Functional Assessment

Question 1

what is functional assessment?

Answer 1

n order to clinically treat challenging behaviour we must first identify the context in which it occurs.
FA describes a variety of systematic procedures used to isolate environmental events that occasion (induce) and maintain challenging behaviour.

Question 2

what is involved in FA?

Answer 2

FA typically involves the process whereby challenging behaviours are clarified by interviewing significant others,

Question 3

what does such functional assessment reveal?

Answer 3

this form of assessment reveals correlational information regarding contexts that might be influencing the challenging behaviour.

Question 4

what does the systematic examination involved in FA reveal?

Answer 4

the systematic examination of context aims to demonstrate a causal relationship between specific contexts and challenging behaviour. this latter technique is typically referred to as a functional analysis, Iwata 1982/ 1994.

Question 5

what is basic assessment protocols?

Answer 5

four broad classes of methods may be used for functional assessment:

• naturalistic observations
• interviews
• psychometric instruments
• analogue assessment

Question 6

what does analogue assessment involve?

Answer 6

analogue assessment involves the experimental manipulation of variables across different observational conditions to demonstrate causality between the problem behaviour and environmental variables.

Question 7

what are the preferred

functional assessment methods?

Answer 7

naturalistic observation and hypothesis testing techniques are preferred

Question 8

informant and descriptive assessment are involved in FA. describe Phase 1/ Informant Assessment:

Answer 8

• interview with key social agents: to identify events associated with occurrence of behaviour
• cognitive assessment is to identify functional cognitive competencies
• communication assessment is to identify functional communication or competencies
• medical assessment is to establish medical and psychiatric status, and to list medications used
• analysis of previous interventions and motivational assessment is to identify possible activities for environmental enrichment, and identify potential reinforcers.

Question 9

informant and descriptive assessment are involved in FA. describe Phase 2/ Descriptive Assessment

Answer 9

• description of problem behaviour, is to describe topography of target behaviour, precursor behaviours and aftermath behaviours, record the frequency of the behaviour
• historical analysis is to identify historical factors associated with increased and decreased in response strength
• scatterplot is to identify times of day associated with behaviour
• antecedent analysis is to identify naturally occurring events associated with the occurrence and nonoccurrence of behaviour
• consequence analysis to identify naturally occurring maintaining events for behaviour
• ecological analysis is to evaluate goodness of fit of the environment with the needs and characteristics of the individual

Question 10

what is the 5 term contingency model that guides FA?

Answer 10

5 term contingency model includes: 
relationships
family
access to satisfying activities life choices
dignity and respect. 

…they aim to identify antecedents and consequences of problem behaviours, contextual settings and broader quality of life variables.

Question 11

interviews, and functional assessment protocol?

Answer 11

interviews are indirect measures in the sense that they do not require direct observation of the person who engages in challenging behaviour.
interviews rely on objective verbal reports by a third-party.

Question 12

what is an interview that can be helpful in identifying motivational conditions?

Answer 12

Setting Event Checklist

Question 13

what are the commercially available interviews that clinicians can use to identify consequences potentially maintaining challenging behaviour

Answer 13

Motivation Assessment Scale/ MAS

Question 14

what is the Motivation Assessment Scale/ MAS?

Answer 14

interviews used to identify consequences maintaining challenging behaviour.

• MAS has 16 questions that may help a clinician decide where the person’s behaviour is related to tension, escape or access to tangible items.
• they are relatively inexpensive, readily available and easy to use.

Question 15

what are direct observation protocols that can be employed following an interview?

Answer 15

the Scatterplot assessment is one of the most frequently used of observational tools.

• the scatter plot is used to identify periods of time when behaviour occurs which may in turn allows for more detailed assessment of challenging behaviour during those time.
• a light grey shading of colour is used in the cell if there was one occurrence of the challenging behaviour during the 30 minute. Darker shading in the cell if there were two occurrences and filled in the square with the black shading if there were three or more occurrences during a 30 minutes period.

Question 16

what did Brian Iwata do?

Answer 16

an experimental functional analysis involves the systematic examination of the person’s challenging behaviour under a number of predetermined social conditions.
these social conditions are designed to identify the specific consequences that are maintaining challenging behaviour.
a functional analysis consists of exposing the person to at least 4 social conditions, such as: social attention, academic demand, alone and play.