Q: Would you tell an employer about a person's challenging behavior when you are going for a job interview? A: That is a very good question. I think that you need to be very cautious about telling an employer that a person has challenging behaviors. First of all, this is confidential information about the person. Anything that you tell the employer needs to be discussed with the customer regarding disclosure. But another thing is that the challenge that you see in another workplace or environment may never occur in the new one. So, you don't want to set the person up when the issue may never occur. Q: Regarding behavior functions: is choice equivalent to control? A: I am not really sure what you are asking. Can you try to re-phrase your question? Q: You gave the three functions of behavior. Is control giving them the choice of the jobs even if they don't want either of their choices? To what degree of choice do they have? A: There really aren't only three functions of behaviors. These were just ideas to begin the thought process. Control may be one reason that a behavior occurs. But there are many. I did not mean to give the impression that there are only these limited three. Q: I am currently working with 2 individuals with Lesch Nyhan's that have very challenging body movement and would like to know how to assist co-workers in helping them in the workplace? A: I don't want to set myself up here as being able to give you suggestions as to how to solve your current support needs. The only way that you can do this, it to use some of the strategies that I talked about earlier. Observation is key. Without having seen either of these two individuals or having more detail, I would be offering suggestions without any of the functional analysis that I talked about. Q: By eliminating all negative reinforcements how does this prepare the individual for the real world? A: You are assuming that the individual can understand the negative consequences. I don't think you really mean negative reinforcement as you state. But, many individuals with significant disabilities don't really associate negative consequences and hence don't really learn from them. Q: These individuals are both in wheelchairs & can not eat alone or go to restroom alone & sometimes they can not be left alone for fear of tilting their chairs because of there constant movements. How can we prepare an employer for their conditions? A: I believe that what you are talking about is a situation where job restructuring will be key. Again, I do not like to diagnosis a situation without more information. I would be happy to talk with you on the phone about this particular situation. Send me an e-mail and I will call you. Q: I have already done discovery on the individuals and would like suggestions on how to better serve them in the workplace based on their challenging movements? Unfortunately, I was unable to hear your discussion because the link kept fading out and we missed the majority of what was discussed? A: The presentation will be archived for you and you can listen again. This link and the password will be sent out tomorrow. So, that hopefully will help you since you did not hear the presentation. Q: What is your e-mail address? A: My e-mail link will be in the course. But it is kinge@atlas.vcu.edu Q: How can you translate "real world" consequences into something that the individuals can understand? Case example: Being written up after a no call no show. A: I would first want to find out if this is the first time that this has happened? Again, it is doing a functional analysis of the behavior. I would want to know if this is a support need of the individual. Does he know that he or she needs to call in to work? I would begin the brainstorming process to see if I could come up with an alternative explanation as to why this is occurring. Then, I would decide if the person needs to simply learn to call in to work if sick or going to be absent. Q: We have an individual who smokes, but is not permitted to do so on school grounds, and does well during structure work days, but Fri. are not structured, and so he sneaks off and smokes. We have tried hard candy, but did not help. He also gets upset when told he is on work time. How can we redirect? A: I am concerned that you all are putting me up to create a "program" for a person that I do not know. Hard candy is not going to be a solution for someone who is addicted to smoking. That would be my first thought on that one. Can he have any structured breaks that there is a smoking area that can be used? Q: You discuss the importance of natural supports, but what happens when the available staff have difficulties carrying out the necessary intervention? A: Yes, I talk about natural supports. However, all of the examples that I gave began with the employment specialist implementing the program and then fading to the natural supports. This is often true for individuals who have significant support needs. However, unless the workplace and the coworkers become reinforcing for the individuals you will find it hard to fade from the person.