"Stop doing that" is not a skill. A student who is told what not to do still needs somewhere to go with the same need. A replacement behavior is that somewhere.
This page defines it, shows how to choose one, gives examples by function, and sets out a teaching order.
What a replacement behavior is
NCII's glossary defines a replacement behavior as the behavior the educator wants the student to engage in. Colorado's guide frames the plan around teaching: the heart of the intervention is developing new skills, and the skills identified are often arranged in a scaffolded order, moving on only when each has successfully replaced the problem behavior. Behavior communicates, it says, so the FBA should reveal some of what the problem behavior was trying to say, such as "I don't want to do that" or "look at me."
Three tests for a good one
- Same function. It gets the student the same thing, or avoids the same thing. If the function is to get adult help, asking for help works. A skill that does not meet the need will lose to the old behavior.
- Easier or faster. Colorado says the demonstration of the replacement skill should pay off faster, better, and more efficiently than the problem behavior. If the new way takes more effort, the old one wins.
- Teachable and acceptable. Adults must be able to teach it and respond to it every time, and it must be something the setting can accept.
Examples by function
| Likely function | Example behavior of concern | Replacement skill to teach |
|---|---|---|
| Avoid a long task | Puts head down, leaves seat | Ask for a break or for help using a card or phrase |
| Get adult attention | Calls out, wanders to the adult | Raise a hand, tap a desk card, or ask "can you check this?" |
| Get peer attention | Joking, calling out | Offer a comment at the right time, or join a structured partner talk |
| Get a preferred item or activity | Screaming when it ends | Ask for five more minutes, then tolerate a short delay |
| Avoid a peer | Tears up group work | Ask to work alone for a few minutes, or use a script to disagree |
| Avoid a loud setting | Leaves the room | Ask for a quiet spot or use a signal to leave with permission |
Colorado's own example follows a sequence: first teach the student to ask for five more minutes with the item, then to tolerate a delay after the request, then to accept "no" or "not now." The key, it says, is that each step replaces the problem behavior before the next is introduced.
Skills a plan may teach
Colorado lists categories of skills that make the problem behavior inefficient: communication (functional communication training), replacement behaviors, incompatible behaviors, self-regulation, self-monitoring, emotional literacy, problem solving, tolerating delays, social interaction, and cooperative skills. Choose the one or two that match the function. Do not try to teach all of them.
Pick skills the student can already begin to do. Colorado notes that identifying a strength within the problem behavior, and a replacement that meets the same function, is a powerful tool: its example turns a student who often argues with staff into a participant on a debate team that teaches how to argue, take turns, and listen.
How to teach it
The IES practice guide lists instructional strategies for helping students learn and maintain new behavioral skills, which it says resemble effective academic instruction.
- Explain the behavior, so the student understands the expectation.
- Break it into concrete steps. "Raise your hand, wait for a nod, then ask."
- Model it, with a variety of examples.
- Practice it, first with guidance, then independently, including role play.
- Prompt and cue its use at first, and fade.
- Give specific feedback, and praise successful approximations.
Illinois's guidance names similar methods, including modeling, practicing, explicit teaching, feedback, cues, and patterns of reinforcement. Teach when the student is calm. A skill taught only in the middle of an upset rarely sticks.
A teaching schedule for one skill (invented)
Suppose the skill is asking for a break with a card, to replace leaving the room during hard tasks.
| Week | Focus | What adults do |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Introduce and model | Explain the card in a calm moment, model three times, let the student practice with easy tasks |
| 2 | Practice in the lesson | Prompt the card at the start of a hard task, honor it at once |
| 3 | Fade the prompt | Point to the card, then wait a few seconds before helping |
| 4 | Add a short wait | Sometimes say "yes, in one minute," then honor it |
| 5 | Add a task first | "Yes, after two problems," keeping some immediate yeses mixed in |
| 6 | Check generalization | Use the card in another class with another adult |
The pace follows the data, not the calendar. If the count of card use is low, stay on a step longer. The pattern of immediate response first, then short waits, then task-based waits mirrors Colorado's description of building tolerance for delays.
Strengths as a bridge
Colorado's guide suggests looking at what a student does well and likes, and using it to choose skills and reinforcers. A student who loves drawing might draw a request instead of saying it. A student who likes helping might earn a break by delivering a message. A skill that fits the student's strengths is more likely to last, and it tells the student the team sees more than the problem.
How adults respond
Colorado describes two kinds of response statements. "When" statements tell staff how to reinforce the new skill and move from one skill to the next. "If" statements tell staff how to avoid reinforcing the old behavior. It stresses that "if" statements are not about punishing, but about withholding reinforcement of the target behavior, and that if the "when" is not rewarded effectively, the "if" returns, because the old behavior often takes less effort. For reinforcement itself, see reinforcement schedules basics.
Putting it in the goal
NCII says IEP goals should focus on the replacement behavior. Write the goal about the skill and measure both. See behavior IEP goals examples and data sheets for BIP progress.
Why replacement skills fail
- Never taught. Telling is not teaching. Model and practice.
- Taught only in crisis. Practice when calm.
- Does not pay off. The old behavior is faster. Reward the new one at once.
- Too many at once. Teach one, then the next.
- Not used by all adults. Everyone needs to know the card, the phrase, or the signal. See sharing a BIP with all staff.
Terms are in the glossary.
What your team decides
Which skills to teach, in what order, and by whom depends on the student, the function, and the staff you have. The sources here offer categories and examples, not a script. Ask your behavior specialist, school psychologist, or counselor to help match skills to the hypothesis.