The goal of functional assessment is to identify events associated with problem behavior. Once these variables are identified, support plans can be based on the events associated with behavioral maintenance. However, in some cases no event is identified as causing problem behavior. Such inconclusive results are a concern because without the identification of events maintaining responding, the basis for intervention is unclear. This article proposes a five-level process for assessing the conditions maintaining problem behavior when social reinforcers are not initially identified. The assessment sequence studies those aspects of the response-reinforcer topography that appear most available to social manipulation in order to discover previously unidentified sources of reinforcement. Such an approach may help extend functional assessments to instances of problem behavior that currently defy identification, and increase the percentage of functional assessments that result in successful outcomes.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Baum, W.M. (1993). The status of private events in behavior analysis . Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 16, 644.
2.
Carr, E.G. (1977). The motivation of self-injurious behavior: A review of some hypotheses. Psychological Bulletin,84, 800-816.
3.
Carr, E.G. (1994). Emerging themes in the functional analysis of problem behavior. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 27, 393-400.
4.
Carr, E.G., Levin, L., McConnachie, G., Carlson, J.I., Kemp, D.C., & Smith, C.E. (1994). Communication-based intervention for problem behavior: A user's guide for producing positive change. Baltimore : Brookes.
5.
Carr, E.G., Newsom, C.D., & Binkoff, J.A. (1976). Stimulus control of self-destructive behavior in a psychotic child. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology , 4, 139-153.
6.
Carr, E.G., Newsom, C.D., & Binkoff, J.A. (1980). Escape as a factor in the aggressive behavior of two retarded children. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis , 13, 101-117.
7.
Carr, E.G., Yarbrough, S.C., & Langdon, N.A. (1997). Effects of idiosyncratic stimulus variables on functional analysis outcomes. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 30, 673-686.
8.
Cataldo, M.F., & Harris, J.C. (1982). The biological basis for self-injury in the mentally retarded. Analysis and Intervention in Developmental Disabilities , 2, 21-39.
9.
Catania, A.C. (1966). Concurrent operants. In W. Honig (Ed.), Operant behavior: Areas of research and application (pp. 213-270). Englewood, NJ: Prentice Hall.
10.
Catania, A.C. (1992). Learning (3rd ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall .
11.
Cooper, L.J., Wacker, D.P., Sasso, G.M., Reimers, T.M., & Donn, L.K. (1990). Using parents as therapists to evaluate appropriate behavior of their children: Application to a tertiary diagnostic clinic. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 23, 285-296.
12.
Derby, K.M., Wacker, D.P., Sasso, G.M., Steege, M., Northup, J., Cigrand, K., & Asmus, J. (1992). Brief functional assessment techniques to evaluate aberrant behavior in an outpatient setting: A summary of 79 cases. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 25, 713-722.
13.
Donahue, J.W. (1993). The unconventional wisdom of B. F. Skinner: The analysis-interpretation distinction. Journal of the Experimental Analysis ofBehavior, 60, 453-456.
14.
Goldiamond, I. (1974). Toward a constructional approach to social problems . Behaviorism, 2, 1-84.
15.
Hamilton, J., Stephans, L., & Allen, P. (1967). Controlling aggressive and destructive behavior in severely retarded institutionalized clients. American Journal of Mental Deficiency, 71, 852-856.
16.
Hayes, S.C. (1993). Why environmentally based analyses are necessary in behavior analysis. Journal of the Experimental Analysis ofBehavior, 60, 461-464.
17.
Herrnstein, R.J. (1970). On the law of effect. Journal of the Experimental Analysis ofBehavior, 13, 243-266.
18.
Horner, R.H. (1994). Functional assessment: Contributions and future directions. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 27, 401-404.
19.
Horner, R.H., & Carr, E.G. (1997). Behavioral support for students with severe disabilities: Functional assessment and comprehensive intervention. The Journal of Special Education, 31, 84-104.
20.
Horner, R.H., & Day, H.M. (1991). The effects of response efficiency on functionally equivalent competing behaviors. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 24, 719-732.
21.
Iwata, B.A., Dorsey, M.F., Slifer, K.J., Bauman, K.E., & Richman, G.S. (1982). Toward a functional analysis of self-injury. Analysis and Intervention in Developmental Disabilities, 2, 3-20.
Kennedy, C.H. (1994). Automatic reinforcement: Oxymoron or hypothetical construct? Journal of BehavioralEducation, 4, 387-396.
24.
Kennedy, C.H., & Meyer, K.A. (1996). Sleep deprivation, allergy symptoms, and negatively reinforced problem behavior. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis , 29, 133-135.
25.
Kennedy, C.H., & Meyer, K.A. (1998). Establishing operations and the motivation of problem behavior. In J. Luselli & M. Cameron (Eds.), Antecedent-based approaches to reducing problem behavior (pp. 329-346). Baltimore: Brookes.
26.
