Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Functional Assessment of the Causes of Problem Behavior Chapter 23.

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Functional Assessment of the Causes of Problem

Behavior

Chapter 23


What Is Functional Analysis?

• Examination of the relationship between behavior and its antecedents and consequences

• Antecedents– Eliciting stimuli

• Consequences– Positive or negative reinforcement


Types of Assessment

• Questionnaire– Completed by those familiar with client

– Reliability issues

• Observation– Observe what is going on– Form hypotheses about antecedents and consequences


Types of Assessment

• Functional Analysis– Systematic manipulation of environmental events to experimentally test their role in behavior maintenance

– Limitations•Infrequent behaviors•Not applicable in dangerous behaviors

•Expensive and time-consuming


Causes of Problem Behavior

• Attention from Others – Social Positive Reinforcement– Attention follows behavior– Individual approaches attention giver prior to behavior

– Smiling prior to behavior– Treatment

•Give attention at other times•Reduce attention to behavior



• Self Stimulation – Internal Sensory Positive Reinforcement– Continue doing the behavior because it offers a desired level of stimulation

– Behavior continues at a steady rate

– Treatment:•Increase sensory stimulation•Reduce stimulation level of behavior



• Environmental Consequences – External Sensory Positive Reinforcement– Behavior maintained by reinforcing sights and sounds from the nonsocial external environment

– Behavior continues undiminished even though it appears to have no social consequences over numerous occasions

– Treatment:• Sensory reinforcement of a desirable alternate behavior



• Escape from Demands – Social Negative Reinforcement– Escape from aversive stimuli– Problem behavior as a way to escape various undesirable demands

– Behavior only happens when certain types of requests are made of the person

– Treatment• Persist with requests (demands) until compliance

• Teach other responses• Program where level of difficulty of requested behavior starts low and is gradually increased



• Elicited – Respondent– Some behavior is elicited rather than controlled by consequences

– Behavior consistently occurs in a certain situation or in the presence of certain stimuli

– Behavior seems involuntary– Treatment

•Establishing one or more responses that compete with problem behavior (counterconditioning)



• Medical– Problem emerges suddenly and does not seem to be related to any changes in the individual’s environment

– Behavioral diagnostics• Therapist diagnoses the problem after examining antecedents, consequences, and medical and nutritional variables as potential causes of problem behaviors

• Develop treatment plan based on diagnosis

– Physician should be consulted prior to treatment


Figure 23-1 – Causes of operant problem behavior. “Causes of operant problem behavior can be further subdivided into the categories shown in Figure 23-1.” (page 286)

Categories of the causes of operant problem behaviors.


Guidelines for Conductinga Functional Assessment

• Define the problem behavior• Identify antecedents• Identify consequences• Consider health/medical/personal variables• Form hypothesis based on information

collected• Collect data to determine if hypothesis is

correct• If possible, do a functional analysis by

directly testing the hypothesis• Design treatment program• If treatment is successful, accept the causal

analysis as confirmed• If treatment is not successful, redo the

functional analysis

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Functional Assessment of the Causes of Problem Behavior Chapter 23.

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