FAB Functionally Alert Behavior Strategies

  This book provides practical, engaging strategies enabling therapists and teachers to help children and adolescents who have complex behavioral challenges. Therapists and teachers are challenged by youth who have severe behavioral, mental health, post-traumatic stress, sensory modulation, developmental, and intellectual challenges. It is impossible to do therapy or teach students who won’t pay attention, swear, tantrum, yell, scream, hit, bite, or throw chairs without simultaneously addressing their problematic behaviors.

   FAB Strategies offers a new synthesis of practical evidence-based multidisciplinary strategies that improve behavior. FAB Strategies use current neuroscience research to integrate applied behavioral analysis, positive behavioral support, sensory modulation, environmental, mindfulness, interoception, body awareness, self-regulation, music, movement, self-touch and massage interventions that improve student’s behavior. FAB “Functionally Alert Behavior” Strategies apply a developmental curriculum that occupational, speech/language, physical and mental health therapists can use collaboratively with teachers and parents to implement consistent interventions that improve behavior.

  The strategies described in this book can be integrated into your current therapy and teaching curriculum to address behavioral challenges. Guidance is provided in developing an individualized program of motivating, developmentally sequenced interventions that improve behavior. This book is based on extensive transdisciplinary research and includes comprehensive resources for implementing FAB Strategies to improve behavior in your current occupational, physical, speech/language, or mental health as well as teaching curriculum. Included are intervention pictures, case studies and ready to use home forms for applying this curriculum of proven, evidence-based interventions. Also included are numerous ideas and resources for guiding teachers and parents in implementing home programs that improve behavior across settings.

   This book provides footnotes that efficiently document current evidence-based research supporting FAB Strategies, an easy to use index of terms and strategies applying the interventions across disciplines, and resources for advanced further study. Dr. Pagano developed and has been presenting his FAB Strategies curriculum of proven, evidence-based interventions internationally for over 20 years and on his website fabstrategies.org  FAB Strategies give you the needed tools to comprehensively address complex behavioral challenges in your current therapy or teaching sessions.

Introducing FAB Strategies   ix

Chapter 1 Environmental Adaptation Strategies   1

Chapter 2 Sensory Modulation Strategies   15

Chapter 3 FAB Pressure Touch Strategies   35

Chapter 4 Positive Behavior Support Strategies   49

Chapter 5 Physical Self-Regulation Strategies   65

Chapter 6 Individualizing Intervention with the FAB Strategies Form   77

Afterword: Expanding the Application of the FAB Strategies Curriculum  95

References  97

Index   105