Kennedy, C.H., Meyer, K.A., Knowles, T., & Shukla, S. (in press). Analyzing the multiple functions of stereotypical behavior for students with autism: Implications for assessment and intervention. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis.
27.
Kennedy, C.H., & Souza, G. (1995). Functional analysis and treatment of eye-poking . Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 28, 27-37.
28.
Kennedy, C.H., & Thompson, T. (1999). Health conditions contributing to problem behavior among people with mental retardation and developmental disabilities. In M. Wehmeyer & J. Patton (Eds.), Mental retardation in the 21st century (pp. 211-234). Austin, TX: PRO-ED.
29.
Lennox, D.B., & Miltenberger, R.G. (1989). Conducting a functional assessment of problem behavior in applied settings. Journal of the Association for Persons with Severe Handicaps, 14, 304-311.
30.
Lovaas, I.O., Freitag, G., Gold, U.J., & Kassorla, I.C. (1965). Experimental studies in childhood schizophrenia: Analysis of self-destructive behavior. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 4, 76-84.
31.
Lovaas, I.O., Newsom, C.D., & Hickman, C. (1987). Self-stimulatory behavior and perceptual reinforcement . Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 20, 45-68.
32.
Lubinski, D., & Thompson, T. (1993). Species and individual differences in communication based on private events. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 16, 627-642.
33.
Lucyshyn, J.L., Albin, R.W., & Nixon, C.D. (1997). Embedding behavioral intervention into family ecology: An experimental, single-case analysis. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology.
34.
Mace, F.C. (1994). The significance and future of functional analysis methodologies. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 27, 385-393.
35.
Mace, F.C., & Lalli, J.S. (1991). Linking descriptive and experimental analyses in the treatment of bizarre speech. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 23, 507-514.
36.
Neef, N.A., Mace, F.C., & Shade, D. (1993). Impulsitivity in students with serious emotional disturbance: The interactive effects of reinforcer rate, delay, and quality . Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 26, 37-52.
37.
Nevin, J.A. (1973). The maintenance of behavior. In J. A. Nevin (Ed.), The study of behavior (pp. 201-227). Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman.
38.
O'Neill, R.E., Horner, R.H., Albin, R., Sprague, J., Storey, K., & Newton, J.S. (1997). Functional assessment and program development for problem behavior: A practical handbook (2nd ed.). Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole .
39.
Piazza, C.C., Fisher, W.W., Hanley, G.P., LeBlanc, L.A., Worsdell, A.S., Lindauer, S.E., & Keeney, K.M. (1998). Treatment of pica through multiple analyses of its reinforcing functions. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis , 31, 165-189.
40.
Place, U.T. (1993). A radical behaviorist methodology for the empirical investigation of private events. Behavior and Philosophy, 21, 25-36.
41.
Rast, J., Johnston, J.M., Allen, J.E., & Drum, C. (1985). Effects of nutritional and mechanical properties of food ruminative behavior. Journal of the Experimental Analysis ofBehavior, 44, 195-206.
42.
Rast, J., Johnston, J.M., Drum, C., & Conrin, J. (1981). The relation between food quantity and ruminative behavior. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 14, 121-130.
43.
Repp, A. (1994). Comments on functional analysis procedures for school-based behavior problems. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 27, 409-412.
44.
Rincover, A. (1978). Sensory extinction: A procedure for eliminating self-stimulatory behavior in psychotic children. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 6, 299-310.
45.
Rincover, A., Cook, R., Peoples, A., & Packard, D. (1979). Sensory extinction and sensory reinforcement principles for programming multiple adaptive behavior change. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 12, 221-234.
46.
Rincover, A., Newsom, C.D., Lovaas, I.O., & Koegel, R.L. (1977). Some motivational properties of sensory stimulation in psychotic children. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology , 24, 312-323.
47.
Schaal, D.W., & Hackenberg, T. (1994). Toward a functional analysis of drug treatment for behavior problems of people with developmental disabilities . American Journal on Mental Retardation, 99, 213-140.
48.
Skinner, B.F. (1938). The behavior of organisms: An experimental analysis . Acton, MA: Copley.
49.
Skinner, B.F. (1953). Science and human behavior. New York: Macmillan.
50.
Skinner, B.F. (1974). About behaviorism. New York : Vintage.
51.
Thompson, T., & Symons, F. (1999). Neurobehavioral mechanisms of drug action. In N. A. Weisler & R. H. Hanson (Eds.), Challenging behavior of persons with mental health disorders and severe developmental disabilities (pp. 125-150). Washington, DC: American Association on Mental Retardation .
52.
Vollmer, T.R. (1994). The concept of automatic reinforcement: Implications for developmental disabilities. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 15, 187-208.
53.
Wolf, M.M., Risley, T.R., & Mees, H. (1964). Application of operant conditioning procedures to the behavior problems of an autistic child. Behavior Research and Therapy, 1, 305-312.
