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Kevin D. Arnold, Ph.D., ABPP, 2011, all rights reserved
Introduction to Functional Behavior Assessment
Kevin D. Arnold, Ph.D., ABPPPsychologist
Board Certified in Cognitive and Behavioral PsychologyThe Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Therapy of Greater
Columbus, Inc4624 Sawmill Rd., Columbus, OH 43220
Kevin D. Arnold, Ph.D., ABPP, 2011, all rights reserved
Basic Concepts
Kevin D. Arnold, Ph.D., ABPP, 2011, all rights reserved
Assessment of the Student’s Contexts
Definition of Context Emphasis: The learning history of the
student, the student’s sensory systems, and the current environments, constitute three equally important data sets into which one must place observed behaviors, and through which one should interpret the factors that could help to enhance, modify, reduce, or develop behaviors.
Kevin D. Arnold, Ph.D., ABPP, 2011, all rights reserved
Functional Contexualism
Importance of seeing the student as a whole, integrated student with behaviors which function to meet motivations within an external and internal context
Kevin D. Arnold, Ph.D., ABPP, 2011, all rights reserved
Contexts as an Essential Construct
1. Context is the basis of the meaning of any behavior2. Functional contextualism is identification of factors that can be identified and affected3. Targets for contextual assessment will be those things that lend to greater understanding of the behaviors’ meaning, and greater potential to modify or manage behaviors.
Kevin D. Arnold, Ph.D., ABPP, 2011, all rights reserved
History and the Learning Context
Learning history and early experiences creating lasting associational learned patterns that reveal themselves in present behavior patterns.
Association Learned Patterns affect the “p” of behavioral emission
Both observed behaviors and internal reactions are a product, in part, of learning from historical experiences.
Factors include medical issues in the student’s history, and family medical history.
Kevin D. Arnold, Ph.D., ABPP, 2011, all rights reserved
Medical History As Context
Environmental factors resulting from medical treatments or settings
Internal factors that might affect learning
Family medical history that could suggest genetically transmitted difficulties
Assessment will benefit from:
•Access to medical records•Access to medical information through
informant interviews•Identify interaction between developmental
issues and timing of medical events
Kevin D. Arnold, Ph.D., ABPP, 2011, all rights reserved
Environment As ContextSpecific aspects of the student’s current environment
become important in later assessment strategies because of both their stimulus properties and their reward potentials.
Assessment will benefit from
•Limiting assessment to main environment--school
•Use of direct observation of environmental factors in the school
•Identify physical characteristics with categories of structural, noise, lighting, tactile, and footing
•Use detailed descriptions of the characteristics
Kevin D. Arnold, Ph.D., ABPP, 2011, all rights reserved
Assessment of the Demands
Demands analysis—the assessment benefits from
•identification of the environments in which the student typically is placed
•identification of the domains and sub-environments in of the demands are made
•identification of the beginning point of the student’s behaviors
Kevin D. Arnold, Ph.D., ABPP, 2011, all rights reserved
•identification of the marker that a student has met the demand, such as being in one’s seat (terminal objective)
•identification of the steps involved in completing the actions necessary to begin and successfully complete the behaviors
Kevin D. Arnold, Ph.D., ABPP, 2011, all rights reserved
Behavioral observations of the student in the environment allow for a determination of
•the capacity of the student to complete each step from the demands analysis
•the capacity of the student to complete each step in the correct sequence without being prompted
Kevin D. Arnold, Ph.D., ABPP, 2011, all rights reserved
Observe student perform or not perform each step in the demands analysis
• Is the behavior exhibited in the natural environment—does the skill exist?
Identify the chained associations of each skill within the sequence
• Determine if the skills have been combined into a behavioral sequence.
• Are prompts are inserted?
• If prompts are inserted, contrive situations so that the chaining can be assessed without the
prompts.
