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I N S T I T U T E F O R A P P L I E D B E H A V I O R A N A L Y S I S

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Behavioral Assessment: An OverviewPart 2Thomas J. Willis and Gary W. LaVignaInstitute for Applied Behavior Analysis, Los Angeles, California

Editors' Note: Part 1 of this article, “Behavioral Assessment: An Overview”, waspublished in the previous issue (Vol. 1, No. 2, January, 1996) of Positive Practices.

In Part 1, we introduced the concept that a Comprehensive

Behavioral Assessment is more than simply identifying a target

behavior, its antecedents and consequences. It is more than just a

Functional Analysis. We said "the purpose of a behavioral assess-

ment is to understand the person and by so doing answer questions

such as: Why is the person engaging in the behavior? How does the

person use the behavior to solve everyday problems?" We also made

the point that in order to understand the person, the behavioral

assessment involves gathering information in a wide variety of

domains. Table 1 summarizes the major areas of focus in a

Comprehensive Behavioral Assessment (Willis et al., 1993).

THE

N E W S L E T T E R

C o n t e n t s

Behavioral Assessment: An Overview Part 2 .............. 1

Editors’ Note ...................................................................... 2

The Development of a Statewide BehaviorResource in the State of Montana .................................. 3

Definition of a Problem Behavior ................................. 20

Procedural Protocols -Transition ......................................................................... 21

IABA Resources .............................................................. 24

A quarterly publication dedicated to the advancement of positive practices in the field of challenging behaviorVolume I • Number 3 ISSN 1083-6187 • April 1996

A. Referral InformationB. Description Of The Person

• Physical Characteristics• Cognitive Abilities• Communication Abilities• Motor/Perceptual Abilities• Self-Care Skills• Social Skills• Community Skills• Domestic Skills• Leisure/Recreation Skills

C. Other Background Information• Family History and Background• Living Arrangement• Program Placement• Health and Medical Issues• Service History

D. Mediator AnalysisE. Motivational AnalysisF. Ecological AnalysisG. Functional Analysis of Behavior

• Description of Problems• History of Problems• Antecedent Analysis• Consequence Analysis• Impressions and Analysis of

Meaning

Table 1 - Major Areas of Focus in aComprehensive Behavioral Assessment

Behavioral Assessment. With that un-derstanding, let's discuss what is involvedin a Functional Analysis of Behavior.G. Functional Analysis of Behavior.

The purpose of a Functional Analysisis to identify events that control be-havior; in other words, events thatcause behavior to increase and/or de-crease. These events may occur beforethe behavior (i.e., Antecedents) or af-ter the behavior (i.e., Consequences).

In Part 1, we addressed Sections A-F asshown in Table 1, concluding with Eco-logical Analysis. Here in Part 2, wediscuss the Functional Analysis of Be-havior, the hallmark of what we do asbehavior analysts. This is an extremelyimportant part of a Comprehensive Be-havioral Assessment. Unfortunately,some people have the view that the Func-tional Analysis and Behavioral Assess-ment are synonymous. They are not!!!The Functional Analysis should be partof the larger and more comprehensive Continued on page 11

P O S I T I V EPR A C T I C E S

P O S I T I V E P R A C T I C E S • V O L U M E I • N U M B E R 3 • A P R I L 1 9 9 6

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Positive Practices

PublisherInstitute for Applied Behavior Analysis

A Psychological Corporation

Co-EditorsGary W. LaVigna and Thomas J. Willis

Managing EditorJohn Q. Marshall, Jr.

Institute for Applied Behavior AnalysisGary W. LaVigna, PhD, Clinical DirectorThomas J. Willis, PhD, Assoc. Director

Service to Employ PeopleJulia F. Shaull, LCSW, MSW

Director of Supported EmploymentStacy L. Daniels, MA

Asst. Director Supported EmploymentSusan Caraway

Manager - Los AngelesAyndrea LaVigna

Manager - Ventura CountyKerry Costello, MA

Manager - West Los AngelesLeilah Sadd

Manager - North Los AngelesPatricia Speelman, MA

Manager - Orange County

Social/Community Integration andParticipation

Maryam Abedi, PhDDirector of Supported Living

Heike I. Ballmaier, PsyDManager - North Los Angeles

Ellen J. Lewis, PhDManager - Ventura County

Lori LeakSupervisor - Ventura County

Cheryl Stroll-Reisler, MAManager - Los Angeles

Peggy DreisbachSupervisor - Orange County

Competency Based Training ProgramDiane Sabiston, MEd

Program Consultant - Georgia

Professional Training SeriesJohn Q. Marshall, Jr., MEd

Seminar Coordinator - South Carolina

Printed ResourcesBrenda LaVigna

Supervisor - Book Sales

AdministrationJonathan C. Mohn

Director Finance and AccountingRobert H. Shelton

Director of Human Resourcesand Administrative Services

Copyright 1996 by:Institute for Applied Behavior Analysis

5777 West Century Blvd. #675Los Angeles, CA 90045 USA

(310) 649-0499

All rights reserved. No portion of this newslettermay be reproduced by any means without theexpress written permission of the Institute for

Applied Behavior Analysis.

Positive Practices (ISSN 1083-6187) is aquarterly publication of the Institute for AppliedBehavior Analysis. Individual issues are $10.00

each. Subscriptions are $25.00 per year fordelivery within the US and $40.00 per year fordelivery outside of the US. For subscription

information, change of address or information onclassified advertisements contact: John Marshall;IABA; PO Box 5743; Greenville, SC 29606-5743

USA; (864) 271-4161.

Individuals wishing to contribute articles orletters to the publication are requested to contact

Gary LaVigna or Thomas Willis; IABA; 5777West Century Blvd. #675; Los Angeles, CA

90045 USA; (310) 649-0499.

Editors’ Note…This issue concludes our two-part article introducing the topic of behavioral

assessment and functional analysis. We would very much like to hear from youregarding any questions or commentsyou would care to pose regarding this. Infact, while the general comments wehave heard with reference to the news-letter are all positive and encouraging,we have not yet been successful in gen-erating from you questions and com-ments that we could publish in our effortto make Positive Practices interactiveand a vehicle for communication anddiscourse in the field. So folks...send inthose cards and letters.

What we do have in this issue, is avery nice article from Perry Jones, DavidBristow and Jean Morgan, in Montana,describing a training project we had anopportunity to provide in their state. Wethink you will find it of interest and hopethat it shows what a spread of effectcertain forms of training can have. This is particularly important givenshrinking budgets and training efforts that are often disappointing in the systemschange they fail to produce.

In this issue we also present another definition of a challenging behavior foryour growing library and a set of proto-cols designed to help a person transitionfrom an out of home placement, back toher family home. We think that transi-tion planning is often over looked as anopportunity to get a support plan off to agood start. Further, because it typicallyoccurs without planning, transitions cansometimes add to the problem. We hopeour sample protocols will give you someideas on how you can approach this oftenoverlooked opportunity.

Let us hear from you and tell us what

you think.

Gary W. LaVigna andThomas J. WillisCo-editors

Gary W. LaVigna, PhDClinical Director

Thomas J. Willis, PhDAssociate Director


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The Development of a StatewideBehavior Consultant Resource in theState of MontanaPerry Jones, Training and Development Specialist, Developmental DisabilitiesProgram, Department of Public Health and Human Services, Helena, Montana

David Bristow, Field Services Specialist, Developmental Disabilities Program,Department of Public Health and Human Services, Helena, Montana

Jean Morgan, Training Services Coordinator, West Mont Habilitation Services,Helena, Montana

Editors’ Note: One of the most satisfying things we get a chance to do is to impacton whole systems. Such an occasion occurred in 1994 when we provided a two-week training institute in and for the State of Montana. We structured it just likeour annual Summer Institute, the major difference being that the referral clientswere from their own system. The result was that they not only had 30 consultantsavailable to them who were trained in the IABA method, the practicum method oftraining also produced for them comprehensive assessments and associated supportplans for 30 people who had the most significant challenges.

Another difference, of course, was that the training took place in Montana duringthe Winter rather than in California during the Summer, but that’s another story.The following is their report of this training experience. We think you’ll find itinteresting.

IntroductionThe state of Montana is nationally recognized for the quantity

and quality of services offered to persons with developmental

disabilities. In an effort to further improve these services, the

Developmental Disabilities Program of the Department of Public

Health and Human Services (DDP/DPHHS) recognized a need to

increase the skills of staff in technical positions responsible for

addressing severe and challenging behaviors manifested by persons

with developmental disabilities in institutional and community

based settings. The development of a statewide behavioral consult-

ant resource was needed. The Institute for Applied Behavior

Analysis (IABA) was selected to provide the training. The decision

to select IABA to provide training was based in part on the positive

testimony of Montana staff who had previously attended IABA’s

annual two week Summer Institute in Los Angeles.

A grant proposal was developed by theDevelopmental Disabilities Program(DDP) and submitted to the MontanaDevelopmental Disabilities Planning andAdvisory Council (DDPAC) to bring Drs.Gary LaVigna, Tom Willis and IABAsupport staff to Helena, Montana to con-duct a staff training session analogous tothe IABA two week Summer Institute.Thirty staff in training positions from thecommunity based nonprofit corporations,DDP staff and staff from the three stateinstitutions serving persons with devel-opmental disabilities attended this train-ing in December of 1994.

As part of their training activities, eachtrainee completed an IABA style assess-ment and support plan for an assignedfocused person. In all, a mix of 30 chil-dren and adults with serious behaviorchallenges from a variety of settings(group homes, supported living, naturalhomes and one state institution) had plansdeveloped. Many of the support planrecommendations were implemented bythe planning teams for these individualswith generally positive results. AssignedDDP staff developed a statewide proto-col for care givers of persons with devel-opmental disabilities in all settings toenable them to access an IABA trainedbehavioral consultant at little or no costwhen needed.

This report summarizes the events thattook place in the creation of this state-wide behavioral consultant resource, andsummarizes the positive outcomesachieved for a sample of the consumersfor whom support plans were developedduring the 1994 Helena Winter Institute.

Statement of Need for theProject

Montana is a large, primarily rural state.Services to persons with developmentaldisabilities are delivered in a variety ofsettings and spread across a large geo-graphic area. Since the early 1970's, thedelivery of services to persons with de-velopmental disabilities shifted from pri-marily institutional settings to commu-nity based services. Currently, a total of46 nonprofit corporations contract withthe DDP to provide a wide array of ser-


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vices to more than 2,000 adults and chil-dren in community based settings. Mostof the children live in natural and fosterhomes. The majority of adults live ingroup homes and supported living ar-rangements. Approximately 162 adults

continue to reside in three state institu-tions. These institutions include theMontana State Hospital (MSH) in WarmSprings, The Montana DevelopmentalCenter (MDC) in Boulder and EastmontHuman Services Center (EHSC) inGlendive.

In 1989, the Montana Association forIndependent Disabilities Services (MAIDS)received a DDPAC grant to develop train-ing resources for staff serving personswith developmental disabilities. MAIDSis comprised of executive directors fornonprofit corporations funded by theDDP. The MAIDS grant was developedto create accessible staff training oppor-tunities, based on feedback from a state-wide provider survey. Grant outcomesincluded the acquisition of a variety oftraining curricula and the publication ofthe Accessible Training Resources forDisabilities Services Personnel (ATR/DSP) document by Dan Fox and BruceBuchman in December of 1991. Thehighest training priority identified in theATR/DSP was the need for direct servicestaff to have access to training in theMandt System (1978) or other strategiesfor addressing the needs of people withaggressive behaviors.

The primary methods used to increasethe skills of staff in DDP funded commu-nity based settings serving people withaggression in late 1991 included the pro-vision of one or two days of Mandt train-

ing in physical and nonphysical de-esca-lation techniques, and/or enrollment in abehavior modification curriculum devel-oped in 1979 by the DDP. The Mandtsystem develops the skills of staff in de-escalating consumers who “act out.” The

Mandt system is a cri-sis response strategy,using a graded systemof physical and non-physical interactiontechniques to reducethe likelihood of in-jury. At the time theATR/DSP was writ-ten, Mandt trainingwas a somewhat lim-ited resource, with 15statewide instructorsavailable to providestatewide training in

the field of developmental disabilities.The behavior modification curriculum,

entitled the Developmental DisabilitiesClient Programming Technician orDDCPT, provided an introduction to top-ics such as normalization, reinforcement,prompting/fading, task analysis, chain-ing, skill maintenance, data collection,Montana rules and policies, etc. TheDDCPT had not been significantly modi-fied since 1985, and the DDP recognizeda need to update this “home grown” cur-riculum to include more information ontopics such as ecological assessment(LaVigna & Donnellan, 1986), using scat-ter plots (Touchette, MacDonald, &Langer, 1985), and an increased focus onnonaversive behavioral strategies. TheDDCPT curriculum was the primary train-ing tool to develop the skills of staffassigned to write behavioral support plansfor individuals with significant challeng-ing behavior.

