Instruction in Functional Assessment, 2014a

Instruction in Functional Assessment Chapter 2
& Rudrud, 2011; Shayne & Miltenberger, 2013), students (Iwata et al., 2000), teachers
(Wallace, Doney, Mintz-Resudek, & Tarbox, 2004), and staff (Moore & Fisher, 2007).
The main reason for conducting a FA is to identify the possible causes of an individual’s
challenging behavior so that an effective treatment can be designed (Chander &
Dahlquist, 2010). Identification of the variables maintaining the challenging behavior prior
to designing treatment is necessary since certain treatments can be contra-indicated or
ineffective, depending on the function of the behavior (Iwata, Pace, Cowdery, & Miltenberger,
1994; Newcomer & Lewis, 2004).
Other reasons for using a FA include that it:
Is required by federal law (IDEIA, 2004)
May provide convincing evidence for treatment team decision-making and
provide accountability
May result in less use of a punishment procedure (Pelios, Morren, Tesch, &
Axelrod,1999)
Is recommended by professional associations (National American School
Psychologists)
A FA approach is used to gather data regarding why the individual’s challenging
behavior is occurring. Challenging behaviors may serve a purpose or function for the individual
and are often a function of environmental conditions (Hanley, 2012). After the
reinforcers maintaining the individual’s challenging behavior are clearly identified, it should
be possible to predict the circumstances under which the behavior is likely to happen and
what is causing it to recur. The motivating conditions and antecedents for the individual’s
challenging behavior may be altered to decrease that behavior. For example, if Mary cries
and hits herself due to fatigue when her bedtime approaches, then an earlier bedtime can
be arranged. Similarly, Darrell’s hitting and screaming for candy at the grocery store may be
prevented by bringing some of his favorite snack on the shopping trip and keeping the trip
short. Additionally, more appropriate behaviors that achieve the same result may be taught,
called FUNCTIONAL REPLACEMENT BEHAVIOR. For example, Nija’s crying when she wants her
doll can be decreased by teaching her to make the sign for doll in situations where she cried
to get it in the past. To decrease the likelihood that Caden runs out of the classroom when
reading class begins (a difficult skill for Caden), his teacher provides additional one-on-one
instruction to establish his reading skills.
FA Methodology
There are three main categories of functional assessment approaches—indirect (e.g.,
questionnaires, rating scales), observational, and experimental/functional analysis. Gathering
information about the conditions surrounding the behavior, asking relevant individuals
questions about the behavior are initial steps. If the results of indirect and observational
assessment are unclear, testing the possible maintaining variables for the individual’s challenging
behavior would next be performed. See Figure 1 of the FA process for an outline of
this overall way to proceed when addressing the individual’s challenging behavior.
18