Chapter 13 (Book)

What is the first thing you need to do when using behavior modification procedures to help a person increase a desirable behavior/ decrease or eliminate a problem behavior?

The first thing to do when using behavior modification procedures to help a person with their behavior is to:

• Understand why the person engages in the behavior

Is a functional assessment primarily used for problem behaviors?

Yes, a functional assessment is primarily used for problem behaviors

• It can be used for positive behaviors, but primarily used for problem behaviors, because more helpful to know why the behavior occurs for the intervention

Functional Assessment

A systematic evaluation process used to identify the underlying purpose or "function" of a specific problem or challenging behavior

1. Have to conduct an assessment of the ABCS to determine the antecedent events that evoke the behavior and the reinforcing consequences that maintain it

2. Identify the variables before treating a problem

What is the antecedent, behavior, and consequence of Jacob’s head banging? Recorded by a functional assessment?

The antecedent is: Other kid playing with Jacob’s toys

Behavior: Jacob bangs his head, whines, and throw toys

Consequence: The kids return Jacob’s toys to him

Outcome: Jacob is more likely to engage in head-banging, whining, and toy throwing when other children play with his toys

What is treatment for Jacob’s behavior?

Antecedent: Other kids play with Jacob’s toys

Behavior: Jacob asks for his toys back

Consequence: The kids return Jacob’s toys to him

Outcome: Jacob is more likely to ask for his toys back when other children play with them

How did the treatment help Jacob?

The treatment helped Jacob replace the undesirable behavior (head-banging) with a desirable behavior (asking for toys)

• Uses differential reinforcement to increase a desirable behavior and decrease an undesirable behavior

• This treatment was given after conducting a functional assessment which is always the first step in using behavior modification procedures to decrease problem behaviors

What is the occurence of behavior controlled by?

Behavior is lawful

• The occurence of behavior is controlled by environmental variables (the behavior occurs as a function of environmental variables)

• Respondent behavior is contolled by antecedents stimuli and operant behavior is controlled by antecedents and consequences

What are all of the categories of information from a functional assessment?

The categories of information from a functional assessment are:

• Problem behaviors

• Antecedents

• Consequences

• Alternative behaviors

• Motivational variables

• Potential reinforcers

• Previous interventions

Problem behaviors

Actions that deviate significantly from social, cultural, or age-graded norms, causing distress or danger to the individual or others

Antecedents

An objective description of environmental events preceding the problem behavior

• Includes aspects of the physical environment and the behavior of other people

Consequences

An objective description of environmental events that follow the problem behavior, including aspects of the physical environment and the behavior of other people

Alternative behaviors

Information on desirable behaviors in the person’s skillset that may be reinforced to compete with the problem behavior

Motivational variables

Information on environmental events that may function as establishing operations or abolishing operations to influence the effectiveness of reinforcers and punishers for the problem/alternative behavior

Potential reinforcers

Information on environmental events, including physical stimuli and the behavior of other people

• that may be used as reinforcers and in a treatment program

Previous interventions

Information on the interventions that have been used in the past and their effects on the problem behavior

What is functional assessment the process of?

Functional assessment is the:

• Process of gathering information about the antecedents and the consequences that are functionally related to the occurence of a problem behavior

• Helps you figure out why a problem behavior is occuring

What are the four broad classes of reinforcing consequences or functions of problem behaviors?

The four broad classes of reinforcing consequences/ functions of problem behaviors are:

• Social Positive Reinforcement

• Social Negative Reinforcement

• Automatic Positive Reinforcement

• Automatic Negative Reinforcement

Social Positive Reinforcement

Type of reinforcing consequence where positive reinforcement is given by another person

• Positively reinforcing consequence is delivered by another person after a target behavior, and as the result the behavior is more likely to occur

• May involve attention, assess to activities, or something provided by another person

Examples of Social Positive Reinforcement:

Some examples of social positive reinforcement are:

• Anna receiving attention from her mother as a reinforcer for her problem behavior

• Jacob recieving his toys back from the other kids (tangible) as a reinforcer for his problem behavior

• In both cases, these consequences make the behavior more likely to occur

Social Negative Reinforcement

Type of reinforcing consequence where a behavior is maintained by negative reinforcement from another person

• When another person ends an aversive interaction, task, or activity after the occurence of a target behavior and the behavior is more likely to occur

• Ex. Child complains about chore and gets out of doing a chore

• Being allows to escape strengthens/ reinforces the problem behavior

Example of social negative reinforcement

Some examples of social negative reinforcement are:

• Child complains to his parent, when asked to do a chore gets out of doing the chore as a result of complaining

• Asking a friend not to smoke in your car is reinforced by escape/avoidance of the smell

Automatic Positive Reinforcement

Type of reinforcement where the reinforcing consequence is an automatic consequence of the behavior itself

• When the behavior produces a positively reinforcing consequence automatically and the behavior is strengthened

Examples of Automatic Positive Reinforcement

Some examples are:

• Some behaviors produce sensory stimulation that reinforces the behavior

• Ex. Child with autism who spins objects, might do so because the behaviors produce reinforcing sensory stimulation

• Ex. Going to drink water is automatically reinforced by the drink, whereas asking someone to get you a drink is socially positively reinforced by getting the drink from the other person

Automatic Negative Reinforcement

Reinforcement type were the target behavior automatically reduces or elimates an aversive stimulus as a consequence of the behavior

• Behavior is strengthened

• Escape isn’t from the actions of another person

• Reinforcement when a behavior directly removes or reduces an unpleasant (aversive) stimulus without another person being involved

Examples of automatic negative reinforcement

Ex. Stratching an itch to make it feel better

• Closing a window to reduce the cold

• Binge eating

What are the three functional assessment methods?