Limitations with the DDCPT and Mandttraining in addressing the needs of indi-viduals manifesting severe behavior chal-lenges were recognized by many people,especially those who provided servicesto consumers with extremely challengingbehavior. These individuals and a grow-ing number of others believed the Mon-tana service delivery system needed to domore to promote the use of nonaversivebehavioral strategies. The use of aversivetechniques such as physical and mechani-

cal restraint, exclusion and seclusion timeout, contingent exercise, restitutionalovercorrection and positive practice was(and remains as of this writing) allowedin community based services, subject tothe conditions outlined in the Adminis-trative Rules of Montana. Although theuse of these procedures to punish or toprotect was legal, a growing number ofpersons felt that:

The use of current technologytoo often failed to reduce thefrequency and severity of se-verely aggressive and disrup-tive behaviors. In worst casescenarios, individuals’ lost theircommunity placements and werecommitted to a state institutionwithout the benefit of a sophis-ticated assessment and supportmethodology. More frequently,individuals exhibiting severelyaggressive behaviors experi-enced a lessened quality of life,with severe restrictions placedupon their living and work envi-ronments. Other consumers wholived and worked with consumerswho displayed severe aggressiveand disruptive behaviors experi-enced a diminished environmen-tal quality of life, as well.

Direct services staff were ex-pected to tolerate aggressivebehavior of consumers whichthey may have felt powerless tochange in any significant way.Under these circumstances, theworking environment may havebecome highly stressful becausesignificant behavior challenges“come with the territory.” Oneresult of this is that the potentialfor consumer abuse may increase.

Reactive strategies may havebeen intended to help protectconsumers and staff from injuryand serve to empower staff to“do something,” but all too of-ten these efforts failed to pro-duce durable change, and servedto create a “non-therapeutictreatment milieu.”

Four DDP funded service provider staffand one DDP staff person had attendedthe IABA Los Angeles Summer Institute.

Limitations with the DDCPTand Mandt training inaddressing the needs ofindividuals manifesting severebehavior challenges wererecognized by many people…


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tions, the three institutions serving per-sons with developmental disabilities,DDP regional and management staff, re-gional councils and others. The writtendocumentation collected in support forthe project was overwhelming. The DDPasked DDPAC for funding to cover thecost of travel, meeting space rental, sec-retarial support, office equipment rental,paper, and other training related expenses.

The project was not funded in theMarch, 1994 DDPAC funding session.In August of 1994, the DDP submitted arevised proposal. This time, the DDPadministrator (Mike Hanshew) asked onlyfor money to cover the IABA fee for thetwo week institute. The DDP would payfor all the trainee travel (except for insti-tutional staff) and all other training re-lated expenses not covered in the IABAcontract proposal. The offer of a hardmatch of approximately twenty percentof the total project cost resulted in theDDPAC funding of this grant proposal inAugust of 1994.

IABA staff mailed referral forms to theDDP for those consumers selected for thedevelopment of support plans as part ofthe IABA “Winter Institute” scheduledfor December 5, 1994 through December16, 1994. Local nonprofit corporationsand MDC were asked by the DDP tosubmit a prioritized list of consumers forwhom support plans should be devel-oped. IABA referral formswere completed for 45 indi-viduals. These referrals weremailed to IABA; IABA staffwould select thirty individu-als from this pool. In the eventof consumer illness or otherproblem, another individualcould be assigned from thepool of consumer referralswith little disruption duringthe on-site training. Ultimately, IABAstaff selected the consumers during thesecond day of training, and matched theseconsumers with the individual trainees.

Selection of the trainees to attend thetwo week training session “with all ex-penses paid” had potential for contro-versy. Four training slots were awardedby the DDP to the agency (Department ofCorrections and Human Services) gov-erning the three state institutions serving

persons with developmental disabilities.Trainees were assigned by administra-tive staff from the institutions. Ten slotswere awarded to DDP; these trainingslots were awarded to the ten staff whorequested the training. Twenty two nonprofit corporation staff submitted a letterof request to attend the training for theremaining sixteen slots. DDP decidedthe best way to assign these slots wouldbe for the MAIDS group to select thetrainees from the non profit corporations.This decision turned out to be a goodchoice; unsuccessful corporation appli-cants had the benefit of a “peer review” inthe decision making process. The lettersof application for all 30 trainees wereforwarded to IABA, to enable IABA per-sonnel to familiarize themselves with thetrainees before going on-site.

In exchange for having the travel andtraining costs picked up by DDPAC andthe DDP, these sixteen provider corpora-tion staff agreed to provide volunteerassistance to care givers outside of theiragencies for up to five working days peryear. These sixteen staff would provideassistance along with the ten state DDPstaff who are responsible for providingtechnical assistance and training as neededto care givers of DDP eligible individualsin all settings on a statewide basis. Con-sumers living in institutions would beserved by their internal consultants. The

basis of a new statewide consultant re-source was formed.

The training session began on Decem-ber 5, 1994 and ended on December 16,1994. The final draft versions of thetrainees’ support plans were submitted toIABA staff prior to the conclusion oftraining. IABA staff generated an attrac-tive and professional version for submis-sion to the planning teams for the con-sumers. IABA staff also generated a

Support for the IABA assessment andsupport methodologies spread by word ofmouth. These individuals challengedthemselves to develop nonaversive meth-ods to serve some of the most behavior-ally intensive individuals in the state ofMontana, and espoused the need for abetter approach in developing supportplans for consumers with severe behaviorchallenges on a statewide basis.

The catalyst for the IABA Helena Win-ter Institute grant proposal to DDPACoccurred during a conversation betweenJohn Marshall, IABA Training Coordi-nator, and this paper’s first author inJanuary of 1994. John explained that itwould be possible to bring IABA staff toMontana for the purpose of training up to30 staff involved in the provision of ser-vices to persons with developmental dis-abilities using the Los Angeles SummerInstitute model.

The key advantages for bringing thistraining to Montana included the reduc-tion of travel costs since travel, meals andhotel expenses would cost less for instatetraining. The other primary benefit in-cluded the fact that trainees are requiredto complete an assessment and supportplan for a focus person during the twoweek training period. In this case, planswould be developed for Montana citizenswith severe behavior challenges. Fournonprofit corporations and a state institu-tion are located within a 30 mile radius ofHelena. Selecting 30 individuals with sig-nificant challenges, who could benefit fromthe development of support plans, would bea matter of deciding which individualswould be considered as the highest priori-ties and the most likely to benefit.

Recipe for the Creation ofa Statewide BehaviorConsultant Resource

In January of 1994, a decision wasmade by DDP administrative staff to sup-port the submission of a grant proposal toDDPAC for funding a replication of thetwo week IABA Summer Institute inMontana.

Letters requesting support for the grantwere sent to all the nonprofit corpora-

…plans would be developedfor Montana citizens with

severe behavior challenges.


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“sanitized” version of a support plan forevery final plan (a report absent of allidentifying information). This enabledsupport methodologies to be shared andexplained to others without violating con-sumer confidentiality. Copies of the sup-port plans and their sanitized counter-parts were sent to the DDP a few weeksafter the training session. The DDP cop-ied all the materials, then forwarded cop-ies of their support plans (including thesanitized versions) to the trainees. Thetrainees attached cover letters to the finalsupport plans and mailed them to thedirectors of the programs serving the con-sumers with instructions for directors toshare the document with the planningteams for each consumer. The traineeswere now referred to as IABA trainedconsultants.

DDP generated a description of theservices offered by the consultants and aprotocol for accessing the services of aconsultant and mailed it to care givers ofpersons with developmental disabilities.Specifically, this document was sent toall nursing home directors serving one ormore persons eligible for the 1987 Omni-bus Budget Reconciliation Act (OBRA)funding, directors of all special educationdistricts and directors of special educa-tion cooperatives. Executive directors ofthe nonprofits, case managers of con-sumers, child and family service provideroutreach staff (Family Support Specialists)and the DDP staff in regional and satelliteoffices also received this document.

By April of 1995, all the support planshad been received by the directors of thecorporations serving consumers selectedto have support plans developed duringthe Helena Winter Institute. In addition,an initial protocol and description of theconsultant resource had been mailed state-wide to care givers serving adults deemedeligible for DDP funded services, and tochild and family service providers serv-ing children at risk of having or havingdevelopmental disabilities.

Evaluation of DDPACGrant Objectives

DDPAC awarded funding to Develop-mental Disabilities Program to cover thecost of bringing Drs. Gary LaVigna and

Tom Willis and IABA support staff toHelena for the two week Helena WinterInstitute. This money also paid for all theIABA materials (textbooks, notebooks,printed materials, etc.) needed by thethirty trainees. The DDP provided fund-ing to cover the travel and other trainingcosts (coffee, room rental, paper, printerrental, etc.) for all trainees except the fourfrom institutions.

The DDPAC grant was funded on thepremise that DDP (as the contractor)would use the funds to construct an “IABAtrained consultant resource” to serveMontana children and adults with chal-lenging behavior who have been deter-mined eligible for DDS funded services.

The grant language was very specificas to the expected outcomes of DDPACfunding:1. To develop thirty “state of the art”

support plans for individuals withchallenging behaviors from MDCand the Helena area. These individu-als would be prioritized for this ser-vice by their respective agencies,based on input from their individualplanning teams.

2. To train participants to become com-petent in designing behavior supportplans to address the needs of personswith developmental disabilities whoexhibit severe and challenging be-haviors. These staff would become astatewide resource for service deliv-ery agencies encompassing the spec-trum of services for this population.

Winter Institute SupportPlan Outcomes

Twenty eight support plans were de-veloped, and many of the recommenda-tions in the plans developed for Helenaarea and Montana Developmental Centerconsumers were implemented by theirrespective planning teams. Two IABAtrainees were unable to complete theirsupport plans.

The results of the implementation ofrecommendations from the twenty plansdeveloped for Helena area consumerswere summarized by IABA trained con-sultants David Bristow and Jean Morganin a report written for the 1995 MontanaConference on Developmental Disabili-

ties presentation. (This report did notaddress the support plans developed forthose individuals residing at the MDC atthe time of training.) A summary of thisreport follows:

Table 1 summarizes the frequency ofspecific categories of recommendationsthat were eventually adopted as supportstrategies by the consumer's supportteams. The resulting recommendations,as represented in Figure 1 and Figure 2,illustrate an important emphasis on pro-active, nonaversive approaches to pro-gramming.

Type of Procedure FrequencyPositive Programming:

Coping Strategies ...................... 15

Relaxation .................................. 14

Augmented PictureCommunication .......................... 13

Social Skill Training ...................... 7

Allow choices ............................... 5

Ecological Manipulations:Activity Sequencing .................... 14

Move ........................................... 11

Active listening ............................. 9

Counseling ................................... 6

Community Interest Survey ......... 5

Focused Support Strategies:Physician/Medication/Psychiatricreview ........................................... 7

Differential Reinforcementof the Omission of a Behaviorwith a Progressive schedule ofReinforcement .............................. 7

Differential Reinforcement ofthe Omission of a Behavior .......... 7

Discrete Trial Compliance ............ 5

Token Exchange .......................... 4

Differential Reinforcement ofan Alternate Behavior .................. 3

Reactive Strategies:

Stimulus Change ........................ 10

Redirection ................................... 6

Geographical Containment .......... 5

Antecedent Control ...................... 4

Table 1 - Numbers of Support PlansIncorporating IABA RecommendedProcedures (Based on a Total of 20Plans)


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No aversive recommendations (as de-fined in the Administrative Rules of Mon-tana [Lovelace, 1993]) were made inthese support plans. As a comparison,prior to the 2 week Helena Winter Insti-tute, 7 of the 20 consumers had formal-ized support plans containing aversivecomponents that had been authorized byMontana's Program Review Committeeand were being implemented. Of these 7plans, 4 authorized the application ofbodily physical restraint for potentiallydangerous behavior if necessary. Fourauthorized the use of exclusionary time-out and 1 authorized the use of mechani-cal restraints (motorcycle helmet, wristand arm restraints). Each of these 7 plansalso contained differential reinforcementprocedures, each of a single reinforce-ment strategy, these being DifferentialReinforcement for Omission of Behavior(DRO) (4); Differential Reinforcementof Incompatible Behavior (DRI) (2); orDifferential Reinforcement of Alterna-tive Behavior (DRA) (1). Four of the 13other plans had single schedule reinforce-ment strategies, either DRO, DRI, orDRA, in place as the primary treatmentapproach. One of these procedures hadbeen in place for approximately 10 years.The other 6 had been in place for varyingperiods ranging from several months to 6years. Nine of the 20 consumers had noformal support plans in place.

Again, across the 20 plans reviewed,numerous recommendations wereadopted as initially conceived and sev-eral were later modified by the consumer'ssupport team to match the consumer'scircumstances at the time. Of the 20

PositiveProgramming

EcologicalManipulations

FocusedSupport

Strategies

ReactiveStrategies

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Figure 1 - Frequency of Recommendations (Based on atotal of 20 plans)

Proactive Reactive0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

Figure 2 - Proactive vs. Reactive Strategies

consumers who had IABA style supportplans adopted, all but one experiencedpositive behavioral results which can bedefined as a reduction in the frequencyand/or intensity of behaviors targeted forreduction or an increase in the frequencyof adaptive behaviors. These results havebeen determined by both objective dataand subjective anecdotal reports collectedfrom direct service staff across the 10month period following the 2 week Hel-ena Winter Institute.

