Canal winchester fba presentation

Kevin D. Arnold, Ph.D., ABPP, 2011, all rights reserved

Introduction to Functional Behavior Assessment

Kevin D. Arnold, Ph.D., ABPPPsychologist

Board Certified in Cognitive and Behavioral PsychologyThe Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Therapy of Greater

Columbus, Inc4624 Sawmill Rd., Columbus, OH 43220

614 [email protected]


Basic Concepts


Assessment of the Student’s Contexts

Definition of Context Emphasis: The learning history of the

student, the student’s sensory systems, and the current environments, constitute three equally important data sets into which one must place observed behaviors, and through which one should interpret the factors that could help to enhance, modify, reduce, or develop behaviors.


Functional Contexualism

Importance of seeing the student as a whole, integrated student with behaviors which function to meet motivations within an external and internal context


Contexts as an Essential Construct

1. Context is the basis of the meaning of any behavior2. Functional contextualism is identification of factors that can be identified and affected3. Targets for contextual assessment will be those things that lend to greater understanding of the behaviors’ meaning, and greater potential to modify or manage behaviors.


History and the Learning Context

Learning history and early experiences creating lasting associational learned patterns that reveal themselves in present behavior patterns.

Association Learned Patterns affect the “p” of behavioral emission

Both observed behaviors and internal reactions are a product, in part, of learning from historical experiences.

Factors include medical issues in the student’s history, and family medical history.


Medical History As Context

Environmental factors resulting from medical treatments or settings

Internal factors that might affect learning

Family medical history that could suggest genetically transmitted difficulties

Assessment will benefit from:

•Access to medical records•Access to medical information through

informant interviews•Identify interaction between developmental

issues and timing of medical events


Environment As ContextSpecific aspects of the student’s current environment

become important in later assessment strategies because of both their stimulus properties and their reward potentials.

Assessment will benefit from

•Limiting assessment to main environment--school

•Use of direct observation of environmental factors in the school

•Identify physical characteristics with categories of structural, noise, lighting, tactile, and footing

•Use detailed descriptions of the characteristics


Assessment of the Demands

Demands analysis—the assessment benefits from

•identification of the environments in which the student typically is placed

•identification of the domains and sub-environments in of the demands are made

•identification of the beginning point of the student’s behaviors


•identification of the marker that a student has met the demand, such as being in one’s seat (terminal objective)

•identification of the steps involved in completing the actions necessary to begin and successfully complete the behaviors


Behavioral observations of the student in the environment allow for a determination of

•the capacity of the student to complete each step from the demands analysis

•the capacity of the student to complete each step in the correct sequence without being prompted


Observe student perform or not perform each step in the demands analysis

• Is the behavior exhibited in the natural environment—does the skill exist?

Identify the chained associations of each skill within the sequence

• Determine if the skills have been combined into a behavioral sequence.

• Are prompts are inserted?

• If prompts are inserted, contrive situations so that the chaining can be assessed without the

prompts.

Functional Behavior Assessment



Introduction to FBADifferentiation between historically defined functional

behavior assessment vs.assessment of behavioral functions to acquire rewards or avoid punishers (analog)

•What is the behavior a function of; what is the function of the behavior

•A-B-C analysis is designed to identify the stimuli and contingencies operating on a behavior in a particular context.

•Functional Behavior Assessment is designed to

determine the purpose of a behavior based on contingencies for obtaining rewards or escaping negative consequences.


A-B-C analysis

•create options for modifying environmental factors or reward and punishment delivery.

Functional Behavior Assessment

•identify potential new behaviors •to serve same purposes as those targeted to modification

•manage or modify behaviors through manipulation of stimuli and contingencies

Pragmatic assumption

•behavioral assessment and recommendations should be consistent with the goals of the student’s program


Determination of Target Behaviors

Determination of behaviors (or lack of behaviors) must include

•observable descriptions

Conduct interview protocol to identify the behaviors that should be targeted for observation and assessment.

Ensure that behaviors are defined in observable terms by answer the questions of What, When, How Often, How Long, Where, and To Whom.


A-B-C Analysis

Observation•Direct observation of the events immediately •Preceding and following the target behaviors•Thorough description of each behavioral manifestation •Contextualized within •discrete environments.

Factors that influence•Infer internal factors inferred from other sources (e.g., medical records) that might affect behavior.


