CH.13 Understanding Problem Behaviors through Functional Assessment Functional Assessment: Functions of Problem Behaviors

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1 CH.13 Understanding Problem Behaviors through Functional Assessment - Functional Assessment: the process of identifying these variables (3 term contingence) before treating a problem behavior - The behavior occurs as a function of environmental variables - Functional assessment is the process of gathering information abt the antecedents and consequences tht are functionally related to the occurrence of a problem behavior. It provides information tht helps you determine why a prblm behavior is occurring. - It also provides detailed info abt antecedent stimuli including time and place of the behavior, ppl present when the behavior occurs, any envrmntl events immediately preceding the behavior, and the frequency of the target behavior. - FA also provides other types of information tht are important for dvlpng appropriate treatments for prblm behaviors, including the existence of alternative behaviors that may be functionally equivalent to the prblm behavior, motivational variables (establishing operations and abolishing operations tht influence the effectiveness of stimuli as reinforcers and punishers), stimuli tht may function as reinforcers for the person, and the history of previous treatments and their outcomes. - Categories of Information from a Functional Assessment: problem behaviors, consequences, alternative behaviors, motivational variables, potential reinforcers, previous intervention Functions of Problem Behaviors - Problem behaviors are an objective description of the behaviors that make up the problem. A primary purpose of a functional assessment is to identify the function of the problem behavior. There are 4 broad classes of reinforcing consequences or functions of problem behaviors. Social Positive Reinforcement - One type of reinforcing consequence involves positive reinforcement mediated by another person. When a positively reinforcing consequence is delivered by another person after the target behavior, it is called social positive reinforcement. It may involve attention, access to activities, or tangible provided by another person. Ex: child getting attention from mother as a reinforcer for her prblm Social Negative Reinforcement - When another person terminates an aversive interaction, task, or activity after the occurrence of a target behavior, and as a result the behavior is more likely to occur the behavior is said to be maintained by social negative reinforcement. Ex: escaping from

2 doing a task by hurting themselves or complaining. It strengthens or reinforces the problem behavior Automatic Positive Reinforcement - The reinforcing consequence of a target behavior is not mediated by another person but rather occurs as an automatic consequence of the behavior itself. When the behavior produces a reinforcing consequence automatically, and the behavior is strengthened, the behavior is said to maintain by automatic positive reinforcement. Automatic Negative Reinforcement - It occurs when the target behavior automatically reduces or eliminates an aversive stimulus as a consequence of the behavior and the behavior is strengthened. With automatic negative reinforcement, escape from the aversive stimulus is not mediated by the actions of another person. Functional Assessment Methods - The various methods used to conduct functional assessment are in 3 categories: indirect assessment methods, in which information is gathered through interviews and questionnaires; direct observation methods, in which an observer records the antecedents, behavior, and consequences as they occur; and experimental methods (also called functional analysis) in which antecedents and consequences are manipulated to observe their effect on the prblm behavior Indirect Methods: - Behavioral interviews or questionnaires are used to gather information from the person exhibiting the prblm behavior (the client) or from others who know this person - Indirect assessment methods are also known as informant assessment methods b.c an informant (the client or others) is providing information in response to assessment questions. - The advantage of indirect functional assessment methods is that they re easy to conduct and do not take much time. A number of interview formats and questionnaires are available for use in conducting a functional assessment. Disadvantage of indirect methods is that the informants must rely on their memory of the events. Thus, information frm interviews and questionnaires may be incorrect as a result of forgetting or bias. - The goal of a behavioral interview is to generate information on the prblm behaviors, antecedents, consequences, and other variables tht will permit you to form a hypothesis abt the ctrlling variables for the prblm