Support plans are designed to improvethe quality of life for individuals referredfor the consultant service, as well as todecrease rates of maladaptive behaviors.Measuring the effect of support plan rec-ommendations by reviewing the baselineand treatment rates of maladaptive be-haviors is often an incomplete measure ofsuccess. Increased rates of positive rein-forcement, the structuring of additionalactivities, staff training in stress manage-ment and positive environmental changesmay not always be reflected in loweredrates of maladaptive behaviors, but mayserve to significantly improve the qualityof life for the individual served.

The impact of the 132 proactive sup-port plan recommendations, summarizedin Table 1 and represented in proportionto the recommended Reactive Strategiesin Figure 2, is difficult to qualify exceptin terms of the improved quality of lifethat does develop with a deeper, broaderand richer array of treatment choices avail-able for consumers and their supportteams. The most significant impact ofimplemented Helena area support planslies in these proactive recommendations

resulting from a thorough antecedentanalysis and functional analysis. A de-tailed comparison between the 132proactive strategies and the 11 single di-mension differential reinforcement strat-egies in place prior to the development ofthe 20 support plans is beyond the scopeof this report but the qualitative impactmay best be measured by anecdotal infor-mation about individual successes whichis summarized below:1. Of the 20 plans developed during the

Winter Institute, several assisted con-sumers in adopting new life-styles.For example, 6 consumers, by merelymoving to environments which al-lowed more individual choices (cat-egorized as Ecological Manipulationsin Table 1), realized sudden and du-rable reductions in problem behav-ior. Two individuals moved to theirown apartments in the Helena com-munity. One moved to a supportedliving foster home and three movedto less restrictive group home envi-ronments.

2. Support plans which recommendedin-depth consultation by a physicianor psychiatrist assisted in the reduc-tion of problem behaviors in all 7who were recommended for this Fo-cused Support Strategy. Two in-depth medical consultations identi-fied significant behavioral influencesof environmental airborne and di-etary allergens. In one particularcase, the gluten allergy of CoeliacDisease was diagnosed and treatedby dietary restrictions with signifi-cant corresponding reductions in


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problem behaviors. This particularconsumer had previously had aver-sive procedures approved for vari-ous forms of physical restraint andexclusion time-out. Episodes requir-ing physical restraint for this indi-vidual have been eliminated follow-ing a 10 month period of dietarychange.

3. Augmentative Picture Communica-tion Systems positively impacted 5consumers by reducing the rates ofproblem behaviors. In the case ofone 26 year old individual, who hasdisplayed severe self injurious be-havior since childhood, a significantand durable reduction in these be-haviors occurred. A follow-up studyof this case and other successful caseswill be submitted for future publica-tion.

Evaluation of theDevelopment of theStatewide IABA TrainedConsultant Resource

IntroductionSummarizing DDP progress in imple-

menting a statewide consultant resourcewas the primary purpose of two question-naires mailed statewide in November of1995. Questionnaires were mailed to thedirectors of special education coopera-tives and special education directors inthe schools, DD case managers, familysupport specialists, field service special-ists, training coordinators in the DDPfunded nonprofit corporations, the IABAtrained consultants, and nursing homeadministrators serving one or more OBRA(DD) eligible individuals. In all, just over330 questionnaires were mailed out. Twoquestionnaires were developed:I. Consultant Questionnaires were de-

signed to assess the extent to whichconsultants have used their skills toaddress consumer behavior chal-lenges, and related consultant issues.These results are summarized inTable 2.

II. Service Delivery Personnel Ques-tionnaires were developed to assess

# Question Response

yes no unsure

1. I provided assistance to my agency staff usingsome aspect of my IABA training. ............................. 14 0—Attendance and problem solving at a formalor informal meeting ..................................................... 13—Telephone consultation ........................................... 10—Provided ideas for a formal written plan ofintervention ................................................................. 13—Trained one or more staff in some aspectof the treatment of client behavior problem ................ 11—Assisted in the completion of a full or partialIABA style assessment ............................................... 10—Completed a "full blown" IABA style support plan .... 6—Loaned the IABA Forms and Procedures Manual(Willis & LaVigna, 1994) to one or more staff togive them some ideas for supporting a consumerwith a behavior challenge ............................................. 7

2. Staff in my agency are aware of the skillsthat I have to offer. ...................................................... 11 1 2

3. I have invested the following number of hoursusing my skills as an IABA trained consultantduring the past year:

11-50 hours (6)51-250 hours (6)

251-1,000 (2)

4. I was able to respond to every request for IABAassistance I received. ................................................... 4 9

5. I went outside my agency to provide theconsultant service. ........................................................ 8 6

6. I made a significant contribution in the qualityof life for the consumers I have served. ..................... 10 3

7. I would like to be a part of a work group todevelop a state-wide crisis response strategy. .......... 11 2

8. —Not many people outside our agencyunderstand the resource. .............................................. 5—Training is needed to ensure that peopleunderstand the resource. .............................................. 9—I am willing to provide training to othersregarding the availability of the resource. .................... 9—I don’t want more people asking me to providethe consultant resource. ............................................... 3—I would like to be a part of decisions maderegarding the statewide use of the resource. ............... 9

9. A “Consultant Resource Handbook” is needed .......... 11 2

10. A resource handbook should include:—A description of the resource .................................. 11—Instructions for accessing the resource .................. 11—Copy of the IABA Referral Form ............................... 9—Resource Prioritization Checklist ............................ 10—Other information ...................................................... 3

11. I have the skills and resources to do the job ................ 9 3 1

Table 2 - Summary of the IABA Trained Consultant Feedback Questionnaires


9

caregiver utilization of the resource.Are folks aware of the consultantresource and are they requesting andusing the resource? Is the servicehelpful? Are there problems? Whatare the other issues? These resultsare summarized in Tables 3, 4 and 5.

Survey Results by Category ofRespondents

A database was generated for everycategory of survey respondents. Overall,more than a 40% of all the questionnaireswere returned by the December 15, 1995survey deadline. This is a very good rateof response for a mass survey mailing.

IABA Trained Consultant ResponsesTable 2 summarizes the results of the

of the Consultant Questionnaire. A totalof 30 questionnaires were sent out and 14were returned.

In summary, consultants used theirnewly acquired skills in a variety of ways.All of the consultants who returned sur-veys have used their skills during the pastyear to address consumer behavior chal-lenges either within their own agency, oroutside of their agency as outlined in theresponses to Question #1 of Table 2. Ofthe 14 responders, a majority used theirIABA skills in the following ways: 13indicated they had used their skills atplanning meetings (93%), 10 in telephoneconsultations (71%), 13 in helping todevelop a formal training program (93%),11 providing IABA staff training (79%),and 10 in completing, or assisted in com-pleting a full or partial IABA assessment(71%). Six (43%) of the consultantscompleted a behavioral support plan, and7 (50%) loaned their IABA Forms andProcedures Manual (Willis & LaVigna,1994) to give one or more colleaguessome support plan ideas.

Use of the Consultant Resource byCaregivers

In order to assess the success of theproject in developing a state IABA trainedconsultant resource, survey forms weresent to all the persons and/or agenciesinvolved in the provision of care andsupport to persons with developmentaldisabilities. Respondent surveys werebroken out in seven categories to assist

planners in making decisions regardingthe future use of the resource. Thesecategories are shown in Table 3. Table 4summarizes the survey results for the 7categories of respondents.

The interpretation of the survey resultsproved difficult. It became apparent thatsome respondents checked boxes whichindicated either a lack of clarity in thewording of the survey, a hasty responseon the part of the responder, or a combi-nation of these factors. In cases when areview of the survey indicated the re-spondent was unaware of the IABA re-source, a decision was made to recordthis, even if it conflicted with therespondent’s answer to question #1 on

the survey form. This did not occur often.In some cases, respondents left boxes

blank. Comparing the sum of the an-swers to individual questions with thetotal number of respondents by categorywill support this. Survey results shouldbe viewed as indicators. These surveyresults have value in identifying areaswhere additional efforts are needed onthe part of DPHHS to further develop theIABA resource.

As reported elsewhere (Jones, 1995),53 of 64 (83%) respondents claimed theywere able to or usually able to access theservices of a consultant in a timely man-ner. Forty five of 54 (83%) respondentsstated the services of an IABA trained

Respondent TSR % # # % %Categories Resp Aware Req Aware Req

Family Sup 51 41% 38 24 75% 47%School Adm 25 39% 5 2 18% 7%Nursing Adm 28 44% 3 0 11% 0%Training Cor 19 58% 17 15 89% 79%Field Serv 4 67% 4 4 100% 100%Case Man 24 48% 23 16 96% 67%Other 10 N/A 4 2 40% 20%Totals(excl. “other” cat.) 151 46% 94 63 60% 40%

Key to the column headings

TSR- Number of survey forms returned by Dec. 15, 1995.% Resp- Percentage of survey forms returned.# Aware- Number of respondents who knew of the consultant resource.# Req- Number of respondents who requested (or who had their staff

request) the services of an IABA trained consultant.% Aware- Percentage of respondents aware of the resource.% Req- Percentage of respondents who requested (or who had their

staff request) the services of an IABA trained consultant.

Table 3 - Service Delivery Personnel Questionnaires: Categories of SurveyRespondents

Category of Respondent Abbreviation

1. Child and family service provider Family Support Specialists Family Sup2. Developmental Disabilities Program Field Service Specialists Field Serv3. Special Education School Districts

and directors of Special Education Cooperatives School Adm4. Nursing Home Directors Nursing Adm5. Targeted and Contracted DD Case Managers Case Man6. DDP Funded Corporation Staff Training Coordinators Training Cor7. Other (Respondents Not in the Above Categories) Other

Table 4 - Service Delivery Personnel Questionnaire Results


10

consultant were useful in dealing withone or more consumer behavior chal-lenges over the past year.

Another measure of success of thisproject is establishing types and frequencyof assistance the IABA trained consult-ants provided during the first year assummarized in Table 5. This table indi-cates the consultants have successfullyprovided a wide variety of assistance inserving the needs of individuals with dis-abilities and their caregiver. These formsof assistance were generally unavailableprior to the 1994 Winter Institute.

In SummaryThe consultant resource was made pos-

sible by a grant from DDPAC. Thisresource was widely acknowledged andused by service providers contracting withthe Developmental Disabilities Programduring the past year. Training with schooldistrict personnel and nursing home ad-

ministrators is needed to ensure theseservice providers are aware of the con-sultant resource. The resource is limitedin all settings; consultants are currentlyemployed as full time staff who havevolunteered to take on the added respon-sibility of assisting care givers who serveconsumers with behavior challenges.

A handbook clearly describing theIABA trained consultant service is beingdeveloped. The handbook will cover thefollowing:1. A description of the IABA trained

consultant resource in layman’sterms.

2. Who is eligible to be served byDDPAC funded IABA trained con-sultants.

3. The protocol for accessing a consult-ant.

4. A prioritization scheme for ensuringthat persons with developmental dis-abilities in high need have access tothe service.

5. A referral form which will includethe information deemed necessaryby IABA trained consultants in re-sponding to requests for assistance.

The handbook is being developed by agraduate of the IABA Winter Institute(Miskuly, in preparation) and is sched-uled for completion by September 1996.

Many issues remain regarding the con-sultant resource. The following issuesare a sample of some of the factors toconsider in the further development ofthe resource.• Review the integration of the con-

sultant resource with the DDP “ExitFrom Services Policy.”

• Develop a funding mechanism toenable consultants “with the time” totravel to other regions.

• Review the integration of the IABAtrained consultant resource with cri-sis response strategies.

• Developing ways to facilitate the useof the resource by being able to billnursing homes and school districtsfor the costs associated with travel tothese settings.

• Development of a long range fund-ing mechanism designed to maintainor strengthen the future availabilityof this resource to offset the loss ofconsultants through attrition.

In ConclusionMany consultants in a variety of set-

tings have devoted a lot of time and effortusing their new skills to better serve con-sumers with behavior challenges. A hand-book devoted to making the resourcemore widely understood and accessibleis currently being developed. DDPACfunding of the IABA Consultant TrainingGrant has resulted in the creation of a newand sophisticated statewide resource tohelp address the needs of persons withdevelopmental disabilities and severebehavior challenges.

References

Bristow, D. & Morgan, J. (October, 1995) The impactof IABA plans in Helena. Paper presented at theAnnual Montana Conference on DevelopmentalDisabilities, Bozeman, MT.

Fox, D. & Buchman, B. (1991). Accessible trainingresources for disabilities services personnel.Montana Association for Independent DisabilityServices, PO Box 80185, Billings, MT 59108.

