Instruction in Functional Assessment, 2014a
Instruction in Functional Assessment, 2014a
Instruction in Functional Assessment, 2014a
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<strong>Instruction</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>Functional</strong> <strong>Assessment</strong> Chapter 2<br />
90% of 176 <strong>in</strong>patient cases of <strong>in</strong>dividuals with <strong>in</strong>tellectual disability and severe challeng<strong>in</strong>g<br />
behaviors were identified as a result of conduct<strong>in</strong>g a series of more <strong>in</strong>dividually-tailored or<br />
idiosyncratic FAn.<br />
Researchers have attempted to address the difficulties with conduct<strong>in</strong>g FAn, such as<br />
the ethical issues when target<strong>in</strong>g harmful behaviors (Hanley, 2012). As one approach, procedures<br />
may be modified to reduce the threat of harm to the <strong>in</strong>dividual due to provocation<br />
of the challeng<strong>in</strong>g behavior dur<strong>in</strong>g the assessment conditions. For <strong>in</strong>stance, conditions may<br />
be a s<strong>in</strong>gle trial (rather than 5-m<strong>in</strong> sessions) and embedded <strong>in</strong> naturally-occurr<strong>in</strong>g ongo<strong>in</strong>g<br />
activities <strong>in</strong> the <strong>in</strong>dividual’s environment (Bloom et al., 2011; Bloom, Lambert, Dayton,<br />
& Samaha, 2013). Other approaches entail measur<strong>in</strong>g precursor behaviors <strong>in</strong>stead of the<br />
actual challeng<strong>in</strong>g behavior (Fritz et al., 2013) or latency to engage <strong>in</strong> the challeng<strong>in</strong>g behavior<br />
(Neidert et al., 2013). A summary of the different types of FA and their advantages<br />
and disadvantages can be seen <strong>in</strong> the Table 8 below.<br />
Table 8<br />
A summary of the different types of FA and their advantages and disadvantages<br />
Types of FA Description Advantages Disadvantages<br />
Bias<br />
Indirect<br />
Interviews, rat<strong>in</strong>g<br />
scales, surveys<br />
A lot of <strong>in</strong>formation,<br />
quick<br />
Memory<br />
Not causal <strong>in</strong>formation<br />
Not as accurate as FAn<br />
Correlational <strong>in</strong>formation<br />
Observational<br />
ABC observations;<br />
Time charts<br />
Possible causes identified;<br />
observ<strong>in</strong>g behavior may<br />
generate ideas about<br />
functions of behavior<br />
Not as accurate as FAn<br />
May miss important variables<br />
Low rate behaviors may be difficult<br />
to observe<br />
Can be unethical to conduct if the<br />
behavior is severe and harm may<br />
occur<br />
May not discover cause if multiple<br />
variables exist<br />
<strong>Functional</strong><br />
Analysis (FAn)<br />
Experimentally<br />
test<strong>in</strong>g relevant<br />
conditions (play,<br />
demands, attention,<br />
tangible, alone)<br />
Clear cause of behavior<br />
may be identified<br />
Must be extended across days if<br />
low frequency behaviors<br />
Multiple treatment <strong>in</strong>terference<br />
or carry over effects with<br />
multielement designs<br />
The data may be <strong>in</strong>correctly<br />
<strong>in</strong>terpreted<br />
May neglect other relevant<br />
variables (physiological,<br />
idiosyncratic variables)<br />
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