Antecedents

•events or internal factors that immediately, or are hypothesized to immediately, precede the exhibition of the behavior

•limit the assumptions about the “causes” of the behavior-either those things observed prior to the behavior, or those things reasonably hypothesized from other sources but not observable (e.g., medical conditions).

Consequences

•subsequent behaviors or emotional expressions (e.g., laughing, relaxation of previously tensed muscles)

•immediate reactions of the environment experienced by the student.


•Consequences can occur during the behavior’s emission, but only after its initiation.

Limitation on Assessor

•The observer should manage his/her assumptions so that inferences about rewards or punishers are not made during the “C” observations.


Contingency-Driven Assessment: Functional Behavior Assessment

Hypotheses about the function of the behavior

•Durand’s four functions/motivators:

escape a punisherobtain or acquire tangible objects obtain attention sensory stimulation

Theoretical Underpinnings

•Behaviors operate to obtain positive rewardsescape negative events (negative rewards).


Context includes both

A-B-C assessment of the environment, and

Historical learned contingencies residing within the student’s internal learned behavior patterns

Known history reports from interviews, and results of A-B-

C analysis provide underpinning for interpretations.

Time-efficient experiments

Assess the validity of hypotheses regarding behavioral functions.

Experiments design possible interventions into assessment to

create recommendations

Use of varied factors and types of behavioral data points

Example of Functional Behavior Assessment


Use of A-B-C Data on Student John

Observations consistently showed the following: Antecedents to aggressive behaviors

included chaotic and noisy environments, refusal to provide an object, and prompts to comply

Behaviors included destruction of property, elopement, and verbal requests for isolation

Consequences included social attention, increased physical proximity, and verbal punishment


Additionally, A-B-C found that when task was well organized, environment focused, and skills were present or taught, the likelihood of elopement, aggression, or requests for isolation did not occur.


Design of Experiments

Hypothesized Motivators: Attention Escape Tangible Object


Experiment 1: Satiation of Attention Adult provided periods throughout day in which

continuous attention versus no attention were applied

Experiment 2: Attention to Aggression Verbal attention was provided systematically to

some aggressive behaviors, and at other times not

Experiment 3: Escape Two methods of escape were offered vs. not

offered in noisy environments Experiment 4: Tangible Objects

Provision or non-provision of requests


Results of FBA When attention was paid to aggression, was

roughly 700 times longer in seconds than the no attention condition

When his requests for objects was fulfilled, he had 0 elopements, compared to 2 elopements when denied the object

In noisy environments, if offered escape he had 0 requests or actions to leave, while when no offer was presented, he made 2 requests for escape

When continuous attention was provided, no aggressive behaviors were exhibited; when no attention was paid to John, he had 1 aggressive behavioral emission.


Conclusions Aggressive behaviors were motivated to obtain

attention and are sustained by it after the aggressive behaviors begin

When an object is requested, denials should be eliminated, and delayed provision strategies implemented with verbal explanations when necessary

When environments are loud and disorganized, John will benefit from the option to exit the environment and training in the use of requesting behaviors for the escapes; or provision of environmental modifications to reduce the noise and confusion


Basic Intervention Strategies


Key Concepts/Strategies

Define Reinforcer Anything that increases behaviors Anything that the student appears to

like Positive Punishment

Delivery of a consequence to decrease or eliminate a behavior


Skills Deficits

Consider that student has not learned, or not learned in sequence, the behavior expected

Typical deficits include tasks skills, chained sequence of skills (e.g., domino), or communication skills


Strategies for Positive Punishment Differential Rewards

Attention, Escape, Self-Stimulation, Objects

Differential implies systematic use of rewards to reduce target behaviors

Can be used to develop skills in conjunction with modeling


Skills Development Rules

No skill: Model Minimal skill: Contingency Contract Increase skill: Non-contingent

Rewards


Differential Strategies

Differential Rewards for Other Behaviors

Differential Rewards for Incompatible Behaviors

Differential Rewards for Alternative Behaviors (Skills Development)


Time Out: Environmental Control Time out is the removal of the student from an

environment For the purpose of breaking a stimulus-

response-reward cycle Care must be taken to have very limited periods

for time out Time out should not be within an inherently

rewarding environment


Time out should not include attention while time out is in effect

Assess duration of behaviors when first using time out to determine maximum length of time out

Begin reducing time as length decreases Provide positive rewards through attention

for behavioral cessation Use empowering language such as “I see

you gained control over your body.” Allow for face-saving re-entry


Health & Medicine

Canal winchester fba presentation