Instruction in Functional Assessment, 2014a

Preface
A background in functional assessment is critical for all pre-professionals who are entering
educational and mental health service fields and preparing to work with children and adults
with developmental disabilities. Functional assessment (FA) includes a variety of assessment
approaches (e.g., indirect, observational, and experimental) for identifying the cause
of the individual’s challenging behavior in order to design effective treatment. FA is mandated
by federal laws for use in schools (IDEIA, 2004) and is an approach based on several
decades of research demonstrating its effectiveness (Beavers, Iwata, & Lerman, 2013). As
new professionals enter applied settings with initial training, they must demonstrate the
knowledge and skills to work with all persons, including those whose behaviors are different
and challenging. Children and adults whose behaviors are challenging deserve the
opportunity to develop to their full potential (Fallon & Brown, 2010). FA procedures give
professionals the tools to analyze and remediate those challenging behaviors that stand in
the way of healthy development and high quality of life.
As inclusion continues to evolve in public school classrooms, work sites, and residential
communities, psychologists, social workers, educators, counselors, and mental health
professionals need to know FA procedures well and apply them with a variety of client
characteristics and in multiple settings. The authors of this book believe that all interdisciplinary
professionals and the families of persons with challenging behaviors need expertise
in the professional skills of assessing and managing challenging and unique behaviors.
What is the purpose of this book? The purpose of this book is to teach interdisciplinary
professionals about the process of functional assessment (FA). As inclusion continues to
evolve in public school classrooms across the United States, those professionals’ beliefs
and practices are challenged by the changes in the students who make up their classroom
communities (Shapon-Shevin, 2007). As many more people with challenging behaviors
and unique characteristics enter new inclusive or heterogeneous settings, professionals may
be ill-prepared to manage their behaviors. As new, pre-service level professionals enter
their disciplines of education and psychology with initial training, they must demonstrate
the dispositions, knowledge, and skills to work with all persons, including those whose
behaviors are challenging. Children whose behaviors are challenging deserve the opportunity
to develop to their full potential (Fallon & Brown, 2010). The emphasis of this book
is on empirically-based strategies for teaching functional assessment to pre-professionals
who will work in inclusive settings. The intended audience for this book is students who
will be future teachers, therapists, and practitioners in the disciplines of psychology, mental
health, counseling, social work, and education. The book may be used as the main textbook
for teaching FA techniques, a supplementary text, or as a reference source for new professionals
working in the field. Although methods to effectively teach various aspects of a
FA approach have been studied (e.g., Iwata et al., 2000; Wallace, Doney, Mintz-Resudek,
& Tarbox, 2004), none have put it all together in a comprehensive package that guides