Topic 13

Question 1

Define functional assessment

what are the 7 categories of information

Answer 1

• a set of procedures that allow relationships between a behaviour and its antecedents and consequences to be determined
  1. objective description of antecedents
  2. objective description of problem behaviours
  3. objective description of consequences
  4. motivational variables
  5. potential reinforces
  6. potential alternative/competing behaviours
  7. effectiveness of previous interventions

Question 2

define negative and postive reinforcement with it’s subtypes

Answer 2

• negative reinforcement: escape
• positive reinforcement: social, automatic, tangible, activity

Question 3

functional assessment methods

explain indirect methods

give examples and list pros and cons

Answer 3

• data on the ABCs from the target persons or others who knoe them well, absed on their memory of what happend
• examples: interviews; questionnaires; rating scales
• pros: fast and easy to do
• cons: less accurate; only provide correlation between antecedent/consequences and behaviour

Question 4

functional assessment methods

explain direct observation methods

what are the 4 examples and list the pros and cons

Answer 4

• data on the ABCs gathered as the behaviour occurs in its natural environment
• unstructured; structured; scatterplot analysis (recording is divided into intervals); ABC observation
• pros: more accurate
• cons: involve more work and time to record and summarize; only provide correlation between antecedent/consequences and behaviour

Question 5

functional assessment methods

Explain experimental methods (functional analysis)

define exploratory, hypothesis testing

Answer 5

• an experimenter systematically manipulates antecedents and consequences to determine their effect on the target behaviour in a structured situation
• test conditions: present different EO and possible reinforcer
• control condition: present an AO and withold possible reinforcers for problem behaviour
• comapre conditions to determine which have an effect on behvaiour
• exploratory: to determine patterns of relationships that are not yet clear
• hypothesis testing: to confirm predictions from informant or descriptiove assessment

Question 6

How to conduct a functional assessment

6 steps

Answer 6

1. use indirect methods first
2. formulate a hypothesis about possible antecedents and consequences of beahviour
3. then perform direct observation
4. determine if data from direct observation support the hypothesis
5. if all assessments are consistnet, then develop behaviour support plan that addresses the funciton of the behaviour
6. if assessments are inconsistent, then conduct functional analysis to confirm hypothesis