When dealing with tantrums, it always helps to be proactive rather than reactive. Tantrums are unpleasant for everyone, including your child. It is always better to just to avoid them. Us behavior analysts have a fancy term for proactive strategies– antecedent modifications.

Antecedent modifications are things that you do before a behavior occurs to make it either more likely or less likely to occur.  Whenever a tantrum occurs, to some degree it is reinforced. This means that just having a tantrum makes it more likely your child with tantrum again in the future, even if doesn’t work for your child.

Some examples of antecedent modifications are:

1. Using a visual schedule.
2. Using a token board.
3. Use a timer.
4. Give transitional warnings.
5. Use visual cues.
6. Give a child frequent breaks during mealtimes.
7. Conduct Frequent Preference Assessments

Using these simple strategies, you can prevent many of the tantrums that are making your family’s life more difficult.

You are not in this alone. Together, we make a great team,

Jess