Jones, P. (1995). Final grant report: Staff trainingfrom the Institute for Applied Behavior Analysis inthe Assessment and Analysis of Severe andChallenging Behavior. Department of PublicHealth and Human Services, DevelopmentalDisabilities Program, PO Box 4210, Helena, MT59604.

LaVigna, G. W., & Donnellan, A. M. (1986).Alternatives to punishment: Solving behaviorproblems with non-aversive strategies. New York,NY: Irvington Publishers.

Lovelace, L. (1993). Aversive procedures,Administrative Rules of Montana, Section46.8.1206-46.8.1208.

Mandt, D. (1978). The Mandt system. David Mandtand Associates, PO Box 831790, Richardson, TX75083-1790.

Miskuly, P. (in preparation). Behavior managementconsultant Resource handbook. Department ofPublic Health and Human Services, DevelopmentalDisabilities Program, PO Box 4210, Helena, MT59604.

Touchette, P. E., MacDonald, R. F., & Langer, S. N.(1985). A scatter plot for identifying stimuluscontrol of problem behavior. Journal of AppliedBehavior Analysis, 18, 343-351.

Willis, T. J. & LaVigna, G. W. (Eds.), (1994). TheIABA forms and procedures manual. Los Angeles:The Institute for Applied Behavior Analysis.

In-House TrainingIABA offers training on the fol-

lowing topics: Assessment and Analy-sis of Severe and Challenging Behav-ior, Positive Approaches to SolvingBehavior Challenges, Assuring Ser-vice Quality and Staff Consistency,Supported Employment, and Emer-gency Management and ReactiveStrategies within a NonaversiveFramework.

Contact John Marshall (telephone:[803] 731-8597; fax: [803] 731-8598;toll free: [800] 457-5575).

Freq Category of Assistance

Delivered by the Consultant

39 Attendance and problem solv-ing at a formal or informal meet-ing with provider.

26 Telephone consultation.

37 Help with ideas for a formalplan of intervention.

17 Trained staff to deal with someaspect of a consumer behaviorproblem.

16 Assisted service provider staffin the completion of an IABAstyle assessment.

25 Completed an IABA assess-ment.

17 Completed an IABA supportplan.

17 Provided follow up with initialassistance.

Table 5 - Frequency and Type ofAssistance Provided by Consultantsfrom December 1994 - November 1995(Based on 156 Service DeliveryPersonnel Questionnaires)


11

The Functional Analysis also has asits purpose the clear specification ofthe identified challenging behavior(i.e., Operational Definition). At aminimum, a functional analysis spe-cifically includes a Description ofthe Problem, a History of the Prob-lem, an Antecedent Analysis, a Con-sequence Analysis, and an Analysisof Meaning.1. Description of Problems. In

this part of the functional analy-sis, the primary problems pre-cipitating the referral should bedetermined. Whether they fallinto the class of behavioral ex-cesses or behavioral deficitsshould also be determined.These determinations would notnecessarily be the formulationsof the problems as provided bythe referral source but rathershould be the most useful for-mulations developed based onan analysis of the informationthat has been gathered. Whilemany people may think that de-scribing the problem should bethe easiest part of the functionalanalysis, we have often found itto be among the most difficult.Good descriptions include de-scriptions of the topography, thecycle the course and the strengthof the behavior.a. Topography. The topog-

raphy of a behavior is a de-scription of its observableand measurable compo-nents; it is a description ofthe physical characteristicsthat signal to the observerthat the behavior has oc-curred. In determining thephysical characteristics ofa behavior, we ask “Whenthe person engages in thebehavior, What does it looklike? What does it soundlike? What does it smell likeit? What does it taste like?For example, the topogra-phy of “Aggression” is fre-

quently described as includ-ing hitting, biting, kicking,scratching and/or pullingthe hair of another person,attempts to do so, and/or verbal and/or ges-tural threats to do so.Each one of the indi-vidual actions needs tohave a description ofits topography. It is notsufficient to say “Ag-gression involves hit-ting and biting.”Rather, the topographyof aggression might bemore clearly expressedin the following way.”“Aggression involvesseveral distinct actions, in-cluding hitting (i.e., anycontact with an open handor closed fist to the body ofanother with sufficient forcethat the contact can be heardor the person’s body ismoved or jarred as a resultof the contact); biting (i.e.,any contact of the person’steeth to the skin or clothingof another). It should beclear from the above de-scription that simply touch-ing another person with ahand, or knuckles is not anexample of aggression.

This is not to say that thisis how the topography of“Aggression” should bedefined, but rather that thisis how it might be defined,given the information thatis gathered as part of theassessment process. (Note:The tendency is to havegeneric definitions that ap-ply to everyone.) For ex-ample, in any given case, itmay not be appropriate toinclude verbal and/or ges-tural threats within the defi-nition of “Aggression.” Thepoint is that if we don’tspecify what we intend toinclude then, for example,some people will score at-

tempts as “Aggression” andsome won’t; some peoplewill score threats as “Ag-gression” and some won’t;

and so on. Let’s say youwish to include “verbalthreats” as part of the defi-nition of aggression. Like“hitting,” the topography of“verbal threats” needs to bespecified. So we might addto our above description,“Aggression also includesverbal threats (i.e., Verbal-izations the content ofwhich indicate the intent tostrike or injure another per-son, e.g., “I’m going to hityou.” “I’m going to killyou.”).

Here is another example,the topography for “Non-compliance” might be de-scribed as the failure to ini-tiate a requested activity,with the requirement beingthat the request be reason-able, asked within an ap-propriate context, be under-stood by the person, and bewithin their capabilities.

b. Cycle. The “cycle of thebehavior” breaks the be-havior into countable units.Here we ask “At what pointwill we say the behaviorhas started and at what pointwill we say the behaviorhas stopped?” In otherwords, we specify the “on-set criteria” and the “offset

Behavioral Assessment continued frompage 1…

The FunctionalAnalysis also has as its

purpose the clearspecification of the

identified challengingbehavior


12

criteria.” For example, thecycle for “Aggression” maybe stated as follows: “Anepisode of Aggression isconsidered to have begunupon observation of any ofthe above topographies. Anepisode is considered overafter five minutes have goneby without any of the to-pographies being ob-served.” The cycle hereincludes both the onset andoffset criteria.

The cycle for “Noncom-pliance” may be stated asfollows: “An incident ofNoncompliance is consid-ered to have occurred if therequested activity has notbeen initiated within fiveminutes of the first request.”In the case of “Noncompli-ance”, the cycle does notrequire an offset criteria.Rather, the cycle for non-compliance can be clearlydefined with a well stated“onset” criterion. Again, itis important to note that thecycle definition would fol-low the information gather-ing phase. For example,the onset criterion for “Non-compliance” would vary de-pending on the person’scognitive abilities, motorskills, etc.

c. Course. The course of thebehavior is a description ofthe behavior as an episodeoccurs over time, i.e., it is atime lapsed, “frame byframe” description of anepisode. The course de-scription includes a num-ber of elements: 1) the pre-cursors to the behavior, i.e.,those things the person typi-cally does prior to the onsetof the behavior; 2) the to-pographies of the behavioras they unfold or may esca-late as the episode contin-ues; 3) the other things theperson may do during an

episode, in addition to thetopographies that have beenincluded in the definition;4) a description of theperson’s emotional expres-sions during an episode ofbehavior; and 5) a descrip-tion of the post-cursors tothe behavior, i.e., a descrip-tion of what the person typi-cally does after an episodeis over.

Typically, a challengingbehavior has differentcourses, some severe andsome mild. In our descrip-tion of the behavior, we maywant to describe a typicalcourse, a severe course, anda mild course. In our ante-cedent analysis (see below),we would attempt to iden-tify those reactions by oth-ers that tend to make a se-vere course more likely tooccur and those that tend tomake a mild course morelikely to occur.

d. Strength. There are manymeasures of the strength ofa behavior. The most typi-cal measure of strength isthe rate of the behavior, i.e.,the frequency of behaviorduring a specified period oftime (e.g., four times perweek, six times per month,fifty times an hour). A func-tional analysis should in-clude a statement reportingthe rate of the behavior, in-cluding its range and vari-ability.

Duration (i.e., the lengthof time a behavior is per-formed) is another measureof the strength of behavior.In the case of behaviors thatcontinue for a period of time(e.g., screaming, tantrums,off task) or have been de-fined in terms of episodes(e.g., “A tantrum starts atthe appearance of the firstscream and ends whenscreaming has been absent

for five minutes.”) it is im-portant that the functionalanalysis describe the aver-age, shortest, and longestdurations.

There are other measuresof strength of behavior.Rather than measuring thelength of time a behavior isperformed, “Latency” is ameasure of the amount oftime it takes a person to“start” or “begin” a behav-ior. Kazdin (1994) defineslatency as “The amount oftime that elapses between acue and the response.”Some examples of latencyare the amount of time re-quired to start work afterbeing directed to start; thelength of time to start eat-ing dinner after arriving atthe table; the amount of timeit takes a child to get intobed after the time for bedhas been announced.

Other measures ofstrength may be determinedby their obvious importanceto the behavior of interest.For example, in weight con-trol programs importantmeasures of strength mightinclude the person’s weightin pounds, the number ofcalories consumed eachday, the number of fat gramsconsumed each day, thenumber of minutes of exer-cise each day. In energyconservation programs, im-portant measures of strengthmight include daily read-ings of the electric meter orgas meter. In programs tohelp youngsters with dia-betes important measures ofstrength might include thenumber of grams of sugarconsumed each day, anddaily blood sugar readings.

As described above, themost traditional measure ofthe strength of behavior isits “rate.” However, the


13

rate of the behavior maynot be the most importantmeasure of its strength. Forexample, a 5-year-old hastantrums. His mother de-scribes them as “very seri-ous.” She described thatthey occur about once aweek. With onlythis informationwe might be in-clined to ask“What’s the prob-lem? My child atfive had tantrumsevery day.” Thetantrums are seri-ous to this parentnot because theyoccur once a week, but be-cause when they occur theygo on for 3 to 4 hours. Inother words, the “serious-ness” is measured by theperceived severity of thebehavior. Consequently, insome cases, the severity ofthe behavior also needs tobe described.

Severity may be de-scribed as a measure of the“impact” of the behavior;the “damage” accrued bythe behavior; or the per-ceived seriousness of thebehavior. For example, ifthe target behavior is some-one’s “Screaming” behav-ior and it is occurring aboutonce a day, while last yearit was occurring 18 times aday, this is not necessarilyan indication that the prob-lem is getting better. Theonce a day may be from6:00 AM continuously to9:00 PM. In this case, inaddition to rate, we mayalso want to describe theduration of the behavior.Duration is one way to de-scribe severity.

Different measures of se-verity may be used, but thiswould depend on the targetbehavior and the results of

the information gatheringprocess. For a referral prob-lem such as “Property De-struction,” in addition to therate of the behavior, its se-verity may be described interms of the monthly costsof repair and replacement.

In episodes of self injuryand physical aggression,severity might be measuredon a five point scale with“5” indicating the need formedical attention, “4” indi-cating the need for first aide,“3” indicating redness andbruising that lasted morethan four hours after theevent, and so on.

It would be nice if reli-able data were available foreach assessment we con-duct. Unfortunately, it fre-quently is not. If formaldata collection has not beencarried out or if the cycleused to define the behavioris different than the one thathas been used by others,estimates may need to bemade based on whateverdocumentation that exists.These estimates will needto be based on careful inter-viewing of parents, staffand/or others who have ob-served the behavior. Ofcourse, these estimateswould need to be refined asreliable data collection iscarried out.

As can be seen from theabove, a good descriptionof a behavior can be quiteinvolved. The information

can be difficult to get andcan require a lot of infor-mation gathering. A gooddescription of the identifiedchallenging behavior is nec-essary, however, in order tofocus the other steps of thefunctional analysis. A gooddescription of the identifiedchallenging behavior is nec-essary to assure reliable datacollection for purposes ofevaluating the effectivenessof support plans, to assureconsistent implementationof support plans, and to in-crease the likelihood thatthe person will learn the rel-evant skills. Knowing thatthe complexity of this partof the functional analysis isoften underestimated, thefirst three issues of thisnewsletter have includedsample definitions fromsome of our assessment re-ports. We will continue toinclude further illustrativeexamples in future issues.

2. History of Problems. The his-tory of behavior has played avery small part in behavioralassessment until recently. In-deed, the traditional focus ofbehavioral assessment has beenon current behavior and currentmaintaining variables. It hasbeen argued by some that it isnot necessary to know a person’shistory in order to change be-havior. While this may be true,knowing a person’s history andthe history of the problem mayhelp determine whether a be-havioral approach is the bestcourse, or what type of approachmight be the first choice, or howlong support might be needed.

The lack of focus on history issurprising given early descrip-tions of its importance. Kanferand Saslow (1969), for example,argued the importance of his-tory when they wrote “...knowl-edge of the patient’s history, ofthe limits of his capacities, and

The history of behavior hasplayed a very small part in

behavioral assessmentuntil recently.


