Instruction in Functional Assessment, 2014a

Instruction in Functional Assessment Chapter 2
The attention condition is conducted to determine if the individual’s problem behavior
is due to attention positive reinforcement. Under conditions of social deprivation and in
the presence of one or two adults, eye contact, physical contact, reprimands, and verbal
interaction “No, don’t do that” or similar comments that typically are given by others in
the individual’s natural environment are delivered immediately after the individual’s challenging
behavior. Note that this condition may be tailored to the specific stimuli found to
correlate with the occurrence of the individual’s challenging behavior based on indirect and
observational FA.
The demand condition is conducted to determine if the individual’s problem behavior
is due to escape/avoidance of task demands or activities (i.e., negative reinforcement). The
therapist or teacher presents an activity or instruction to complete a task that the individual
has in the past (based on interview or observational data) had difficulty in completing even
when physically guided to do so. If the individual engages in the challenging behavior at
any time, then the therapist immediately turns away from the client for 30 s.
The tangible condition is conducted to evaluate whether tangible positive reinforcement
is maintaining the individual’s challenging behavior. Based on information gathered from
other assessments (e.g., indirect, observational), preferred objects are placed out of reach
(e.g., on a shelf ). When the individual engages in the challenging behavior, that preferred
item is delivered for 30 s.
In the alone condition, the client is in a room by him/herself with no toys or activities.
Note that, as is the case in each of these conditions, all safety concerns should be
addressed and appropriate precautions taken. The therapist observes the client’s behavior
for the purpose of data collection from a one-way mirror or video camera. This condition
involves a situation in which low levels of stimulation are present in order to test whether
self-stimulation or automatic reinforcement is maintaining the client’s problem behavior.
The client is placed in the therapy room alone, without any toys or materials that would
provide a source of stimulation.
In the play condition, toys or activities are presented and the therapist interacts socially
with the client. This condition serves as a comparison or control condition to rule out
confounding variables such as the challenging behavior due to variables present in the attention,
tangible, or demand conditions (e.g., the presence of the therapist, materials, social
interaction). The therapist and client are in a room with a variety of toys or leisure activities
present. The therapist provides social praise and brief physical contact contingent on the
client’s appropriate behavior at least once every 30 s.
Evidence regarding the function of that behavior is provided when levels of the challenging
behavior are higher in one condition compared to the other conditions. For instance,
if the level of client’s behavior is consistently (e.g., across 5 sessions or more) greater in
the demand condition than that in the other conditions, the function of the challenging
behavior would be negative reinforcement. See Chapter 6 for additional information about
FAn and a description of the conditions.
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