The three functional assessment methods are:

• Indirect methods

• Direct observation methods

• Experimental methods (functional analysis)

Brief overview of the three functional analysis methods:

Three functional assessment methods are briefly:

• Indirect methods: information is gathered through interviews and questionaires

• Direct observation methods: observer records the ABCs as they occur

• Experimental methods (functional analysis): antecedents and consequences are manipulated to observe their effect on the problem behavior

What are indirect assessment methods also known as?

Indirect assessment methods are also known as informant assessment methods

• An informant (the client or someone else) is providing information in response to the assessment questions

• Easy to conduct and don’t take that much time, however there may be forgetting of information or bias

What is the goal of a good behavioral interview used in indirect assessments?

The goal of a good behavioral interview used in indirect assessments is that it has information on the problem behavior, antecedents, consequences, and other variables will allow you to form a hypothesis for the problem

• Information from the informant must be clear and objective

What can the interviwer do, once they find a reliable pattern of antecedents and consequences?

Once they find a pattern of antecedents and consequences, the interviewer can develop a hypothesis about the antecedents that have stimulus control over the problem before

• and the reinforcer that maintains it

What happens when conducting a functional assessment using direct observation methods?

When using direct observation for functional accessments, a person observes and records the antecedents and consequences each time the problem behavior occurs

• Can be the person exhibiting the problem behavior or another person

• Observed and recorded in the natural environment where the problem behavior typically takes place

What is a direct observation assessment also called?

A direct observation assessment is also called ABC Observation

• Goal of ABC observation is to record the immediate antecedents and consequences of a problem behavior under normal conditions

What are the advantages and disadvantages of ABC Observation?

The main advantage of ABC observation is:

• More accurate accessment information (observer is recording the antecedents and consequences as they occur)

• Takes more time and effort (than interview/questionaire methods)

• Don’t show a functional relationship (show a correlation of the antecedents and consequences with the problem behavior)

What is the desired outcome of conducting ABC observations?

The desired outcome of conducting ABC observations is:

• A hypothesis about the antecdents and consequences used to develop treatment strategies

When should an observer conduct ABC observations?

An observer should conduct ABC observations, when they are present in the client’s natural environment when the problem behavior is most likely to occur

• Scatter plot can be used to find the time of day that the problem behavior occurs the most

What are the three ways that ABC observations may be conducted?

ABC Observations can be conducted in three ways:

• Descriptive method

• Checklist method

• Interval recording method

Descriptive method of ABC Observation

ABC method of observation where the observer writes a brief description of:

• The behavior, antecedent, and consequence each time that the behavior occurs

• Open ended method of observation

Checklist method of ABC Observation

ABC method of observation where there is a checklist with columns for possible antecedents, behaviors, and consequences

• Observer records the problem behavior each time it occurs with the antecedents and consequences

• Identify patterns that may help determine the function of a behavior

Interval recording (real time) method of ABC Observation

ABC method of observation where:

• Observation period is divided into brief time intervals and it’s marked with whether a behavior occured in that interval

• Record the exact time of each occurence of the behavior

Descriptive assessments

Term used to describe direct and indirect functional assessments

• Antecedents and consequences are described from memory or from direct observation of the events

• Allow you to develop hypotheses about the antecedent variables controlling the problem behavior, but don’t prove that the variables are related to the behavior

• For functional relationship, antecedents/ consequences must be manipulated to show their influence on the problem behavior

Functional Analysis (method)

Experimental method that mainpulates antecedent and consequent variables to demonstrate their influence on a problem behavior

• Shows a functional relationship between the antecedents and consequences with the problem behavior

What is the difference between a functional assessment and a functional analysis?

The difference is that:

• Functional assessment: Is the process of gathering information on antecedents and consequences of a behavior to identify what influence the behavior (3 methods)

• Functional analysis: One of the 3 functional assessment methods. Specifically, it involves manipulating antecedents and consequences to demonstrate a functional relationship

Exploratory Functional Analysis

Experimental method used to find the specific environmental variables (the antecedents and consequences) that maintain a problem behavior, when the underlying reason is unknown

• Has test condition (EO and reinforcer for problem behavior)

• Has control condition (AO and withhold reinforcers for the problem behavior)

Functional analysis type that involves systematically changing environmental conditions (antecedents and consequences) to see which conditions influence the behavior

Hypothesis Testing Functional Analysis

Experimental method used to confirm or reject the functional analysis hypothesis about the function of the problem behavior

What are the steps for conducting a functional assessment?

To develop the treatment, you need to understand the antecedents and consequences that control the behavior, as a result the steps for a functional assessment are as follows:

1. Start with a behavioral interview

2. Develop a hypothesis about the ABC’s of the problem behavior

3. Conduct a direct observation assessment

4. Confirm your initial hypothesis about the ABCs of the problem behavior

5. Conduct further accessments if needed

6. Conduct a functional analysis if needed

What are the essential features of a functional analysis?

The essential features of a functional analysis are:

1. To have a reliable method of data collection to record the behavior in the different experimental conditions

2. Manipulate the antecedents and consequences in test and control conditions, while holding the other variables constant

3. Repeat the test and control conditions to demonstrate experimental control over the behavior

What are functional interventions?

Functional interventions are interventions designed to change the antecedents and consequences of the problem behavior to decrease the problem behavior and increase desirable behaviors

• Include extinction, differential reinforcement, antecedent manipulation

• Used after functional assessment

What does the functional assessment help you identify?

The functional assessment helps you identify:

• the antecedents that evoke a behavior

• reinforcing consequence that maintains the behavior

What are the two types of experimental methods (functional analysis)?

The two types of experimental methods/ functional analysis are:

• Exploratory functional analysis

• Hypothesis-testing functional analysis

They help you establish a functional relationsip between the antecedents, consequences, and the problem behavior