3 - The goal of a behavioral interview is to generate info on the prblm behaviors, antecedents, consequences, and other variables tht will permit you to form a hypothesis abt the ctrlling variables for the prblm. The behaviors and events must be identified and specified, tht inferences should be minimized and tht it is important to focus on antecedents and consequences in understanding and changing behavior. - Since indirect functional assessment methods have the disadvantage of replying on informants memories of events, researchers suggest using multiple functional assessment methods to produce the most accurate information on antecedents, consequences, and other variables. - Categories: describe behaviors, define potential ecological events tht may affect the behaviors, define events and situations tht predict occurrences of the behaviors, identify the function of the undesirable behaviors. What consequences maintain the behavior, define efficiency of the undesirable behaviors, define the primary methods the person uses to communicate, identify potential reinforcers, wht functional alternative behaviors does the person know, and provide a history of undesirable behaviors and the programs tht have been attempted. Direct Observation Methods - When conducting a functional assessment using direct observation methods, a person observes and records the antecedents and consequences each time the prblm behavior occurs. - The person conducting direct observation assessment (observer) may be the person exhibiting the problem behavior or it may be another person associated with the client such as a parent, teacher, staff person, psychologist, etc. The antecedents and consequences are observed and recorded in the natural environment the problem behavior takes place - DO assessment is also called ABC observation, which goal s is to record the immediate antecedents and consequences typically associated with the problem behavior under normal conditions. - Main advantage of ABC observations over indirect methods is that an observer is recording the antecedents and consequences as they occur rather than reporting from memory. Disadvantage is that ABC observations take more time and effort than interview or questionnaire methods. Although ABCO provide objective information abt the antecedents and consequences with the prblm behavior, they don t demonstrate a functional rltnship but rather a correlation of the antecedents and consequences with the problem behavior in which the information allows you to dvlp a hypothesis abt the antecedents tht evoke the behavior and the reinforcer tht maintains the behavior.

4 - A strong hypothesis abt the ctrlling antecedents and consequences often is sufficient to dvlp effective treatment strategies. Your hypothesis abt the ctrlling variables is strengthened when the information from indirect assessment is consistent with info from the ABC direct observation assessment. - It s best for the observer to be present in the client s natural environment when the prblm behavior is most likely to occur - Touchette and Colleagues described a method to assess the time of day tht the problem occurs most often by using a scatter plot. To create it, someone in the client s natural envrmnt records once each half hour whether the prblm behavior occurred during the preceding half hour. This type of recording is an interval recording method but is not an ABC observation method b.c antecedents and consequences aren t observed and recorded. If scatter plot does not reveal a pattern in the time of occurrence of the prblm, then ABC observations would need to be scheduled for longer period or more time period in an attempt to observe the behavior. - ABC observations can be conducted in 2 ways: the descriptive method, the checklist method, and the interval recording method - Descriptive Method: the observer writes a brief description of the behavior and of each antecedent and consequent event each time that the behavior occurs. The observer typically uses a 3 column data sheet (wht happened before the behavior, behavior, and wht happened after the behavior). It is an open ended method and the observer describes all antecedent and consequence events that were observed, this ABC assessment method may be conducted before indirect methods are used, before an hypotheses are dvlpd abt the function of the behavior - Checklist Method: it involves a checklist with columns for possible antecedents, behaviors, and consequences. The checklist typically is developed after the problem behaviors and potential antecedents and consequences are identified in an interview or other indirect assessment method) or through observation. Every time the prblm behavior occurs during observation, a check mark is put in each of the relevant columns - Interval (or real-time) recording method: you divide an observation period into brief time interval and mark a data sheet at the end of each interval to record whether the behavior occurred in that interval, and in real time recording, you record the exact time of each occurrence of the behavior. You can also identify and define specific events tht may be antecedents and consequences and record these events as well as the behavior, with interval or real time recording which were recorded from an interview or other indirect assessment methods or through direct observation - Indirect and direct functional assessment methods are categorized as descriptive assessment because the antecedents and consequences are described either from memory or from direct observation of the events. DA allow you to dvlp hypotheses abt the

