documentcontrol, businesses have been trying unsuccessfully throughout the 20th century to makeknowledge management a reality. Excluding those companies whose entire business isknowledge management, theres no obvious, proven model to follow. However,knowledge management can be described by stepping back from technologies andproducts and taking a high-level view of the business issues before jumping intotechnology-based solutions. A Knowledge management system is a program that provides companies the abilityto gather its collective expertise. Valued at $1.5 billion in 1996 and slated to increase to$5 billion annually by 2000, the development of knowledge management systems is bigbusiness. The appeal of knowledge management reaches all types of firms, includingautomakers and consulting firms. With the decentralization of many businesses the focuson knowledge management has increased. Many of todays managers fear that corporateknowledge is being wasted because no one knows what vast knowledge exists. Technologies Involved Knowledge Management software helps support its users in their efforts to collectinformation, to organize it, to collaborate around it, thus allowing a means to search anddiscover knowledge contained in the group memory, so that it can be reapplied orextended, and reused. It does this by using a server to capture information from variouselectronic information sources This allows individuals and groups to capture information,together with its context, into the group memory from which it can be accessed from theusers desktop and across the enterprise. A knowledge management systems are composed of a variety of technologiesincluding; intranets, data warehousing, decision-support tools, and groupware to name afew. About half of the companies recently surveyed by Delphi Consulting are creatingsystems which intranet technology to improve their knowledge management, whileanot her 25 percent plan to do so in the near future. Similarly, one-third of developerssurveyed by Delphi are creating data warehouses, while nearly 25 percent plan inprogress to incorporate data warehouses. Also, one-third are implementingdecision-support tools, while 20 percent plan to. Why Use It The issue of handling the difficulties of managing information is one which anycompany trying to advance in this age of information will have to deal with. Collectingand organizing information just to do your own job can be monumental burden. While theprocess of gathering information can be a great challenge for some organizations. Theenormous growth of information sources makes it even more difficult now for companiesto find the information they need, and once found theres no easy way to capture andorganize it into a business solution and share it among workers. The types of problems knowledge management systems are designed to solveinvolve issues of knowledge acquired through experience wh ich doesnt get reusedbecause it isnt shared in a formal way. Whether its how to avoid duplicating errors, toimprove the distribution of proven best practices, or simply to harness what employeeshave learned about suppliers, customers, or competitors, knowledge managementsystems employ a concept under which information is turned into actionable knowledgeand made available effortlessly in a usable form to the people who can apply it. Sexual Harassment EssayKnowledge management is a way of doing business. The software is used to facilitate thepractice of knowledge management or at least specific facets of it, with the appropriateuse of technology. Advantages Knowledge management systems offer a flexible, user-driven approach toorganizing data in a way that makes it more useful to the company using it. Newmethods for organizing cabinets, folders, discussions, can be easily created and placed inthe information hierarchy, along with the other documents, Web pages, e-mail messages,comments or resources to which the folder is linked. Automatic full-text indexing createsinformation linkages and tracks the who, what, when, where and why, preservinginformation for its users. Knowledge management systems allow users to easily collaborate with each otheracross time and distance, discussing common tasks or interests contained in the groupmemory. Easily created, threaded discussions and comments, together with sharedaccess, allows for users to focus on the tasks at hand. The collaborative interactions andthe information sources of interest are automatically captured and preserved within thecontext of the task. Notifications from subscription agents update users of relevantchanges to information important to themselves and/or the organization. Goal Even though some organizations have successfully developed software that workfor their single vertical market, no one has successfully created a reproducible systemthat others can follow with a reasonable chance of success. The knowledge managementpackages they use have been limited to use in departmental areas such as the help desk. But the ultimate goal management system developers isnt to creating a departmentalisland of success recycling. Its giving the companies the capacity to be more effectivewith the gathering of institutional information and memory the way human beings have thecapacity to become more effective and mature every day with the accumulation ofthoughts and memories. The goal of knowledge management systems is center on gaining the ability to tapinto employee knowledge and to gather data located in numerous databases locatedthroughout the world. The main objective is develop a system that will allow a companyto utilize the vast amounts of data collected in order the company stay