Functional Behavior Assessment
Kevin D. Arnold, Ph.D., ABPP, 2011, all rights reserved
Kevin D. Arnold, Ph.D., ABPP, 2011, all rights reserved
Introduction to FBADifferentiation between historically defined functional
behavior assessment vs.assessment of behavioral functions to acquire rewards or avoid punishers (analog)
•What is the behavior a function of; what is the function of the behavior
•A-B-C analysis is designed to identify the stimuli and contingencies operating on a behavior in a particular context.
•Functional Behavior Assessment is designed to
determine the purpose of a behavior based on contingencies for obtaining rewards or escaping negative consequences.
Kevin D. Arnold, Ph.D., ABPP, 2011, all rights reserved
A-B-C analysis
•create options for modifying environmental factors or reward and punishment delivery.
Functional Behavior Assessment
•identify potential new behaviors •to serve same purposes as those targeted to modification
•manage or modify behaviors through manipulation of stimuli and contingencies
Pragmatic assumption
•behavioral assessment and recommendations should be consistent with the goals of the student’s program
Kevin D. Arnold, Ph.D., ABPP, 2011, all rights reserved
Determination of Target Behaviors
Determination of behaviors (or lack of behaviors) must include
•observable descriptions
Conduct interview protocol to identify the behaviors that should be targeted for observation and assessment.
Ensure that behaviors are defined in observable terms by answer the questions of What, When, How Often, How Long, Where, and To Whom.
Kevin D. Arnold, Ph.D., ABPP, 2011, all rights reserved
A-B-C Analysis
Observation•Direct observation of the events immediately •Preceding and following the target behaviors•Thorough description of each behavioral manifestation •Contextualized within •discrete environments.
Factors that influence•Infer internal factors inferred from other sources (e.g., medical records) that might affect behavior.
Kevin D. Arnold, Ph.D., ABPP, 2011, all rights reserved
Antecedents
•events or internal factors that immediately, or are hypothesized to immediately, precede the exhibition of the behavior
•limit the assumptions about the “causes” of the behavior-either those things observed prior to the behavior, or those things reasonably hypothesized from other sources but not observable (e.g., medical conditions).
Consequences
•subsequent behaviors or emotional expressions (e.g., laughing, relaxation of previously tensed muscles)
•immediate reactions of the environment experienced by the student.
Kevin D. Arnold, Ph.D., ABPP, 2011, all rights reserved
•Consequences can occur during the behavior’s emission, but only after its initiation.
Limitation on Assessor
•The observer should manage his/her assumptions so that inferences about rewards or punishers are not made during the “C” observations.
Kevin D. Arnold, Ph.D., ABPP, 2011, all rights reserved
Contingency-Driven Assessment: Functional Behavior Assessment
Hypotheses about the function of the behavior
•Durand’s four functions/motivators:
escape a punisherobtain or acquire tangible objects obtain attention sensory stimulation
Theoretical Underpinnings
•Behaviors operate to obtain positive rewardsescape negative events (negative rewards).
Kevin D. Arnold, Ph.D., ABPP, 2011, all rights reserved
Context includes both
A-B-C assessment of the environment, and
Historical learned contingencies residing within the student’s internal learned behavior patterns
Known history reports from interviews, and results of A-B-
C analysis provide underpinning for interpretations.
Time-efficient experiments
Assess the validity of hypotheses regarding behavioral functions.
Experiments design possible interventions into assessment to
create recommendations
Use of varied factors and types of behavioral data points
Example of Functional Behavior Assessment
Kevin D. Arnold, Ph.D., ABPP, 2011, all rights reserved
Use of A-B-C Data on Student John
Observations consistently showed the following: Antecedents to aggressive behaviors
included chaotic and noisy environments, refusal to provide an object, and prompts to comply
Behaviors included destruction of property, elopement, and verbal requests for isolation
Consequences included social attention, increased physical proximity, and verbal punishment
Kevin D. Arnold, Ph.D., ABPP, 2011, all rights reserved
Additionally, A-B-C found that when task was well organized, environment focused, and skills were present or taught, the likelihood of elopement, aggression, or requests for isolation did not occur.
