Instruction in Functional Assessment, 2014a

Instruction in Functional Assessment Chapter 3
gesture, or use of assistive technology devices (Mancil & Boman, 2010). For example, the
individual may be taught to say “Stop” instead of engaging in self-injury during nonpreferred
grooming activities (Steege et al., 1990). More examples of how a communication
replacement behavior can be taught can be seen in the Table 12 below.
Table 12
Examples of communication responses related to the function of the individual’s challenging
behavior being taught
Problem
Behavior
Screaming
For Attention
Hitting Others
To Be Sent To
Another Room
Grabbing
Food
Finger
Flicking
For Visual
Stimulation
Replacement
behavior that
results in the
same reinforcer
Asking for
attention
Asking to go to
another room
Asking for food
Clicking on
a computer
screen for an
engaging video
display
Consequence-based interventions work to decrease problem behavior by manipulating events
and/or stimuli that occur immediately after particular behaviors. Since every treatment program
should include positive reinforcement, the procedures used to identify positive reinforcers
will be described. Then, commonly used practices schedules to administer reinforcement
and extinction procedures to decrease challenging behavior will be reviewed.
The main ingredient for an effective behavior change program is positive reinforcement.
A positive reinforcer is an object or event that increases the behavior it follows. As
reviewed in Chapter 1, the principle of positive reinforcement states that when a positive
reinforcer is delivered immediately after a behavior, that behavior is more likely to occur
in future similar situations (Martin & Pear, 2011). Without consideration of positive
reinforcement, the factors responsible for the individual’s challenging behavior may still
maintain it, despite efforts to curtail that behavior. Additionally, programming reinforcers
to increase the individual’s desirable behavior may result in the challenging behaviors being
‘supplanted’ or over-ridden since increasing one behavior will naturally eliminate the likelihood
of engaging in other behaviors that are reinforced less or cannot occur at the same
time. Application of a positive reinforcement procedure is not only an effective practice
but also an ethically sound step to include in any intervention program. There are several
considerations when using a reinforcement procedure, including: (a) incorporating knowledge
of the function for the individual’s challenging behavior into treatment design; (b)
validating that the consequence is indeed a reinforcer (be-it positive reinforcer or negative
reinforcer); and (c) maximizing the individual’s motivation for that reinforcer.
It is important to demonstrate that the consequence you believe acts as a reinforcer
does indeed do so. The most accurate way to ensure that you have identified an effective
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