Behavior is learnt. Humans behave in certain ways to survive, to live and to thrive.  Humans thrive when behaviour is communicative.  Language is a communicative behaviour.

Is your child acting out? Does he/she sulk or throw tantrums that leave you baffled or furious?  Consider factors before, during and after the tantrum event . What happened before that set the situation up for a tantrum? What did the child want or not want? How was this communicated?  What was the response of the carer? How was the tantrum resolved? Do you think it would happen again given a similar set of circumstances?  What would you change and how would you change?

Consider Jon who is 7 and is diagnosed with autism. He understands language and will use it in learning environments with prompts. He only uses words spontaneously for highly rewarding activities like swimming.  He will whinge and cry when his sister watches a particular kids show on TV. His whining easily escalates into extended and loud bouts of crying.  Mum printed out some words that Jon was taught to say; “I don’t like the show. Please turn it off” When he said this Mum would turn off the TV. No tantrums. Later mum, printed; “I don’t like the show please turn it down”  and Jon went to another space while his sister watched her favourite show.

Like all human behavior, when a change in behavior is introduced, the consequences change. Language used in a purposeful manner can bring about a change in the environment, in this case an acceptable and desirable change.