Kevin D. Arnold, Ph.D., ABPP, 2011, all rights reserved
Design of Experiments
Hypothesized Motivators: Attention Escape Tangible Object
Kevin D. Arnold, Ph.D., ABPP, 2011, all rights reserved
Experiment 1: Satiation of Attention Adult provided periods throughout day in which
continuous attention versus no attention were applied
Experiment 2: Attention to Aggression Verbal attention was provided systematically to
some aggressive behaviors, and at other times not
Experiment 3: Escape Two methods of escape were offered vs. not
offered in noisy environments Experiment 4: Tangible Objects
Provision or non-provision of requests
Kevin D. Arnold, Ph.D., ABPP, 2011, all rights reserved
Results of FBA When attention was paid to aggression, was
roughly 700 times longer in seconds than the no attention condition
When his requests for objects was fulfilled, he had 0 elopements, compared to 2 elopements when denied the object
In noisy environments, if offered escape he had 0 requests or actions to leave, while when no offer was presented, he made 2 requests for escape
When continuous attention was provided, no aggressive behaviors were exhibited; when no attention was paid to John, he had 1 aggressive behavioral emission.
Kevin D. Arnold, Ph.D., ABPP, 2011, all rights reserved
Conclusions Aggressive behaviors were motivated to obtain
attention and are sustained by it after the aggressive behaviors begin
When an object is requested, denials should be eliminated, and delayed provision strategies implemented with verbal explanations when necessary
When environments are loud and disorganized, John will benefit from the option to exit the environment and training in the use of requesting behaviors for the escapes; or provision of environmental modifications to reduce the noise and confusion
Kevin D. Arnold, Ph.D., ABPP, 2011, all rights reserved
Basic Intervention Strategies
Kevin D. Arnold, Ph.D., ABPP, 2011, all rights reserved
Key Concepts/Strategies
Define Reinforcer Anything that increases behaviors Anything that the student appears to
like Positive Punishment
Delivery of a consequence to decrease or eliminate a behavior
Kevin D. Arnold, Ph.D., ABPP, 2011, all rights reserved
Skills Deficits
Consider that student has not learned, or not learned in sequence, the behavior expected
Typical deficits include tasks skills, chained sequence of skills (e.g., domino), or communication skills
Kevin D. Arnold, Ph.D., ABPP, 2011, all rights reserved
Strategies for Positive Punishment Differential Rewards
Attention, Escape, Self-Stimulation, Objects
Differential implies systematic use of rewards to reduce target behaviors
Can be used to develop skills in conjunction with modeling
Kevin D. Arnold, Ph.D., ABPP, 2011, all rights reserved
Skills Development Rules
No skill: Model Minimal skill: Contingency Contract Increase skill: Non-contingent
Rewards
Kevin D. Arnold, Ph.D., ABPP, 2011, all rights reserved
Differential Strategies
Differential Rewards for Other Behaviors
Differential Rewards for Incompatible Behaviors
Differential Rewards for Alternative Behaviors (Skills Development)
Kevin D. Arnold, Ph.D., ABPP, 2011, all rights reserved
Time Out: Environmental Control Time out is the removal of the student from an
environment For the purpose of breaking a stimulus-
response-reward cycle Care must be taken to have very limited periods
for time out Time out should not be within an inherently
rewarding environment
Kevin D. Arnold, Ph.D., ABPP, 2011, all rights reserved
Time out should not include attention while time out is in effect
Assess duration of behaviors when first using time out to determine maximum length of time out
Begin reducing time as length decreases Provide positive rewards through attention
for behavioral cessation Use empowering language such as “I see
you gained control over your body.” Allow for face-saving re-entry
Kevin D. Arnold, Ph.D., ABPP, 2011, all rights reserved