14

of the norms of his membershipand reference groups is essen-tial for effective therapeuticplanning.” (p. 427) They wrote

further “A behavioral analysisexcludes no data relating to apatient’s past or present experi-ences as irrelevant. However,the relative merit of any infor-mation (e.g., growing up in abroken home or having had ho-mosexual experiences) lies inits relation to the independentvariables which can be identi-fied as controlling the currentbehavior which requires modi-fication. The observation that apatient has hallucinated on oc-casions may be important onlyif it has bearing on his presentproblem.” (p. 438)

The importance of history inthe development of a supportplan cannot be overemphasized.For example, a woman with asevere disability was referredbecause she refused to go to theworkshop. We were asked toconduct an assessment and de-sign a plan to get her back to theworkshop. The behavioral as-sessment identified that prob-lem began after her motherpassed away. Given this infor-mation, a consequence based be-havior support plan was not rec-ommended. Instead, grief coun-seling along with extra supportin the home were recommended.The history suggested that a con-sequential approach to the prob-lem was not recommended. In

another instance, a 7-year-boywas referred because he refusedto go to school. Every effort toget him to school had been un-successful. Exploration of thehistory of the problem with hisparents suggested that he wasnot simply refusing to go toschool, he was avoiding a threat-ening world made up of “large,dangerous, dogs.” (He had anunpleasant experience with a 200lb. St. Bernard one morning be-fore school). Given this infor-mation, a reinforcement pro-gram for going to school wasnot recommended. Rather, acounterconditioning plan wasrecommended and carried outsuccessfully. The history of theproblem suggested a startingpoint for the support plan.

History is not unimportant.Consequently, when conductinga functional analysis it is impor-tant to gather information re-garding the history of the chal-lenging behavior. Some of thequestions we need to ask in-clude the following: When didthe behavior first appear? Howlong has the behavior been evi-dent? Have there been recentincreases or decreases in thebehavior? Have there been anyenvironmental, physical, oremotional changes that may haveinfluenced the behavior?Knowledge regarding the his-tory of the problem may be help-ful in the design of a supportplan. For example, a better un-derstanding of the duration ofthe problem may help predictthe probability of success of asupport plan and the setting ofrealistic objectives for the planwith regards to rapid control,durability, generalization, sideeffects, social validity and clini-cal/educational validity, includ-ing the short and long-term ef-fects on the person’s quality oflife (LaVigna and Willis, 1995).Knowing about the conditionsthat surrounded the onset of a

challenging behavior can alsobe helpful in understanding itsmeaning for the person.

3. Antecedent Analysis. TheFunctional Analysis also in-volves the identification ofevents that occur before the be-havior of interest (i.e., anteced-ents) that may result in the be-havior appearing, being absent,increasing, or decreasing. Thisanalysis attempts to answer sev-eral questions, including “Inwhat settings or places is thebehavior more or less likely tooccur?” “With whom is the be-havior more or less likely tooccur?” “At what times is thebehavior more or less likely tooccur?” “What events, activi-ties, interactional styles, etc. in-crease or decrease the likelihoodof the behavior?” Thus, the An-tecedent Analysis focuses ondetermining the person(s),places, times, activities, events,interactional styles, etc. thatmake the behavior more likelyto occur and/or to escalate andthose that make the behaviorless likely to occur and/or toescalate.

While an antecedent analysisis well recognized as a funda-mental component of a func-tional analysis, it is difficult todo well. Without proper train-ing, we ask the wrong questionsor we simply don’t know whatquestions to ask. We frequentlyask parents “What sets off thebehavior?” And we are sur-prised when they say “We don’tknow!” or “Everything!” With-out proper training, records andinterviews often do not easilyyield useful information. Thefollowing discussion may behelpful for future antecedentanalyses.

Nothing Is Perfect. Peoplemistakenly think that for an eventto have an antecedent relation-ship with a behavior, that therelationship has to be a perfectone. That is, that the presence of

The importance ofhistory in thedevelopment of asupport plan cannot beoveremphasized.


15

an antecedent indicates that thebehavior is either certain to oc-cur or, alternatively, certain notto occur. However, an event isconsidered to have an anteced-ent relationship with a behaviorwhen that antecedent changesthe probability of that behavior’soccurrence, making it eithermore likely to occur or, alterna-tively, less likely to occur. Notseeing perfect relationships, thatis, always seeing exceptions, weoften overlook those events thatdo, sometimes very dramati-cally, effect the probability of abehavior’s occurrence.

Antecedents May Be Com-plex. Secondly, often there arecomplexes of antecedents, ratherthan isolated antecedents thateffect the probability of behav-ior. This also sometimes makesit difficult to identify anteced-ent events. For example, a per-son may be more likely to ex-hibit challenging behavior if heor she is criticized for doingsomething wrong, when they areill or otherwise not feeling well.In this situation, there are twoantecedents. The first is a moredistant setting event, i.e., beingill or otherwise not feeling well,e.g., not getting enough sleepthe night before; the other is amore immediate antecedentevent, i.e., being criticized.Neither of these antecedentevents may by themselves in-crease the likelihood of chal-lenging behavior. When theperson is feeling well, they maybe very able to tolerate criticismwithout exhibiting challengingbehavior, and as long as theyaren’t criticized, they may bevery able to tolerate not feelingwell without exhibiting chal-lenging behavior. It is only whenboth antecedents events occurin concert that the probability ofbehavior is increased. We oftenlook for single antecedents ratherthan for multiple antecedents;which is why we often fail to

identify the more typical mul-tiple antecedents that exist.

Not Just In The ExternalWorld. Traditionally, we havetended to limit our antecedentanalysis to the external environ-ment (i.e., who, what, where,when). But antecedent eventscan occur in three domains: or-ganic/health domain, externaldomain, cognitive/mental do-main. For example, we are sureyou would agree that your ev-eryday behavior is influencedby how you feel, whether youare feeling good or not, whetheryou are ill or not, whether youhave had enough sleep, andwhether you are in pain. Physi-cal factors can play an anteced-ent role, in other words. Simi-larly, what you believe or howyou perceive an event can influ-ence your behavior. For ex-ample, if you were told that aperson you had just met is ma-nipulative, you might reject apresent because you believedyou were being manipulated. Aparent might be more likely topunish their child more severelyif they believe the child wasbeing “willful.” And we mightbe more likely to react nega-tively to a misbehavior if webelieve that the child did it “onpurpose.” In other words, be-havior is influenced by “cogni-tive antecedents.” Our lack ofattention to organic and mentalantecedents can be a major bar-rier to a good antecedent analy-sis, i.e., understanding the ante-cedent events that affect the like-lihood of a behavior.

The Cart Before The Horse.An antecedent analysis shouldfollow information gathering, itshouldn’t precede it. Often, thefirst question we ask is “...underwhat circumstances is this be-havior more or less likely tooccur.” Before we ask ques-tions like these, however, weshould first gather informationabout the time of day, place,

activity, people, interactions,style, etc. that are observed to beoccurring during or prior to anepisode of challenging behav-ior. We would also want toknow these things for when thebehavior is not occurring. Thatis, we should describe before weanalyze. After we describe thedetails of the situations we ob-serve prior to and during spe-cific behavioral episodes and thedetails of the situations we ob-serve during specific times whenthe behavior is not occurring,then we can attempt to identifythe events which tend to bepresent during or prior to anepisode, but not otherwise, andthose that don’t, but not other-wise. It is only at this point thatwe may be able to identify theevents that have an antecedentrelationship with the behavior.

However, if we haven’t gath-ered the information, if we in-stead begin with the con–clusionary question “...underwhat circumstances is this be-havior more or less likely tooccur,” we may very well con-clude that “...no antecedents canbe identified.”

Interactional Effects And Es-calation, an antecedent analysismay be further complicated inthat antecedents may interactwith a complex, sometimes es-calating pattern of behavior.Given an identified challengingbehavior, most of us have oftennoticed that sometimes the be-havioral episodes are relativelymild and are over in a relativelyshort period time and sometimesthey are quite severe and con-tinue for an extended period of

…we should describebefore we analyze.


16

time. An antecedent analysisshould not only identify the an-tecedents associated with thehigher and lower likelihood ofthe start of a behavioral chain,including its precursors, but also

those antecedents associatedwith the greater likelihood thatthe episode will escalate andthose antecedents associatedwith the greater likelihood thatthe episode will be relativelymild and be resolved relativelyquickly. For example, the inter-actional style that parents or staffuse may very well affect theescalating pattern of behavior,just as the escalating pattern ofbehavior may affect what par-ents and staff say and do andhow they say it and do it.

For example, aggression i.e.,hitting others, may be the lastlink in a behavioral chain thatfollows a typical course for aparticular client:a. Refusal to do a task.b. Profanity and verbal threats.c. Attempts to physically

leave the environment.d. Breaking and throwing ob-

jects.e. Hitting others.

In this situation, an anteced-ent analysis should identify thosethings that are associated with agreater likelihood that behavior“a” will occur and those thingsassociated with a greater likeli-hood that behavior “a” will notoccur. However, given that be-havior “a” does occur, an ante-cedent analysis would continueto identify those things that areassociated with a greater likeli-

hood that behavior “b” will oc-cur and those things associatedwith a greater likelihood thatbehavior “b” will not occur; andgiven that behavior “b” doesoccur, identify those things thatare associated with a greater like-lihood that behavior “c” will oc-cur and those things associatedwith a greater likelihood thatbehavior “c” will not occur; andso on. Further, this analysiswould be necessary regardlessof whether the referral problemwas “Refusal to do a task” or“Aggression.” (If the referralproblem was “refusal to do atask,” some of this may be in-cluded as part of the consequenceanalysis.) This complex, inter-active, antecedent analysiswould also need to follow, asdescribed above, informationgathering for the occurrence andnon-occurrence of each of theseparate components of the se-quence, given the occurrence ofthe preceding component.

As we can see from the above,an antecedent analysis may bequite involved. However, it canbe critical for developing an ef-fective support plan. For ex-ample, knowing that criticism isan antecedent to challengingbehavior, a comprehensive sup-port plan could, among otherthings, include guidance to staffon how to provide correctivefeedback to the person, positiveprogramming strategies to teachthe person more effective waysfor tolerating and coping withcriticism, as he or she is likely toexperience in their interactionwith other people, as we all do,possible incentives for using thenew coping strategies, etc. Thatis, a comprehensive antecedentanalysis can provide informa-tion that can be useful in avoid-ing or minimizing the occur-rence of challenging behaviorand helpful in telling us whatskills may be useful to the per-

son in their desire to break thebarriers to social and commu-nity integration that their chal-lenging behaviors may have cre-ated for them.

4. Consequence Analysis. Analy-sis in this area is designed todetermine the possible conse-quences that strengthen or sup-press the behavior or its alterna-tives. The questions that areaddressed here include: a) Whatconsequence(s) does the behav-ior have for the person; b) Whatconsequence would the removalof the behavior have for the per-son and for the key people in theperson’s life; c) What is the re-action of other people to thebehavior; d) What attempts havebeen made in the past the con-trol or change the behavior; ande) how have these attempts beenimplemented and with what out-comes?

As with the antecedent analy-sis, the consequence analysisfollows an information gather-ing phase in which we first askwhat does happen following anepisode of behavior, i.e., whatoccurs when the behavior oc-curs. Sometimes, something isadded or gained after the occur-rence of a behavior and some-times something is stopped oravoided after the occurrence ofa behavior. For example, wemay observe and note that whenthe behavior occurs, people lookat and/or come closer to the per-son, the person is given some-thing to eat or something else,someone hugs, touches, or evenphysically restrains the person,the environment changes or ischanged in some way, someproblem is solved, a conversa-tion begins, etc. Alternatively,perhaps a request is rescinded,the person is sent to a differentarea, an activity is discontinued,either temporarily or for the day,stress is reduced, the person isleft alone, the radio or TV isturned off, etc. These events

…[antecedent analysis] canbe critical for developingan effective support plan.


17

may help us to identify the con-sequences that strengthen or sup-press the behavior or its alterna-tives. Knowing and understand-ing these consequences can thencontribute to an understandingof meaning.

5. Impressions and Analysis ofMeaning. When a functionalanalysis is carried out within thecontext of a comprehensive be-havioral assessment, includinga thorough skills analysis, ananalysis of the relevant back-ground information, a motiva-tional analysis, an ecologicalanalysis, and a mediator analy-sis, it is time to infer the mean-ing of the behavior for the per-son. The concept of behavioralmeaning is not new to the fieldof operant psychology. Themeaning of behavior can befound in it consequences undercertain conditions. The processof behavioral assessment andfunctional analysis is to under-stand those consequences andthe conditions which surroundthem. The inference that isdrawn from this process mayconclude that the behavior is theperson’s way, for example, ofcommunicating, of relievingstress, of playing or otherwiseinteracting with others, etc.Other assessment approachesmay also result in hypotheses orinferences about meaning, butthey are either limited in thedata base from which the infer-ence is formed or the hypothesisis limited to an a priori set ofpossibilities that may be toobroad or general to be helpful(e.g., Durand, 1990; O’Neill etal., 1990; Iwata, Dorsey, Slifer,Bauman, & Richman, 1982).

