Domain H: Assessment Flashcards
Types of preference and reinforcement assessments
Single Stimulus
Paired Stimuli
Multiple Stimuli
Single Stimulus: A single-stimulus presentation method, also called a “successive choice” method, represents the most basic assessment available for determining preference. Simply stated, a stimulus is presented and the person’s reaction to it is noted.
Paired Stimuli: Each trial in the paired-stimuli presentation method, also sometimes called the “forced choice” method, consists of the simultaneous presentation of two stimuli. The observer records which of the two stimuli the learner chooses. During the course of the assessment, each stimulus is matched randomly with all other stimuli in the set
Multiple Stimuli:The two major variations of the multiple-stimuli preference assessment are multiple stimuli with replacement and multiple stimuli without replacement. The difference between the two is which stimuli are removed or replaced after the person indicates a preference among the dis-played items in preparation for the next trial. In the multiple stimuli with replacement procedure, the item chosen by the learner remains in the array and items that were not selected are replaced with new items. In the multiple stimuli without replacement procedure, the chosen item is removed from the array, the order or placement of the remaining items is rearranged, and the next trial begins with a reduced number of items in the array.
Reinforcer assessment refers to a variety of direct, data-based methods used to present one or more stimuli contingent on a target response and then measuring the future effects on the rate of responding.
Components of an FBA
Indirect Assessments
Direct Assessments
Functional Analysis
An FBA is an analytical process based on observations, review of records, interviews, and data analysis to determine the function a behavior serves for an individual.
It also helps to identify how that function can be met more appropriately and how the environment can be altered to better support positive behaviors.
● FBAs are typically conducted by school psychologists or another qualified member of the Behavior Support Team (or IEP Team)
○ Individuals who receive training are called Behavior Intervention Case Managers or BICMs
● The goal is to help determine placement, identify interventions to decrease problem behavior, and develop a plan to teach appropriate replacement behaviors.
Indirect Assessments
○ Interviews, checklists, rating scales
○ Provide information about the person’s behavior after it occurs and typically per the opinion of someone else (e.g. parents, teachers, caregivers, etc.)
○ Recollections, reconstructions, or subjective ratings of past events
Direct Assessments
○ Test and observations
○ Provide information about a person’s behavior as it occurs
○ May take ABC or scatterplot data
○ May be natural or more systematic
Functional Analysis-involves presenting different conditions systematically to experimentally determine the function of a behavior
Match the intervention to the hypothesized function from the FBA
● Review graphs
● Review checklists and questionnaires
● Make sure to always match the intervention to the function
Example: An FBA Determines that a client engages in hitting for access to toys, which of the following interventions would you use:
A. Teach the client to appropriately gain attention
B. Teach the client to appropriately mand for toys
C. Provide the client with sensory breaks
D. Teach the client to appropriately mand for breaks from work
Behavior assessment scales
Open-ended Interviews
Close-ended interviews
Checklists
Rating Scales
Interviews, checklists, and rating scales are indirect assessment approaches because the data obtained from these methods are derived from recollections, reconstructions, and/or subjective, ordinal-scale ratings of events. Can be conducted with the client and/or with people who come into regular contact with the individual.
Open-ended interviews: encourage the informant to comment freely and without restriction on the number, rate, intensity, and duration of target behaviors and stimuli and conditions that surround the occurrences of these behaviors.
Closed-ended interviews: Requiring the informant to use a Likert scale to rate a series, with a total summary score being generated that provides direction on possible variables.
Checklists:provides a description of specific behaviors and the conditions under which each behavior occurs.
Rating Scales:A rating scale using a Likert system attempts to describe and quantify the target behavior of interest by using an ordinal scale.
Conditional probability components
A conditional probability is the likelihood that a target problem behavior will occur in a given circumstance.
Environmental analysis components
Altering the antecedents for problem behavior can change and/or eliminate either
(a) the motivating operation for problem behavior or
(b) the discriminative stimuli that trigger problem behavior.
For example, the motivating operation for tantrums when a child is asked to wash her hands before lunch could be modified by changing the characteristics associated with lunch so that the avoidance of particular events is no longer reinforcing (e.g., initially reducing table-setting demands, altering seating arrangements to minimize taunts from a sibling or peer, reducing snacks before lunch and offering more preferred foods during lunch).
Criteria for operational definitions
The definition should be objective, referring only to observable characteristics of the behavior (and environment, if needed) or translating any inferential terms (such as “expressing hostile feelings,” “intended to help,” or “showing interest in”) into more objective ones.
The definition should be clear in that it should be readable and unambiguous so that experienced observers could read it and readily paraphrase it accurately.
The definition should be complete, delineating the “boundaries” of what is to be included as an instance of the response and what is to be excluded, thereby directing the observers in all situations that are likely to occur and leaving little to their judgment.
