Sometimes it might appear that our children are acting out for absolutely no reason. What we need to realize is that there is usually something that is triggering that problem behavior.

Keeping a Behavior Diary is helpful when you are trying to find the antecedent-the event that occurs before the behavior. Once we can understand why a behavior is happening, we can start creating a plan to stop that behavior from happening again.

This tool is best used for behaviors that occur less than five times a day.

During the day, you will write down the problem, the time and place where it occurred, what happened before and after, and any additional comments about the incident.

This sheet should help you figure out if a location is triggering the action or if a specific time is linked to the behavior. It will also help you pin down what happened right before and how you reacted after.

Enjoy.