JAASEP WINTER 2007 Part 2 of 6
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Functional analysis methods have been shown to be an effective means of identifying functional relationships between behavior(s) and environment(s). These methods have been applied to the complex behaviors of students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) (e.g., Clarke et al., 1995; Dunlap et al., 1993; Kamps, Ellis, Mancina, Wyble, & Greene, 1995; Kern, Childs, Dunlap, Clarke, & Falk, 1994; Lawry, Storey, & Danko, 1993). Functional analysis methodology can include both social and academic behaviors and typically consists of the repeated and direct measurement of behaviors under various environmental conditions (Sasso & Reimers, 1988). The resulting information is used to develop interventions designed to address such behaviors (Dolstra 27 of 87 et al., 2004; Iwata et al., 1990; Lawry, Storey, & Danko, 1993; Marcus, Ringdahl, Roane, & Vollmer, 1999; Rutherford & Nelson, 1995).
Although the research literature is replete with studies which have utilized functional analysis, the approach does have its limitations. Carr, Yarbrough, and Langdon (1997) suggest that many behavioral problems are motivated and maintained by multiple stimuli which may or may not be identified in the functional analysis process.
Abstract
Functional analysis is used to generate and test hypotheses, specific to an individual’s appropriate and inappropriate behaviors, by directly manipulating antecedent and consequent events within natural or analog environments. In the case that a function(s) was not determined or the behavior has multiple motivations during the functional analysis, interventions that can address multiple functions may be implemented. One intervention which is flexible to address multiple functions maintaining target behaviors is functional communication training (FCT). The purpose of this study was to assess whether FCT, when implemented to address the traditional functional communicative responses of attention, escape, and tangible, would affect the appropriate behavior of a student with emotional and behavioral disorders during regularly scheduled independent academic activities. During assessment, the functional analysis results suggested that attention was the primary functional variable; however, both tangible and escape functional variables also were effecting the target behavior. The results of the FCT intervention suggest that FCT positively affected his appropriate behavior and influenced the rate of unprompted appropriate communications.