Notes on Functional Analysis and Treatment

Reinforcement Strategies

• Avoiding Pre-Session Reinforcement:
  • Do not give parents tips on bringing specific reinforcers.
  • The clinic has common tangible reinforcers like iPads.
  • Parents often bring preferred items naturally.
  • Parents bringing these items without prompting shows they are a natural part of the child's environment.
  • In rare cases, after an initial interview and observation, parents may be asked to bring specific items for analysis.

Reinforcing Behaviors in Functional Analysis

• Comprehensive Reinforcement:
  • Historically, only dangerous behaviors were reinforced during analysis.
  • This is problematic, as it leads to an increase in dangerous behaviors during the assessment.
  • Richard Smith and Churchill's article highlighted the importance of precursors.
  • Some practitioners then only reinforced non-dangerous precursors.
  • Reinforcing only precursors can cause dangerous behavior to persist.
  • Reinforce both precursors and dangerous behavior.
  • Precursors are more likely to occur regularly and are the desired behavior.

Learning Functional Analysis

• Training Resources:
  • Current training is the primary resource.
  • Recommend reading the Java study (Jyn et al.).
  • This study outlines commitments.

Experimental Control in Functional Analysis

• Degrees of Functional Control:
  • Functional control is often seen as binary, but it exists in degrees.
  • High/Strong Control: Control condition at zero, test condition elevated with no variability.
  • Moderate Control: Control condition at zero, test condition variable.
  • Weak Control: Elevated rates in control condition, variable rates in test condition.
  • All are differentiated analyses, indicating some understanding of behavioral function.
  • Stronger control is preferable.

Implications of Experimental Control

• Strong Control:
  • Access to all reinforcers and establishing operations.
  • Likely can use a function-based treatment exclusively.
• Moderate Control:
  • Some other establishing operation is likely affecting the value of the reinforcer.
  • Likely can still use a function-based treatment.
  • Skill development may be slower due to waxing and waning motivation.
  • Punishment or token-based programs are likely unnecessary because behavior can be controlled in the control condition.
• Weak Control:
  • All reinforcers have not been identified.
  • May lead to behavior modification (using arbitrary rewards and punishers).

Research Findings on Functional Control

• Joshua Jelle's Literature Review: With operational definitions, Jelle evaluated functional control across different analysis formats:
  • Standard Analysis: Yielded weak control more than 50% of the time.
  • Efficient Analyses (trial-based, brief): Often showed no functional control.
  • Interview-Informed Synthesized Contingency Analysis (IISCA): Demonstrated strong control most of the time.

Goal of Strong Functional Control

• Achieving Humane Goals:
  • Demonstrate strong control of behavior before treatment.
  • IISCA offers the strongest probability of control.

Treatment Process

• Treatment Components:
  • Move beyond simple Functional Communication Training (FCT) to complex FCT.
  • Use specific procedures for tolerance training to ensure generality.

Case Study: Dale

• Dale's Data:
  • Problem behavior maintained by reinforcement of mands, escape to tangibles, and attention.
• Baseline:
  • First column of data from the functional analysis (test condition data).
  • Do not recreate baselines; use test condition data from the FA.
• Functional Communication Response (FCR):
  • "My way" was chosen as an omnibus mand.
  • Terminates establishing operations and provides access to reinforcers.
• FCT Plus Extinction:
  • Problem behavior no longer results in reinforcement.
  • Simple FCR ("my way") does result in reinforcement.

Simple FCR Implementation

• Teaching Dale:
  • Someone stood behind Dale and prompted, "Say my way" when Sandy approached with homework.
  • When Dale said,