32 Self-Management Tips for Individuals with ASD

What

Self-management strategies involve components of self-observation and self-recording. Individuals observe specific aspects of their own behavior and objectively record their observations. A cue may be provided to the individual to prompt that they check whether they are engaging in a specific behavior at a given time. Self-management also involves going to the next step in knowing what to do when experiencing frustration, anxiety or upset—how to calm, cope and ask for help/break if needed.

Why

Having self-management skills allows an individual to recognize and regulate behavior independently. These skills are essential to successful inclusion, integration, and success into classroom, workplace or other community settings.

How Caregivers can Support this Process

Teaching and fostering self-management skills should be a collaborative effort between home, school, and/ or community. If the school or community setting is the primary setting in which the skill will be trained, then procedures and related materials should be shared so that all caregivers can support the process of implementing strategies.

The steps noted below could be effective in self-management training across settings:

1. Select a desirable behavior to replace an undesirable behavior.
   • Describe the behavior in terms of what the individual is supposed to do, rather than what the individual is not supposed to do.
2. Decide how often the individual will self-monitor the desired behavior.
   • The frequency will depend on the current (baseline) level of behavior.
   • Some will need to self-monitor more frequently than others.
3. Explain the process, identify the goal, and select the reward contingent upon achieving that goal with the individual.
   • Active participation by the individual with ASD promotes “ownership” of the plan.
4. Create the individual’s self-monitoring system.
   • The system should specify the method of recording responses (e.g., plus or minus; yes or no; happy or sad face) to the prompts and indicate the daily behavioral goal.
5. Train the individual on how to use the system. Training should take place in the actual setting (e.g., classroom, other location) in which the behavior occurs.
   • The individual should role-play preferred behaviors.
   • Initial goal should be to reward act of monitoring; later goals should focus on accuracy of monitoring.
   • Caregivers should prompt demonstration of skill (i.e., completion, accurate responding)
6. Implement the self-management plan.
   • The individual should rate his or her behavior on the self-monitoring form at the designated time interval.
7. Meet at least daily (i.e., more regularly as appropriate) to review the self-monitoring results and determine whether self-monitoring goal achieved.
   • Reinforce the individual for completing the self-monitoring system.
8. Provide earned rewards.
   • Positive reinforcement increases the effectiveness of the intervention as well as the motivation to participate.
   • Per above, rewards are based on completion and/or accuracy.
9. Gradually fade the level of prompting and reward systems.
   • Once the individual consistently demonstrates the desired behavior, the plan should be gradually faded.

Resources

Koegel, L., Koegel, R., Hurley, C., & Frea, W. (1992). Improving social skills and disruptive behavior in children with autism through self-management. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 25(2): 341–353.

Newman, B. & Ten Eyck, P. (2005). Self-management of initiations by students diagnosed with autism. Analysis of Verbal Behavior, 21, 117-122

Odom, S.L. Brown, W.H., Frey, T., Karasu, N., Smith-Canter, L.L., & Strain, P.S. (2003). Evidence-based practices for young children with autism: Contributions for single-subject design research. Focus of Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities, 18, 166-175.

Strain, P.S. & Schwartz, I. (2001) Applied behavior analysis and the development of meaningful social relations for young children with autism. Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities, 16(2), 120-128.