For example, to simply con-clude that a person engages in aparticular behavior to get out ofor to avoid a task may lead to amuch different support plan thatone which was further informedby knowing whether such “taskavoidance” behavior was influ-

enced by how the request wasmade, by who makes the re-quest, by what is being inter-rupted when the request is made.The support plan would also bestrengthened by knowing whattasks, styles, circumstances, etc.make the performance of a re-quested activity more likely, notless likely to occur, i.e., thosecircumstances that lower theprobability of the challengingbehavior. Further, a compre-hensive assessment leading toan inference as to the specificmeaning of the behavior for theperson, rather than ascribing ageneric function to it from alimited list of a priori possibili-ties, reduces the possibility thata total misunderstanding mayoccur. For example, the non-performance of a requested ac-tivity, often labeled “noncom-pliance,” may indicate that theperson doesn’t want to do whatis being asked, (for one or moreof any number of reasons), thatthe person doesn’t understandwhat is being asked, that theperson doesn’t know how to dowhat is being asked, etc. In thiscase, to understand the meaningof the behavior requires morethan just knowing that it occurswhen a request is made. A com-plete analysis of their skills, ananalysis of all the backgroundinformation, an ecologicalanalysis, and all the rest wouldbe necessary for maximizing thelikelihood that a correct infer-ence can be drawn about themeaning of the behavior for thatparticular person.

The inference of meaning thatis drawn from an assessmentforms the basis for the develop-ment of a support plan, includ-ing both proactive (ecological,positive programming and fo-cused support) and reactive strat-egies (LaVigna, Willis, & Don-nellan, 1989; LaVigna & Willis,1995). We believe that the ef-fectiveness of a support plan is

enhanced by the quality andcomprehensiveness of the as-sessment that has been carriedout and the validity of the infer-ences drawn as to the meaningof the behavior for the person.The ultimate test of the validitythe assessment process and theresulting inferences is its contri-bution to the effectiveness ofthe support plan in producingthe desired outcomes (LaVigna& Willis, 1995).

Summary and ConclusionsThe contribution of an assessment pro-

cess to the effectiveness of a support planis referred to as its “treatment” utility, anarea of research that is in its infancy in thefield of challenging behavior (Ballmaier,1992; Hayes, Nelson, & Jarrett, 1987;1989). In that regard, the “treatment”utility of the assessment process describedabove has not yet been subjected to themost rigorous empirical tests. It never-theless has face and content validity(Ballmaier, 1992). We believe this faceand content validity will be increased aswe expand different elements of this as-sessment process in more detail in futureissues of this newsletter. Specifically, weare preparing articles that further elabo-rate antecedent analysis, ecological analy-sis, and mediator analysis. These havebeen the areas that people have seemed tobe the most interested in having us elabo-rate. If there are other areas that youwould like us to address, please let usknow.

To summarize, their are two phases inthe IABA behavioral assessment andfunctional analysis process. The first is acomprehensive information gatheringphase, in which information is gatheredthrough interviews and questionnaires,records review, direct observation, andinteractions with the focus person. Thesecond is the summary, synthesis andanalysis of the information gathered in aformal assessment report following aparticular format. The Behavior Assess-ment Guide (Willis et al., 1993) wasdeveloped to assist in this two phaseprocess. In its fifth revision, the current1993 edition provides both an informa-


18

tion gathering and records abstractiontool and a writing guide for preparing theformal report.

Earlier, we stated that we believed thisprocess, when done correctly, was timeconsuming. Accordingly, to be used mostcost effectively, it should be used whenany of the criteria described in Part 1 havebeen met. We would like,at this time, to offer someadditional suggestions forthe organization of sup-port services for peoplewho have challenging be-havior. We believe that ifthe following services arearranged, the need for themore time consuming andcomprehensive processwe have described hereshould be manageable within the re-sources that are typically available. Con-versely, it is the lack of one or more of thefollowing service features which taxesservices and agencies and the staff thatwork within them. Which of the follow-ing does your system have and whichdoesn’t it have?1. A carefully thought out and written

service design and plan based on theprinciples of Social Role Valoriza-tion and current practices in the fieldthat have been developed to helppeople of various ages and charac-teristics in a variety of home, school,work and community settings. Forexample, we have developed a sup-ported employment service whichwe offer to those adults who havebeen referred to us for support dur-ing those hours that most adults work,i.e., Monday through Friday, nine tofive. We have also developed a sup-ported living service which we offerto adults who have been referred tous for residential support. In oursupported living service, a standard,i.e., a designed (planned) element ofthat service is the development of aPositive Futures Plan (Mount &Zwernik, 1988; Patterson, Mount, &Tham, 1988; O’Brien & Lovett,1992). In contrast to the typicalagency or systems driven “Individu-alized service plan,” the PositiveFutures Plan is driven by the person

and their aspirations for the future.We believe that an agency that care-fully thinks through how it wants toprovide services, articulates its phi-losophy, and writes out its plan anddesign of services is not as likely toarrange situations that themselvesmay generate challenging behavior,

as would be agencies that are notguided by a coherent and articulatedphilosophy and plan, leaving themmore vulnerable to idiosyncrasies ofthe staff who happened to be as-signed to a particular area.

2. For those people whose challengingbehavior persists in spite of the ar-ticulation of a coherent philosophyand service design and plan, we sug-gest a level of assessment and plan-ning that may preclude the need formore formal and time consumingefforts. There are a number of as-sessment methods and strategies thatdo not require specialized trainingand that are very practical in terms oftime and resources, that may providea critical mass of information to formthe basis for designing an effectivesupport plan employing both pro–active and reactive strategies(LaVigna and Willis, 1995). Thiscould be carried out by people whoare at or very near the direct servicelevel, such as classroom teachers,group home staff, etc. It would in-volve such strategies and methods asA-B-C (antecedent-behavior-conse-quence) analyses, the MAS (Moti-vational Assessment Scale [Durand,1990]), the O’Neill et al. (1990)process, scattergraph analysis(Touchette et al., 1985), use of acommunication grid (Donnellan etal., 1984), reviewing speech and lan-

guage assessments, reviewing psy-chological assessments, etc. Thislevel of assessment may also includethe collection of information usingthe Behavior Assessment Guide(Willis et al., 1993), precluding thesummary, synthesis, and analysis ofthis information in a comprehensive

assessment report. Topickup again on the puzzlemetaphor that we intro-duced in Part 1, sometimesit is possible to tell whatthe picture is when onlysome of the pieces havebeen gathered and put to-gether. We believe that anagency that incorporatesinto its design of services,methods for determining

the meaning of a person’s behaviorand the function it serves and ex-plicit guidelines for the developmentof multielement support plans basedon this person centered understand-ing of behavior, is more likely toresolve problems than one that doesnot.

3. We believe that agencies that followthe suggestions above will find thatthe number of referrals for a morecomprehensive assessment will besharply reduced. However, we wouldlike to suggest one more set of rec-ommendations which can reduce thenumber of people who would meetthe criteria described in Part 1 for afull assessment. This additional butcritical recommendation would bethe development and implementa-tion of a quality management sys-tem, such as the Periodic ServiceReview (PSR) system (LaVigna,Willis, Shaull, Abedi, & Sweitzer,1994), that assures the consistentimplementation of a both generaland individual service plans. Manyagencies already have written ser-vice philosophies and service de-signs and plans and/or make someeffort at functional analysis and un-derstanding the meaning of behaviorand design some degree of multiele-ment support plans, as evidenced bya written plan. However, our experi-ence with hundreds of agencies and

…it is the lack of one or more of thefollowing service features which

taxes services and agencies and thestaff that work within them.


19

what many more hundreds of agen-cies report to us is that a very smallpercentage of a written plan, eithergeneral or individual, moves frompaper to practice. For an agency thatis considered good, the expectationof implementation may be anywherefrom 35% to 50%. That is, goodagencies move 35% to 50% of theirgeneral and individual service plansfrom paper to practice. Accord-ingly, even if you are a good agency,with a written philosophy and ser-vice plan and with individualizedsupport plans based on some reason-able methods of assessment, you willhave excessive numbers of peoplewho meet the criteria for referral fora comprehensive assessment, unlessyou have a total quality managementsystem in place, such as the PSR, toassure consistency and quality instaff’s provision of services and inthe implementation of service plans.

We believe that if the recommenda-tions described above are followed, mostsystems would have the resources to carryout a full assessment for the remainingpeople who meet one of the three criteria.However, we would suggest that this com-prehensive assessment, including boththe information gathering phase and theanalytic report writing phase (Willis etal., 1993), be carried out by a qualifiedperson who has been trained to carry outthis process. Further, we suggest that, ifpossible, this not be the person who hascarried out the less comprehensive as-sessments for the person being referred.This is because other assessment pro-cesses may have led to some preconcep-tions about the meaning of the behavior.The comprehensive assessment processwe have described above requires thatconclusions about function are reachedafter the information has been gatheredand analyzed, rather than starting theprocess with preconceptions and expec-tations. The person needs to be able to seepast such premature, con–clusionary la-bels such as “noncompliance,” “inappro-priate attention seeking,” “self stimula-tion,” “task avoidance,” and the like.Conclusions about function and meaningshould come as a result of the assessmentprocess rather than serve as its starting

point. This may be difficult for someonewho has already reached a conclusionusing a different, perhaps less compre-hensive assessment process than the onebeing recommended here as part of ourmodel for breaking the barriers to socialand community integration (LaVigna andWillis, 1995).

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Ballmaier, H. (1992). Psychometric characteristics of thebehavioral assessment report and intervention planevaluation instruments. Unpublished doctoraldissertation, Pepperdine University, Malibu, California.

Baumeister, A. A., and Forehand, R. Stereotyped acts(1973). In N. R. Ellis (Ed.) International Review ofResearch in Mental Retardation (Vol 6.). New York:Academic Press.

Carr, E. G., and Durand, M. V. (1985). Reducing BehaviorProblems Through Functional CommunicationTraining. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 18,111-126.

Carr, E. G., Levin, L., McConnachie, G., Carlson, J. I.,Kemp, D. C., and Smith, C. C. (1994). Communication-Based Intervention for Problem Behavior: A User’sGuide for Producing Positive Change. Baltimore:Paul H. Brookes Publishing Company.

Carr, E. G., and McDowell, J. J. (1980). Social control ofself-injurious behavior of organic etiology. BehaviorTherapy, 11, 402-4009.

Carr, E. G., and Newsom, C. D. (1980). Demand-relatedtantrums: Conceptualization and treatment. BehaviorModification, 9, 403-426.

Carr, E. G., Newsom, C. D., and Binkoff, J. A. (1976).Stimulus control of self-destructive behavior in apsychotic child. Journal of Abnormal ChildPsychology, 4, 139-153.

Carr, E. G., Newsom, C. D., and Binkoff, J. A. (1980).Escape as a factor in the aggressive behavior of tworetarded children. Journal of Applied BehaviorAnalysis, 13, 101-117.

Cautela, J. R. (1984). General level of reinforcement.Journal of Behavioral Therapy and ExperimentalPsychiatry, (2), 109-114.

Donnellan, A. M., Mirenda, P. L., Mesaros, R. A., andFassbender, L. L. (1984). Analyzing theCommunicative Functions of Aberrant Behavior.Journal of The Association for Persons with SevereHandicaps, 9, 201-212.

Durand, V.M. (1990). Severe behavior problems, afunctional communicative approach. New York:Guilford Press.

Durand, V. M., and Crimmins, D. B. (1988). Identifyingthe variables maintaining self-injurious behavior.Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 18,99-117.

Favell, J. E., McGimsey, J. F., and Schell, R. M. (1982).Treatment of self-injury by providing alternate sensoryactivities. Analysis and Intervention in DevelopmentalDisabilities, 2, 83-104.

Goetz, L., Schuler, A., and Sailor, W. (1983). Motivationalconsiderations in teaching language to severelyhandicapped students. In M. Hersen, V. B. Van Hasselt,and J. L. Matson (Eds.), Behavior therapy for thedevelopmentally and physically disabled. New York:Academic Press, pp. 57-77.

Hayes, S.C., Nelson, R. O., & Jarrett, R. B. (1987). Thetreatment utility of assessment. A functional approachto evaluating assessment quality. AmericanPsychologist, 42(11), 963-974.

Hayes, S.C., Nelson, R. O., & Jarrett, R. B. (1989). Theapplicability of treatment utility. AmericanPsychologist, 44, 1242-1143.

Holmes, T. H., and Rahe, R. (1967). Schedule of RecentExperience (SRE). Unpublished manuscript. Seattle:University of Washington School of Medicine.

Iwata, B. A., Dorsey, M. F., Slifer, K. J., Bauman, K. E.,& Richman, G. S. (1982). Toward a functional analysisof self-injury. Analysis and Intervention inDevelopmental Disabilities, 2, 3-20.

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Koegel R. L., and Mentis, M. (1985). Motivation in childautism: Can they or won’t they? Journal of ChildPsychology and Psychiatry, 8, 185-191.