5 antecedent and consequent variables ctrlling the prblm behavior but they don t prove tht the variables are functionally related to the behavior, to do so the antecedents or consequences must be manipulated to show their influence on the prblm behavior. Experimental Methods (Functional Analysis) - EM of conducting a functional assessment manipulates the antecedents or consequent variables to show their influence on the prblm behavior. - Also called experimental analysis or functional analysis which reflects tht these methods experimentally demonstrate a functional relationship between the antecedents and consequences and the prblm behavior. In a functional analysis, you follow the prblm behavior with potential reinforcers to see which consequences increase (strengthen) the behavior, and/or you present different antecedent events to see which ones evoke the behavior. - Exploratory functional analysis: the behavior analyst may not have a hypothesis abt the reinforcing consequence maintaining the prblm behavior and is exploring a range of possibilities in the functional analysis. EFA includes 3-4 test conditions and a ctrl condition. In each of the test condtn, you present an EO and a possible reinforcer for the prblm behavior; in ctrl condition you present an AO and withhold the possible reinforcers. Ex: if you didn t have clear hypotheses abt the function of a prblm behavior, you might conduct 4 different conditions evaluating whether attention, tangible reinforcers, escape, or sensory stimulation was reinforcing the consequence for a prblm behavior. - Hypothesis-testing functional analysis: confirming or disconfirming hypotheses. One test condition and one ctrl condtn are used to test the hypothesis tht a particular reinforcing consequence is maintaining the prblm behavior. One condition (test condition) presents the hypothesized EO and when the prblm behavior occurs, presents the hypothesized reinforcer. The other condition (the ctrl condition) presents the hypothesized AO and if prblm behavior occurs, doesn t provide the hypothesized reinforcer. Ex: gaining no attention to contingent attention than the ctrlled condition with high attention then no attention Functional Analysis Research - There are advantages and disadvantages of using experimental methods (functional analysis) for the functional assessment for prblm behavior. Primary advantage is tht a functional analysis demonstrates a functional relationship btwn the ctrlling variables and the prblm behavior. The functional analysis provides the standard of scientific evidence tht a particular type of

6 antecedent evokes the behavior and a particular type of reinforcing consequence maintains the behavior. Disadvantage of conducting a functional analysis is the time, effort, and professional expertise needed to manipulate the antecedents and consequences and measure the resulting change in the behavior. FA is a brief exprmnt and ppl must be trained to carry out such an experiment. Conducting a Functional Assessment - Functional assessment is necessary before you dvlp a treatment for a prblm behavior. 1. Start with a behavioral interview to have specific knowledge of the prblm behaviors 2. Dvlp a hypothesis abt the ABCs of the prblm behavior. The outcome of the interview should be a clear definition of the prblm behaviors and the dvlpmnt of hypotheses abt the antecedents tht evoke the behaviors and the reinforcing consequences tht maintain them. 3. Conduct a direct observation assessment in the natural context. It can be done by a professional or someone else that has been given training. It is imprtnt to tke steps to reduce reactivity of the observations so tht the information on the ABCs reflects the typical level of the behavior and the typical antecedents and consequences. It can be reduced through unobtrusive observation, participation observation, allowing period of time for the ppl in the natural setting to become accustomed to the observer. Hypothesis abt antecedent and consequences is strengthened if observations is consistent with the info frm the interview 4. Confirm your initial hypothesis abt the ABCs of the prblm behavior to dvlp functional treatments tht address the antecedents and consequences identified in the functional assessment. 5. Conduct further assessments if needed. If info frm ABC observations and interview info aren t consistent to clarify and then develop functional interventions. 6. Conduct a functional analysis if needed. If inconsistency still continues. A functional analysis is also warranted if the info frm descriptive assessments are consistent but does not lead to a firm hypothesis. Functional Interventions - Once you have conducted the functional assessment process, use info on antecedents and consequences of the prblm behavior to dvlp interventions. Interventions should be designed to alter the antecedents and consequences of the prblm behavior to decrease the prblm behavior and increase desirable alternative behaviors.

7 - FI includes extinction, differential reinforcement and manipulations. They re considered functional b.c they address the antecedents and consequences identified in the functional assessment (function of the behavior) and are also nonaversive b.c they don t rely on punishment.