The history of behaviour momentum dates to the 1930s. The great U.S. psychologist and behaviourist Burrhus Frederic Skinner drew a parallel between people’s resistance to change and Sir Isaac Newton’s principle of inertia. Newton taught us that an object will only move if some force is applied to it. Thankfully, Skinner was looking for something a little more nuanced. His work led to a greater understanding of how to influence others’ behaviour.
Positive reinforcement works best. Completing a task successfully and being congratulated for doing so doesn’t just feel good. It makes us more likely to respond favourably to a follow-up request.
It’s a tactic that can be used successfully with a wide range of people, no matter their age or background.
Behaviour momentum and autism
Autistic students sometimes struggle with even simple requests. They may think in deeply set patterns, which makes them less sensitive to social cues. When students with autism struggle to get started on a task, it can be a challenge for educators who are trying to balance everyone’s needs.
The more complex or difficult the request is, the more likely the autistic student is to have difficulty with the instruction given. Asking a young autistic student to tidy up a play area after they’ve used it is a prime example.
Despite what we know about the importance of speaking to autistic students clearly and in plain language, in this case simply asking the student to tidy up probably isn’t going to work. Behavioural momentum offers another approach that’s much more likely to succeed. By creating momentum, the student is more likely to begin and complete the task.
The power of positive reinforcement
Let’s say that the autistic student has been playing with toy cars. You might start by asking them to show you, their favourite.
From there, engage the student in a dialogue that combines encouraging conversation and positive reinforcement for completed tasks:
Teacher: Why is that one your favourite?
Student: It’s red, and that’s my favourite colour.
Teacher: You’re right, it is red. Way to go! Can you show me some other red ones?
Student: I can – here are three more.
Teacher: Wow, you did that so fast! Well done. Let’s put the red ones in this box here so that they don’t get scratched or stepped on. Can you do that for me?
Student: Yes.
Teacher: Awesome. Great job. Thank you. My favourite colour is blue – can you put them in the box for me?
Student: OK.
Teacher: You are so good at colours and putting cars into the box. Well done! Let’s put the rest into the box now, OK? That way everyone’s favourite cars will be in the right place.
It may feel repetitive, but it’s important that you recognize and congratulate the student each step of the way. Do that immediately following the completed task – they’ll respond much more positively if they get that instant, positive feedback.
Boost their confidence and motivation
The approach takes time and patience, but it works. A meta-study of research on this topic published in Sage Journals evaluated 25 studies. “Using those studies with adequate methodological rigour, we found that [high-probability request sequences] are a promising practice for improving compliance in children with ASD.”1
Once you get the student on a roll, you’re boosting their confidence, motivation and their willingness to comply with your requests. As we know, these are key building blocks in skill development for autistic and other students.
Easy tasks and difficult tasks
To fully take advantage of behaviour momentum in the classroom, work with colleagues and parents to identify each student’s comfort level with a range of tasks. If you know what each student finds easy, moderately difficult or really difficult, then you can tailor these interactions most effectively.
Obviously, start with the easy requests. In the example above, simply getting the autistic student to engage on their favourite car is an opportunity to provide positive feedback. If the student has difficulty organizing objects by colour, then that might not be the best next step.
In that case you might simply ask the student to put the car in the box so that it’s safe, then ask which is their next favourite and so on.
Think of each of these easy tasks as a kind of warmup. Once you’ve got them in action, you’re more likely to achieve a positive result.