LaVigna, G. W., & Donnellan, A. M. (1986). Alternativesto punishment: Solving behavior problems withnonaversive strategies. New York, NY: IrvingtonPublishers.

LaVigna, G. W., and Willis, T. J. (1995). Challengingbehavior: A model for breaking the barriers to socialand community integration. Positive Practices, 1(1),1, 8-15.

LaVigna, G. W., Willis, T. J. and Donnellan, A. M.(1989). The role of positive programming in behavioraltreatment. In E. Cipani (Ed.), Behavioral Approachesto the Treatment of Operant Behavior. AAMDMonograph series, American Association on MentalDeficiency.

LaVigna, G.W., Willis, T.J., Shaull, J.F., Abedi, M., &Sweitzer, M. (1994). The periodic service review: Atotal quality assurance system for human services andeducation. Baltimore: Paul Brookes Publishing Co.

LaVigna, G. W., and Willis, T. J. (1982). CommunityBehavioral Services. An unpublished servicedescription. Van Nuys, CA: Behavior Therapy andFamily Counseling Center.

Martin, P. L., and Foxx, R. M. (1973). Victim control ofthe aggression of institutionalized retardates. Journalof Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 4,161-165.

Mash, E. J., and Terdal, L. G. (1981). BehavioralAssessment of Childhood Disturbance. In E. J. Mashand L. G. Terdal. Behavior Assessment of ChildhoodDisorders. New York: The Guilford Press, pp. 3-76.

Mount, B., & Zwernik, K. (1988). It’s never too early, it’snever too late: an overview of personal futuresplanning. Minnesota Governor’s Planning Council onDevelopmental Disabilities, 658 Cedar Street, SaintPaul, MN 55155.

O’Brien, J. and Lovett, H. (1992). Finding a way towardeveryday lives: the contribution of person centeredplanning. Pennsylvania Office of Mental Retardation,569 Commonwealth Avenue, Harrisburg, PA 17120.

O’Neill, R. E., Horner, R. H., Albin, R. W., Storey, K., &Sprague, J. R. (1990). Functional analysis of problembehavior: A practical assessment guide. Baltimore:Brookes/Cole Publishing.

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Patterson, G.R., Littman, R. and Hinsey, C. (1964)Parental effectiveness as reinforcers in the laboratoryand its relation to child-rearing practices and childadjustment in the classroom. Journal of Personality,32, 182—199.

Patterson, J., Mount, B., and Tham, M. (1988) PersonalFutures Planning. A mini-handbook of developed forthe Connecticut “Positive Futures” Project. ConnecticutDepartment of Mental Retardation, 90 Pitkin Street,East Hartford, CT 06108.

Reichele, J., and Wacker, D. P. (1993). CommunicativeAlternatives to Challenging Behavior. Baltimore:Paul H. Brookes Publishing Company.

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Rincover, A., and Devaney, J. (1982). The application ofsensory extinction procedures to self-injury. Analysisand Intervention in Developmental Disabilities, 2, 67-81.

Rogers-Warren, A., & Warren, S. F. (1977). Ecologicalperspectives in behavior analysis. Baltimore:University Park Press.

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Willis, T. J., & LaVigna, G. W. (1984). Behaviorassessment guide. Van Nuys, CA: Behavior Therapyand Family Counseling Center.

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Definition of a Problem BehaviorEditors’ Note: This issue’s definition of a problem behavior is interesting on anumber of counts. Although the focus person was a young man in his twenties, hisprimary challenging behavior was something that had been in his repertoire sinceearly adolescence. Although it had its ups and downs, and although it wasn’tgenerally considered as serious a problem as it had been, in terms of bothfrequency and severity, in its most severe forms, it could and had resulted in theinjury of another person. This may be why the referral problem was “Aggression.”However, the early stages of this behavior, which only on occasion escalated tosuch extreme levels, typically had a more playful or teasing quality, and just asfrequently, had an obvious sexual dimension. Aggression did not seem to be auseful or descriptive label for the most typical topographies identified for thisproblem, and may even have distracted people from focusing on its meaning. Forthese reasons, a different label was suggested, i.e., Inappropriate Interactions. Ourrecommended definition and data collection methods for this problem follow below:

Description of Behavior and Operational Definition ofInappropriate Interactions

A. Topography. The topographies ofInappropriate Interactions are con-sidered to fall within five categories:

Level I - This includes verbalexpressions with direct or indi-rect sexual content. Typicalphrases would be “touch the‘P’;” “pinch the nipples,”“squeeze the breast,” etc.Level II - This includes pinch-ing, grabbing, or reaching ges-tures directed toward people, butwithout an actual physical at-tempt to make contact. Level IIwould also include looking downanother person’s shirt.Level III - This includes touch-ing, pinching and/or grabbingother people in the area of theirgenitals or chest, or physical at-tempts to do so, such as when heattempts to place his hand downsomeone’s shirt or when he grabspeople by the shirt. (Level IIIdoes not include grabbing,squeezing or pinching the fleshof another person, either directlyor through the person’s cloth-ing, to the point of causing pain.Rather, behavior that causes painin this way is considered to be aLevel IV response.)Level IV - This includes squeez-ing, pinching, pushing and/orgrabbing other people in the area

of their genitals or chest in sucha way as to cause pain, such aswhen he actually grabs, squeezesor pinches the flesh of anotherperson, either directly or throughthe person’s clothing.Level V - This includes biting,scratching, hitting, kicking orotherwise physically attackinganother person who is either try-ing to extricate themselves fromhis grasp or any other such be-havior that occurs in conjunc-tion with Level I - Level IVbehavior.

B. Cycle. An onset of InappropriateInteractions is considered to havebegun upon staff hearing a Level Ibehavior or upon their observing aLevel II - Level V behavior. AnInappropriate Interaction is consid-ered to be over at the end of the one-hour observation interval. Once anew hour has begun, any Level I -Level V behavior indicates a newepisode of Inappropriate Interactions.

C. Course. In terms of the course of thebehavior, some precursors have beennoted. Among other things, theseinclude his repeatedly saying “whereis Bob,” “squeeze hands,” and en-gaging in body posturing. Asking tosqueeze another person’s hands oractually doing so, was somethingthat was taught as an alternative to

Inappropriate Interactions and is notin itself considered to be an incidentof target behavior, although it can bea precursor to target behavior.Perseverative speech and otherperseverative behavior can also be aprecursor. However, these precur-sors do not always escalate to thelevel of an Inappropriate Interaction.Episodes of Inappropriate Interac-tions can range all the way from anisolated, playful, almost teasingpinching gesture up to an extendedepisode that includes, in rapid (withinseconds) escalation through all fivelevels of severity, in which he ag-gressively and apparently obses-sively fights anyone’s attempts toresist him or prevent him from en-gaging in the behavior. At theseextreme times, he appears to be outof control and it is during these times,rare though they may be, that he canseriously injure another person. Mosttypically, an episode of Inappropri-ate Interaction includes Level I andLevel II behavior. However, it is notuncommon for Level III behavior tooccur. Level IV and Level V behav-ior are much less frequent, but whenthey occur, it is quite upsetting andtraumatic for everybody concerned,

D. Strength.• Rate. The rates of Inappropriate

Interactions have varied consid-erably over the years. Exactreporting of past and presentrates is difficult, however, sincedefinitions and data collectionmethods have not been rigor-ously defined, have varied fromtime to time, and have not beensubject to formal interobserverreliability checks. With thesequalifications, Inappropriate In-teractions can occur from zeroto many times a day, usually atLevels I to III. As a specificestimate, which would have tobe confirmed through formaldata collection, currently, tendays out of each month, no oc-currences of Inappropriate In-teractions are observed. On daysthat it does occur, it occurs dur-ing 30% - 40% of the observa-


21

tion intervals. Levels IV and Voccur, presently, approximatelyseven times a months.

• Severity. Although it is not fre-quent, when Level IV is reached,people can be seriously hurt.For example, his biting andscratching has caused gougedflesh. Further, given his strengthand size, and especially when heis out of control, his punchescan cause injury and harm re-quiring medical attention. Atthis point, however, it is onlyonce or twice a year that thislevel of severity is reached, al-though this level of severity wasmore frequent in the past.

Observation and DataCollectionA. Procedure. For each hourly interval

of the program day, from 7 A.M. to 9P.M., and for the overnight intervalbetween 9 P.M. and 7 A.M. the fol-lowing morning, the responsibilitiesof Primary Observer should be as-signed to a single staff person. At theend of each interval, the Primary

Observer should enter onto that day’sdata sheet whether or not Inappro-priate Interactions occurred. If theydid, the different levels that wereobserved during that interval shouldalso be recorded. If Level IV or V,staff should also record whether ornot first aid and/or medical attentionwas sought.

B. Graphing. The following informa-tion should be graphed on a weeklybasis:1. % of intervals per day in which

Inappropriate Interactions wereobserved.

2. % of intervals per day in whichLevel I Inappropriate Interac-tions were observed.

3. % of intervals per day in whichLevel II Inappropriate Interac-tions were observed.

4. % of intervals per day in whichLevel III Inappropriate Interac-tions were observed.

5. % of intervals per day in whichLevel IV Inappropriate Interac-tions were observed.

6. % of intervals per day in whichLevel V Inappropriate Interac-tions were observed.

7. % of intervals per day in which

Inappropriate Interactions wereobserved in contiguous intervals.

8. % of intervals per day in whichInappropriate Interactions re-sulted in the need for first aide.

9. % of intervals per day in whichInappropriate Interactions re-sulted in the need for medicalattention.

C. Reliability Check. A second ob-server should be assigned one houreach week, for both day services andresidential services settings, to carryout a set of independent observa-tions as described above. These in-dependent observations should bescheduled to include, round robin,all participating Primary Observersand representative service and com-munity settings. The results of theseindependent observations should bescored on a separate data sheet. Re-liability should be calculated by com-paring the agreements and the dis-agreements as recorded on the sepa-rate data sheets. When disagreementoccurs, the primary data sheet shouldbe marked, staff training and/or clari-fication should be provided, and afollow-up reliability check shouldbe scheduled within the week.

Procedural Protocols - TransitionEditors’ Note: We recently worked with a 15-year-old girl who had been awayfrom home, at a 24-hour residential school for more than four years. While theparents were very supportive of our suggestion that her needs could be better met ifshe lived at home and went to her local school, they were understandablyconcerned that wrenching her from those with whom she had established a strong,positive, and long lasting relationship could produce a negative reaction in her thatwould put the success of her return in jeopardy. They therefore asked us to includea “Transition Plan” as part of our recommended support plan. Because transitionsfrom one setting to another, even a move back home, can be traumatic for theperson, and result in an increase in or return of challenging behavior, we thoughtyou would appreciate a look at how we approached it. Our recommended“Transition Plan” and supporting protocols are shown below.

In fact, Rhonda, the girl who was getting ready to move back home, never didwant to see the video tapes once she had returned home. We can only speculate onhow important the preparation of those tapes were for preparing her for her bigmove. At any rate, her return home went very smoothly, without any of the fearednegative reaction nor any apparent pining for the friends she left behind. Whiletransition protocols would of course need to vary as a function of your assessmentfindings and the person’s individual needs and characteristics, we hope you find thefollowing of interest.

Transition Plans:1. Story book: “Rhonda moves home.”

This is a picture story book, usingactual photographs, that tells the storyof Rhonda’s move back to Califor-nia. This is planned as a strategy toprepare Rhonda in a positive way forthis big change in her life.

2. Memory book. Rhonda will, withstaff assistance, take photographs ofNiceplace staff, and other people withwhom she has a positive relationshipwith in Smalltown. The purpose istwo-fold. On the one hand, the pro-cess of taking the pictures provides astructured opportunity for Rhonda tosay good bye to all the friends shehas made at Niceplace, and secondly,it will give her a positive way ofremembering her friends there.Whenever, she is lonely, she can


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take out her memory album and gothrough all of the pictures.

3. Video taped pep talks. This will bea video tape of one minute pep talksby Niceplace staff giving Rhondaencouragement for her move backhome. She should be present wheneach segment of the video is madeand she should have ample opportu-nity to view it after she has movedback home.

4. Fading and transfer of support.This is intended to provide a smoothtransfer of support and services fromNiceplace staff to California staff.The following are key components:a. Alice (The Niceplace staff with

whom Rhonda has the closestrelationship) should accompanyRhonda back home to Califor-nia.

b. Alice, along with designatedCalifornia staff and in consulta-tion with Rhonda’s parents,should establish a schedule androutine for Rhonda that is asfamiliar as possible and whichprovides as little discrepancy aspossible between Maryland andCalifornia.

c. Alice should transfer responsi-bility for the most critical com-ponents of the schedule and rou-tine to the designated Californiastaff:1) Alice should carry out an

activity with Rhonda withCalifornia staff observing.

2) California staff should carryout an activity with Rhondawith Alice observing andproviding feedback as nec-essary and appropriate.

3) California staff should carryout an activity with Rhonda,without Alice’s presence,with verbal report of resultsto Alice for her feedback.