ahead ofcompetitors. Knowledge management systems are composed of numeroustechnologies, including decision support tools, data warehousing tools and intranets. SAMPLE PRODUCT WINCITE 5.0 Of the knowledge management systems software in use, Wincite Systems Wincite5.0 is one of the most mature product. Developed over 10 y ears ago Wincites productis designed to manage a shared repository of structured data and deliver it in forms thatsimplify data analysis. The package uses a group model allowing users to add notes withnew updates or other information. Wincite is designed to manage a shared large collection of structured data anddeliver it in forms that easy to analysis and work. Wincite accomplishes this by using agroup model, where putting content into the knowledge base is the work of one or ahandful of managers, but users can suggest additions. Wincite users can add notes withproposed updates or new information. The manager responsible for maintaining theknowledge can easily see these notes and incorporate all or part of them. While thismodel will be sensible for many organizations, the systems two-tier architecture makes itdifficult to break out of the model and create a universal full-client deployment approach. INTRASPECT 1.5 Intraspect Software Inc.s offers one of the best designs forknowledge-management applications. Intraspect Softwares Intraspect 1.5 is designedfor knowledge-management applications. This package develops a group memory bygathering data in maps customized to each end users and communicated throughnetworked files, an intranet or e-mail. The programs design presumes the majority of the people employing the systemare those who will both contribute to the group memory and consume information. It alsoassumes that knowledge is based on the information made actionable by having anappropriate context. The systems peer-to-peer model grants wide authority tocontribute and inform. The benefit of this approach are in its ability to increase thelikelihood that an organization will collect more useful information and the decrease incosts spent on collecting information that doesnt meet the needs of its users. CHANNELMANAGER 2.0 DataChannels ChannelManager 2.0, currently in beta, is a utility suite designed togather content and data from internal and external sources. The product utilizes pushtechnology to get the data to the users. Created with the assumption that the traditionalexecutive information system provided too little, too late for too much money, and thatoverloaded Webmasters couldnt compete with their existing schedule constrains,DataChannel Inc. designed this tool set around two major ideas. Premise #1 DataChannels product presumes that users should not have to be responsible forconverting documents to HTML in order to be shared, thus saving lag time. Premise #2 Secondly it presumes that all files to be shared, internal to the intranet or file system,or external over the Internet, should share a common location description. In this case,each has a URL, even if theyre on the file system. The goal of the ChannelManager 2.0 is not to store information in a centralrepository for record-keeping or historical use, but to turn available sources into uniquec hannels and distribute information in a timely and efficient manner to users who need it. BackWeb 4.0 BackWeb Technologies BackWeb 4.0 main area of strength is its to pushchannels of information to a wide range of desktop users. In its simplest form BackWebis a set of tools designed to gather information from any source, Internet news feeds,internal users, the network file system, or customer surveys and broadcast it to the userswho need it. BackWeb uses push channel technology as the mechanism to deliveremergent information in any file format. The goal of the product is to turn availablesources into channels and disseminate information on a timely basis to users who need it,as opposed to storing information in a central repository for record keeping. BackWeb incorporates a hierarchical delivery system. User access is controlled bya group of managers and administrators. An administrator gathers channels for specificusers or workgroups and creates a prepackaged profile of channels fo r their use. Afterthis has been accomplished the administrator publishes these to the target users, creatinga program users execute on their local machines, although once installed, changes madeto the workgroup by the administrator are automatically reflected in each users clientsoftware. BackWeb comes with over 500 preconfigured channels including Interneton-line journals and news feeds. CONCLUSION In this age of service driven industries, a companies most vital resource, in additionto their employees, is the information they gather in an effort to do their job and in aneffort to make their companies successful. Once a company has located the requiredinformation, they need a way to pull it out of various information repositories. Once theyhave all the information in place, they need to have the ability to figure out how to retrieveall the knowledge and discover relationships among various information they havecollected. To get knowledge and not just data, managers need to employ so me sort ofknowledge management systems technology. This makes a knowledge managementsystem in invaluable tool for companies wishing to be competitive in this information age. WORK CITED ____, Knowledge Equals Power, InfoWorld, Vol 19, Issue 46, 17 Nov 97: 116-9 Jeff Angus, Knowledge Management: Great ConceptBut What is it, Issue 673, 16Mar 98: 58 Justin Hibbard, Knowing What We Know, Information Week, Issue 653, 20 Oct 97:46-9 Computers and Internet Essays