Aldo's Behavior Plan

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Last week I wrote about using the ABC's of behavior to analyze Aldo's challenging behavior of flying to the door when Jenny or Heaven tried to enter his mew. After noting all of the antecedents and consequences that were associated with this unwanted behavior, we had to make a hypothesis and a plan to change the behavior.

There seemed to be two consequences that could be driving the behavior. Was he flying to the door to chase the scary trainers away? Or was he trying to access his food more quickly?

One of the antecedents on the list stood out to me: his weight was low. That seemed like a good indication that he might be feeling extra hungry and impatient to get his food, so we decided to test out that hypothesis. 

Next we needed a plan to reduce the annoying behavior of flying to the door. We decided to:
  1. Feed Aldo extra food to increase his weight. Hopefully he wouldn't feel as desperate to get to the food.
  2. Remove the perch next to the door. If the perch doesn't exist, he can't fly there! (He could still cause problems by flying to the ground or above the door.)
  3. Never leave food at the door. If food never comes from the door, there's no reason for him to fly there preemptively. 
  4. If Aldo blocked the door in any way, the trainer should leave and try again later.
Would Aldo continue blocking the door?

With the plan in place, I was eager to hear how Aldo would respond to the changes. If the behavior decreased, we would know that our hypothesis was correct. Heaven fed the birds the following morning and returned to the office to report that Aldo was perfect - he stayed on his window perch and took his food politely. We continued taking notes on Aldo's behavior, but he has not flown to the door since these adjustments. Our behavior analysis led us to an effective plan!




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