5. Story book: “Rhonda goes to hernew school.” This is a picture storybook, using actual photographs, thattells the story of Rhonda’s first daygoing to her new school. This isplanned as a strategy to prepareRhonda for this new experience. Thisstory book should be introduced

within a couple of days of Rhonda’sreturn to California.

Transition Protocols:

Protocol #1Name: Rhonda BrownDate Protocol Developed: Feb. 21, 1995Protocol Name: Story Book: “RhondaMoves Home”Materials: Story Book, Data SheetSchedule: Once each day, beginning onFeb. 27, 1995Steps:1. Staff should introduce this activity

to Rhonda during the scheduled timeeach day by saying (e.g.):

“Rhonda, its time to read yourstory now. Let’s sit down. Youhave done so well here atNiceplace, so well that it is timefor you to move back home toCalifornia. I know you havemade a lot of friends here andwill miss them a lot. We willmiss you to, but we are proud ofyou and know that you will begood. Let’s read the story.”

2. Staff should read the story to Rhonda,picture by picture.

3. After staff have read the story toRhonda, they should return to thefirst picture and verbally promptRhonda to tell the story in her ownwords, picture by picture. Verbalprompting should be used, if neces-sary, to get Rhonda to advance thestory appropriately, with referenceto each of the pictures in turn.

4. After Rhonda has told the story inher own words, staff should con-clude the session by saying (e.g.)

“Wasn’t that a nice story aboutyou moving home. We can readit again tomorrow. Thank you.”

5. Record results of session on pre-pared data sheet.

Comments: A pleasant, happy, and re-laxed tone and manner should be used toconvey that Rhonda’s move back hometo California is a good and happy thingand something for her to look forward to.

Protocol #2Name: Rhonda BrownDate Protocol Developed: Feb. 21, 1995Protocol Name: Memory AlbumMaterials: Polaroid Camera, Photo Al-bumSchedule: At least once each day, begin-ning on Feb. 27, 1995Steps:1. Staff should discuss the plan to cre-

ate a “Memory Album” with Rhonda(e.g.):

“Let’s make an album for you totake home to California withpictures in it of all of your favor-ite people here at Niceplace.”

2. Have Rhonda verbalize to staff whoshe would like to include in her“memory album.”

3. Seek out one the people who havebeen identified by Rhonda as some-one she would like to remember witha picture.

4. Provide the camera for the picture tobe taken.

5. Take a picture of that day’s subject.Staff should say to the person whosephoto is going to be taken (e.g.):

“May Rhonda take your pictureto include in her “memory al-bum,” so that she can have some-thing to remember you by whenshe moves home to California?”

6. Initially, staff may need to take thepicture with Rhonda looking on.However, as the days progress, withverbal and physical prompting, staffshould encourage Rhonda to take thepicture herself, i.e., sighting in withthe view finder, pressing the button,gently removing the picture withouttouching the print, etc.

7. After a picture has been taken of thatday’s subject, staff should take apicture of that person with Rhonda.That is, there should be two picturesof each person that Rhonda wants amemory of, one by themselves andone with Rhonda.

8. Let Rhonda place the pictures in heralbum when they have dried.

9. Staff should say (e.g.):“Thank you Rhonda. Let’s putthe album in a safe place so thatwe can use it again tomorrow.”


23

10. Continue this process until all pic-tures have been taken and assembled.

11. Have Rhonda carry album with heron the plane trip home.

Comments: It is only a secondary goalthat Rhonda learn to use the camera andto take pictures independently. Priorityshould be given to the process of compil-ing her “memory book.”

Protocol #3Name: Rhonda BrownDate Protocol Developed: Feb. 21, 1995Protocol Name: Motivational VideoMaterials: Blank video tape, CamcorderSchedule: At least 1 one-minute videosegment each day, beginning on Feb. 27,1995Steps:1. Identify “camera” person/director.

This should be someone sympatheticto Rhonda need to have as muchsupport as possible to make her moveback to California successful.

2. This director should identify peoplewho have key personal relationshipswith Rhonda at Niceplace and dis-cuss with them taking the opportu-nity of recording a short one-minute“pep talk” to Rhonda about her movehome.

3. It should be pointed out to them thatthe purposes of this “pep talk” are to:a. Have Rhonda view the move as

a wonderful and positive stepthat is occurring because shehas done so well and is ready togo back home to live with momand dad.

b. To motivate her to do well backhome and to remember all thegood things she learned while atNiceplace.

c. To remember that she has a lotof friends at Niceplace who willmiss and remember her and whoare rooting for her to do well.

4. The director should assure in the“prep” meeting that the person willbe sincere in expressing these kinds

of sentiments and won’t be commu-nicating any negative verbal or non-verbal messages about Rhonda’smove back to California.

5. Rhonda should not be present or beable to listen in on the preliminarymeeting.

6. The camera person/director shouldthen set an appointment with theperson at which time the one-minutesegment will be “shot.”

7. The video tape should be recordedwith Rhonda present.

8. She should be told that ______ wantsto say good-bye to her and to wishher well.

9. Assure that the tape receives safepassage back to California.

Comments: The tape will be played forRhonda whenever she wants to see it,when she seems to be melancholy aboutnot being at Niceplace, when she beensuccessful with something, etc. It will beone way of staying connected to many ofthe people who have been important toher and who truly wish her well.

Make your plans now to attend theEighth Annual Summer Institute on

Assessment & Analysis ofSevere & Challenging

Behavior

July 28 – August 10, 1996Los Angeles, California

For a complete description of the course,registration procedure and fees, contact:

John Q. Marshall, Jr., Seminar CoordinatorInstitute for Applied Behavior Analysis

PO Box 5743Greenville, SC 29606-5743 USA

Telephone: (864) 271-4161 • Fax: (864) 271-4162

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ResourcesTraining Calendar

Alternatives to Punishment: Solving BehaviorProblems with Nonaversive StrategiesG.W. LaVigna and A.M. Donnellan“(This book) provides a comprehensive treatment ofalternatives to punishment in dealing with behaviorproblems evidenced by human beings at various levelsof development and in various circumstances. Basedupon their own extensive observations and athoroughgoing analysis of relevant experimental studies,(the authors) have put together a document that is atonce a teaching instrument, a summary of research, andan argument for the use of positive reinforcement in thetreatment of inadequate or undesired behavior… alandmark volume which should forever lay the ghost thataversive methods (even the ubiquitous ‘time out’) needto be applied to the delinquent, the retarded, or thenormal ‘learner,’ whether in the home, the school, theclinic, or other situations.” — Fred S. Keller (From thePreface to Alternatives to Punishment) - paper, $19.50/ISBN 0-8290-1245-1

The Behavior Assessment GuideT.J. Willis, G.W. LaVigna and A.M. DonnellanThe Behavior Assessment Guide provides the user witha comprehensive set of data gathering and recordsabstraction forms to facilitate the assessment andfunctional analysis of a person’s challenging behaviorand the generation of nonaversive behavioral supportplans. Permission has been granted by the authors toreproduce the forms for professional use. -spiral, $21.00

Progress Without Punishment: EffectiveApproaches for Learners with Behavior ProblemsA.M. Donnellan, G.W. LaVigna, N. Negri-Schoultz, L.FassbenderAs individuals with special educational and developmentalneeds are increasingly being integrated into thecommunity, responding to their challenging behavior in adignified and appropriate manner becomes essential. In

this volume, the authors argue against the use ofpunishment, and instead advocate the use of alternativestrategies. The positive programming model describedin this volume is a gradual educational process forbehavior change, based on a functional analysis ofproblems, that involves systematic instruction in moreeffective ways of behaving. The work provides anoverview of nonaversive behavioral technology anddemonstrates how specific techniques change behaviorthrough positive means. The extensive examples andillustrative material make the book a particularly usefulresource for the field.-paper, $17.95/ISBN 8077-2911-6.

Social Skills Training for Psychiatric PatientsR.P. Liberman, W.J. DeRisi, K.T. MueserThis guide to the application of social skills training withpsychiatric patients systematically provides clinicianswith the ingredients necessary to start and run their ownsocial skills groups. Case examples, transcripts of socialskills training sessions and exercises aid the reader inapplying the training methods.-paper, $25.95/ISBN 0-08-034694-4

The Role of Positive Programming InBehavioral TreatmentG.W. LaVigna, T.J. Willis, A.M. DonnellanThis chapter describes the role of positive programmingin supporting people with severe and challengingbehavior. After discussing the need for positiveprogramming within a framework based on outcomeneeds, variations of this strategy are delineated. Then,assessment and analysis are described as critical forcomprehensive, positive, and effective support. A casestudy of severe aggression is presented to illustrate theprocess of assessment and analysis, the supports thatfollow from this process, and the long term results of thisapproach. - spiral, $5.00

The Periodic Service Review: A Total QualityAssurance System for Human Services &EducationG.W. LaVigna, T.J. Willis, J.F. Shaull, M. Abedi,M. SweitzerEvolving from more than a decade of work at IABA, thisbook provides the tools needed to enhance and maintainhigh quality service delivery. Translating the principlesof organizational behavior management and total qualitymanagement into concrete policies and procedures, thePeriodic Service Review (PSR) acts as both an instrumentand a system. As an instrument, the PSR provides easyto follow score sheets to assess staff performance andthe quality of services provided. As a system, it guidesmanagers step-by-step through 4 interrelated elements— performance standards, performance monitoring,performance feedback, and systematic training — tooffer an ongoing process for ensuring staff consistencyand a high level of quality for services and programs.Practical examples show how the PSR is applied togroup home, supported living, classroom, and supportedemployment settings, and the helpful appendices providenumerous tables and charts that can easily be tailored toa variety of programs. - $36.00/ISBN 1-55766-142-1

Add for Shipping and Handling:1st book (min.) $3.00 Each add’l book $0.50

Mail check or company purchase order to:Institute for Applied Behavior Analysis

333 N. Lantana St. #287Camarillo, CA 93010 USA

Tel: (310) 649-0499 • Fax: (310) 649-3109

Foreign orders must be made in U.S. currency bybank draft or international money order.

(Prices are subject to change without notice.)

Multimedia Training Programs

Competency Based Training ProgramThis is a systematic, criterion-referenced, self-instructional multimedia course for staff developmentthat is customized to your agency. It is being used byadult service agencies and schools in Australia, GreatBritain, Spain and the US. $1,500.00

For more information on the CBT, contact:Diane Sabiston

Institute for Applied Behavior AnalysisPO Box 30726

Savannah, GA 31410-0726 USATelephone: (912) 898-0390 • Fax: (912) 898-8077

Positive Approaches to Solving BehaviorChallengesThis is a 6 module video training program that teachesviewers IABA's person centered multielement model fordeveloping nonaversive support plans for people withchallenging behavior. Two text books, lecture notes andpre/post tests are included. $1,250.00

Staff Supervision and Management Strategies forQuality AssuranceThis is a 4 module video training program based on ThePeriodic Service Review: A Total Quality AssuranceSystem for Human Services and Education. Viewers willlearn concrete strategies to ensure that the highestquality services are being provided by their agency/school. Text book, lecture notes and participant exercisesare included. $750.00

For more information, contact:



Telephone: (864) 271-4161 • Fax: (864) 271-4162

June, 1996 - UK Seminars (London,Taunton); US Seminars (Los Angeles)

July, 1996 - US Seminars (Sacramento,Ca., Philadelphia, Pa.)

August, 1996 - US Seminars (Colorado)October, 1996 - UK Seminars (Manchester,

Sheffield, Telford, Edinburgh, Cardiff,London); Norway Seminars (Oslo)

November, 1996 - Australian Seminars(Perth, Townsville, Brisbane)

Other venues will be arranged andannounced at a later date. For detailed,current information on any seminar,contact:



Telephone: (864) 271-4161Fax: (864) 271-4162

Internet: [email protected] Free (USA and Canada): (800) 457-5575

In Australia - Jeffrey McCubbery (054) 395 305In England - Cherry Connell (01562) 747 881

Assessment and Analysis of Severeand Challenging BehaviorGary W. LaVigna & Thomas J. WillisThis competency-based training practicumprovides participants with the clinical skillsrequired to design a multielement non–aversive support plan. Los Angeles.• July 28 - August 10, 1996London • October, 1996

Positive Approaches to Solving BehaviorChallenges and The Periodic ServiceReviewGary W. LaVigna & Thomas J. WillisPositive Approaches… are 2 and 3 dayseminars that present IABA's multielementmodel for providing person centerednonaversive behavioral supports to peoplewith challenging behavior. These seminarscover Basic Principles of NonaversiveBehavior Support, Behavioral Assessmentand Emergency Management. The PeriodicService Review is a 1 day seminar thatteaches participants a staff managementsystem that ensures the agency/school isproviding quality services.April, 1996 - US Seminars (Chicago, Ill.,

Minneapolis, Minn., Green Bay, Wis.)May, 1996 - US Seminars (Manchester,

NH, Austin, Tex., Little Rock, Ark.)

Printed Resources Available from IABA

institute for applied behavior analysis the …institute for applied behavior analysis, los angeles,...

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