Consulting

Help for professionals and parents

I provide consultation services to professionals, parents, and others who serve individuals with problem behavior(s). Typically, I complete a Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA) and work from the results of that assessment to provide recommendations. To ensure that all concerned understand my recommendations, I attend a staffing and/or provide training in how to implement my recommendations. I will provide as much training and ongoing consultation as you wish.

Purpose of a Functional Behavior Assessment

The purpose of an FBA is to determine the function(s) of an individual's targeted behavior(s). The function of a behavior is the purpose that the person is attempting to achieve through the behavior. When designing an intervention, thorough knowledge of the function(s) of a behavior is invaluable.

Components of a Functional Behavior Assessment

All FBAs should include at least the following:

• an explicit definition of the behavior[s] of concern;
• identification of stimulus conditions in which each behavior is more likely to occur [e.g., time of day, environment, task demands];
• identification of stimulus conditions in which each behavior is less likely to occur;
• identification of the consequences that are likely to be maintaining each behavior; and
• a hypothesis of the function[s] of each behavior.

Tools for Conducting a Functional Behavior Assessment

There are different tools that can be used for conducting an FBA. These tools can be used alone or in conjunction with one or more of the others. Each tool has advantages and disadvantages.

Review of records: A review of records is an examination the individual's records that are relevant to the behavior assessment. Among the records that might be relevant are: (a) current and previous IEPs; (b) current and previous behavior plans; (c) current and past behavior assessment; (d) psychiatric records; and (e) social history records. The primary advantage of a review of records is that it can provide a nice historical overview of the individual. The disadvantages of a review of records include: (a) often it does not provide much current information; and (b) there can be large gaps in the records.

Functional assessment interview: A functional assessment interview (FAI) is a structured interview of people who know the individual well. It also can be accompanied by a structured interview of the targeted individual. FAIs have the advantage of obtaining information from persons who know the targeted individual well and from the targeted individual if the individual is included in the interview process. Disadvantages of FAIs include the possibility that some of the reported information may not be valid. For example, in FAIs the respondents must rely on memory to answer the questions in the interview, and, at times, they might not accurately recall events about which they are questioned. At other times, individuals also may intentionally answer questions inaccurately. These disadvantages can lead to the possibility of invalid data.

Direct Observation: Direct observation has the advantage of not relying on memory so there is less likelihood that the data collected will be invalid. The primary disadvantage of direct observation is that, often, it is not possible to directly observe all occurrences of a behavior. As such, the data collected are a sample of the behavior and may not be a representative sample. Techniques can be used to increase the likelihood that the data collected are a representative sample. These techniques include collecting data over a period of time and in multiple settings and situations. Both of these can be time and resource consumptive.

Functional analysis of behavior: This procedure essentially is an experiment in which variables are manipulated in order to determine which situations are prompting the behavior and/or which consequences are maintaining the behavior. The advantage of a functional analysis of behavior is that it is generally considered to produce the most valid results. A major disadvantage is that in many situations, a functional analysis can be difficult to conduct. For the most valid results, all variables must be controlled, with only one variable manipulated at a time. In addition, for the most valid results, the functional analysis often should be conducted in naturalistic situations, and it is often difficult to control all variables in a naturalistic situation. Another disadvantage of a functional analysis is that it is often very time and resource consumptive.

Trial teaching: Trial teaching is a procedure that can be used to determine how an individual might respond to interventions or components of interventions. For example, at times it is valuable to know how an individual will respond to various manipulations of reinforcement such as: (a) what types of reinforcement are effective; (b) how often reinforcement must be delivered; (c) and how the individual responds to thinning reinforcement (decreasing reinforcement). This type of information can be very valuable when designing an intervention.