The description of the current behavior must be objective, concrete, observable, and measurable. If possible, obtain or create a video of the current behavior for your records (this will give you a reference point for tracking progress.) 

Description of the desired behavior must be objective, concrete, observable and measurable. Also to be included are the environments and contexts in which the current behavior occurs and in which the desired behavior will occur in the future (these may or may not differ).

If you have access to any previous history, what events may have impacted the current behavior or the final behavior?  What were the contexts? Include a detailed history of any previous attempts to modify the current behavior.

Identify the events that occur before the current behavior (Antecedents) and the events that occur after that behavior (Consequences). This is what will lead you to the “why” of the behavior. The importance of this step cannot be overstated because it will provide direction for development of your behavior intervention plan. In addition, it will be helpful to identify any possible Motivating Operations: conditions that can lead to the Consequences having more or less value in that context. (For example: The value of food increases as the time without food increases.)

CONSEQUENCES
Some possible consequences of behavior are:
●    Escape/avoidance
●    Tangible items (food, enrichment, etc)
●    Attention/social affiliations
●    Sensory or automatically reinforcing experiences (such as self-stimulatory behaviors)
●    Preferred Activities

Are you having trouble identifying possible consequences? Here are some examples of consequences seen frequently in the animal community: food, scent, interaction with conspecifics, enrichment, shelter, escape from conspecifics, preferred activities, escape from public, access to breeding/nest sites, access to mates, access to territories, escape from confinement. Identifying the functional reinforcer is important! Ideally this is the consequence you want to provide if possible for the desired response. Sometimes this is not possible, and you may need to use a contrived reinforcer. However functional reinforcers are often preferable as then we are given the animal exactly the outcome it seeks.

MOTIVATING OPERATIONS
Motivating operations do not refer to an inner “motivational” state but are a description of the interaction between environment and behavior. You can think of motivation operations as antecedent conditions that can be altered so that a consequence is more or less reinforcing. For example, establishing operations increases the probability that a behavior will occur, and abolishing operations decrease the probability that a behavior will occur.

Learn more about functional behavior assessment from Dr Tim Lewis. Just click the graphic above and the video will pop up. This video is about an hour long. So give yourself some time, but it is well worth it!. You can also watch it here

I hypothesize that the animal does (will do) this current behavior (X), when under these conditions (Y), which results in (or will result in) a particular outcome (Z).

Does the new desired behavior you’ve identified serve the same function as the behavior you are trying to decrease/eliminate or does it serve a different function? Have you arranged the environment so that there is no longer a reinforcement contingency between the undesired behavior and the environment (extinction)? How will the new desired behavior be reinforced?

With this information you can now work on developing a behavior intervention plan. The next steps will help you identify elements you need to include in your plan.

This can include any antecedent event in the environment that can be removed or added to make an undesired response less likely to occur and/or a desired response more likely to occur.

Antecedents cover everything that has occurred prior to your interaction with the animal: These can be distal antecedents (hours, days, months or even years prior) and immediate antecedents (minutes or seconds). Consider for example, past history in that particular context, time since the last meal, amount of sleep, reproductive states, medications, temperature, present odors. All of these are relevant. Some of these are in our control and some are not. But they set the occasion for responses/behavior.

An undesired behavior has a reinforcement history. Therefore, during the behavioral intervention there is a high probability that the undesired behavior will be exhibited again, especially in the early stages of an intervention. The team will need to decide how the undesired behavior will be addressed. There are different reduction strategies (e.g., extinction, response blocking, punishment).  What will your team agree to use?

An animal is likely to exhibit many different behaviors during the entire behavioral intervention. You must have a clear plan before you interact with the animal: What behaviors WILL be reinforced and what behaviors WILL NOT be reinforced? Everything cannot be known ahead of time but planning and rehearsal without the animal are essential elements before actual training begins.

While it is understood there will be a plan in place and everyone will be doing their best to stay the course, it is good to be prepared in advance for a crisis. If the animal presents undesired behavior and is not responding to the intervention strategies already utilized, the team must have additional strategies in place. For example, in the case of self-injurious behavior, are medications and/or response blocking with a collar acceptable options? These discussions must take place before training begins.

You will want to implement a system to collect data to evaluate the impact of the behavior intervention plan. You will want to identify who will collect, what will be collected, how it will be recorded and when data will be reviewed.

Data must be collected before, during, and after an intervention. You need to identify criteria to measure for each behavior as you make progress towards your final behavior. This provides the only objective way to determine if your intervention was effective, efficient, optimally designed, and correctly implemented. This is how to objectively determine if and when the behavioral  intervention was successful.

Your team must plan to meet regularly to review data. Changes can then be made as needed to ensure continued progress.

You will want to identify competent team members who will be implementing your behavior intervention plan. How will you determine competency? Will they need to supervise and/or train additional team members? Will you need to include consultants or outside sources to help you with this or other parts of the journey?