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Ditch the ABC Chart

The ABC chart is a very frequently used tool in early childhood to attempt to understand the externalised behaviours of children. The purpose is to observe the child and to consider why the behaviour has occured including the contexual triggers. ABC stands for:

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  • Antecedents (action) meaning what occured before the behaviour happened. This could relate to a potential trigger such as the time of the day, or unmet need such as tiredness. 

  • Behaviour meaning the action that occured. For example, the child might have hit out or cried

  • Consequence refering to what happened following the behaviour. This could relate to a natural consequence, such as a peer not wanting to play with the child after being hurt, an internal conseuqnece such as the child being upset or an external consequence such as the adult placing the child on timeout, or asking them to say sorry.

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I do not want to spend too much time describing the ABC chart because ultimately I do not think they work very well in early childhood because they are often quite reductionist, lead to us as educators creating lots of examples of "bad" behaviours which never feels helpful in developing compassion and co-regulation for the child, and it is a tool that is focused far too much on immediate external behaviours than ongoing or underlying experiences and it lacks a diversity of understanding. Some of the issues of ABC charts are also highlighted below:​​​​​​​

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The reality is that while some behaviours may have an obvious trigger which can be addressed, we are much less likely to pick up an ABC chart for those behaviours. ABC charts are usually used as a result of an ongoing or ambigious behaviour meaning we need to ensure we take a holistic (or ecological) approach that understand both what is happening for the child, but also life experiences, developmental differences and needs, context, environment and temporal factors (to name a few). This is why I developed the BEES framework which explores Behaviours, Energy and Engagement, Emotions and Senses. The purpose of this tool is to encourage educators to engage in a deeper dialogue about what might be happening for the child as opposed to being focused on stopping the behaviour without resolving the experiences.

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