Behavior Support

Autistic children, and those with other developmental disabilities often engage in problem behaviors such as throwing tantrums, flapping their hands, bolting away from caregivers, and injuring themselves.


These behaviors can make it challenging for them to meaningfully benefit from education in their home schools. They often require a different level of expertise and training to ensure that their behaviors are addressed in a safe, effective manner.

At the May Center School, we successfully serve students who engage in a wide range of problem behaviors. Our clinicians use the science and technology of applied behavior analysis (ABA) to reduce challenging behavior and teach alternative appropriate behaviors. Typically, this process begins with an assessment to determine the function of the problem behavior (i.e., functional analysis) so that we can learn the reasons why the problem behavior continues to occur.

Discovering the function of a child’s problem behavior helps us develop an intervention that will decrease the occurrence of that behavior in the future. We can then teach that child an alternative, replacement behavior – a more socially appropriate way to meet his or her needs. We then look to extend these interventions to teach students appropriate coping skills when their needs are not immediately met (i.e., waiting, making a new choice) so they can be successful in their home and community.

We believe that the reduction of problem behavior and the development of communication and social interaction skills work hand-in-hand. In this way, our team seeks to treat the student as a whole and meet all his or her varied needs.

The specialized care we provide enables each child to make significant and ongoing improvements in behavior and functional skills. We are committed to ensuring the highest level of care and the most cutting-edge interventions.