For some children with special needs, the most obvious source of bad behavior is not the correct one. You have to be a detective and follow the clues to find the actual cause of the distress. If your child regularly throws tantrums when asked to ride an escalator -- and especially if he or she sometimes rides without fuss -- think about whether there's something else going on in that escalator environment that triggers the terror.
Behavior analysis is a good way to get to the bottom of troubling behavior, but since your escalator attempts may be too infrequent to get good data over a week or two, you may have to try something a little more impromptu. Think about days when your child has resisted escalator travel, and ask yourself questions like:
- Was my child's routine disrupted that day?
- Was the place with the escalator crowded? noisy? excessively bright? strongly scented? Has my child ever had problems with any of those things?
- Was my child tired? Or tired of the activity we were doing, like a long shopping trip?
- Did the escalator take us away from what my child wanted to be doing, like playing in a playground or going home?
- Does my child react more to escalators at a particular time of day? after a particular activity? in a particular location?
- If my child sometimes doesn't mind escalators, what's different about those days or places?
You can also just take the stairs or find an elevator. Sometimes, choosing your battles is the best strategy of all.
