Instruction in Functional Assessment, 2014a

Chapter 2
The Methodology of
Functional Assessment:
Process and Products *
Focus Questions:
What is functional assessment?
What are the three main functional assessment approaches and how are they used?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of each approach?
What ethical considerations are necessary when implementing functional assessment?
What is Functional Assessment?
Functional assessment (FA) refers to a variety of approaches, including indirect, observational,
and experimental/functional analysis procedures (Hanley, Iwata, & McCord,
2003; Hagopian, Rooker, Jessel, & DeLeon, 2013; Iwata, Dorsey, Slifer, Bauman, &
Richman, 1994; Mueller, Nkosi, & Hine, 2011). FA has been found to be useful with a wide
range of behaviors and populations, such as feeding disorders (Gale, Eikeseth, & Rudrud,
2011; LaRue et al., 2011), chronic hand mouthing (Roscoe, Iwata, & Zhou, 2013), off
task behavior of children in the classroom (Meyer, 1999), social avoidance (Harper, Iwata,
& Camp, 2013), aggression and self-injurious behaviors (Fritz, Iwata, Hammond, Bloom,
2013), elopement (Tarbox, Wallace, &Williams, 2003), hand flapping of children (Mueller,
Sterling-Turner, & Scattone, 2001), hair twirling (Deaver, Miltenberger, & Stricker, 2001),
and rumination (Lyons et al., 2007). The spring 2013 issue of the Journal of Applied Behavior
Analysis is devoted to FA-related research reflecting the strong empirical foundation that
has contributed to the development of this approach. Furthermore, FA is a relatively versatile
approach that, following instruction, has been implemented by parents (Gale, Eikeseth,
* Please note that FA and treatment procedures should be performed only by well-trained and
experienced individuals or under the supervision of a qualified individual (e.g., a Board Certified
Behavior Analyst®)