In this article, we provide a case example of how telehealth can be used by care providers in their homes to access empirically validated procedures such as functional communication training. As shown in the case example, complex assessment and intervention procedures were implemented successfully by care providers in their homes while receiving…

We evaluated the effects of providing positive reinforcement for task completion, signaled via the presence of a tangible item, on escape-maintained problem behavior displayed by three typically developing children during one-time 90-min outpatient evaluations. Brief functional analyses of problem behavior, conducted within a multielement design,…

The Iowa Department of Education (DE) has a history of partnering with the Biobehavioral Service (BBS) at the Center for Disabilities and Development to consult with educational teams in Iowa schools regarding students exhibiting challenging behavior. In 2009, the DE requested that BBS consultants improve behavior assessment skills of school-based…

This article describes the results of a series of studies that involved functional communication training (FCT) conducted in children's homes by their parents. The 103 children who participated were six years old or younger, had developmental delays, and engaged in destructive behaviors such as self-injury. The core procedures used in each study…

Functional communication training (FCT) is a widely used and effective function-based treatment for problem behavior. The purpose of this article is to present two cases in which FCT was unsuccessful in reducing the occurrence of problem behavior displayed by two young children with an autism spectrum disorder. Both children received the same…

The primary purpose of this study was to evaluate the generalization of mands during functional communication training (FCT) and sign language training across functional contexts (i.e., positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement). A secondary purpose was to evaluate a training procedure based on stimulus control to teach manual signs. During…

Three children who displayed destructive behavior maintained by negative reinforcement received functional communication training (FCT). During FCT, the children were required to complete a demand and then to mand (touch a card attached to a microswitch, sign, or vocalize) to receive brief play breaks. Prior to and 1 to 3 times following the…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of functional communication training (FCT) on the occurrence of non-targeted disruptive behavior. The 10 participants were preschool-aged children with developmental disabilities who engaged in both destructive (property destruction, aggression, self-injury) and disruptive (hand flapping,…

Prior research has suggested that fixed-time (FT) schedules of reinforcement do not necessarily preclude the acquisition of appropriate behavior (e.g., mands) when combined with differential reinforcement (DRA). These studies also note that dense FT schedules are more likely to interfere with DRA packages than lean FT schedules. In the current…

Functional analyses of problem behavior for 4 young boys with developmental delays showed that problem behaviors were maintained by both negative and positive reinforcement. Functional communication training was conducted with one set of training stimuli in which the child's mother presented a work task in the family living room. Pretreatment…

We trained parents to conduct functional analyses (n = 25) and functional communication training (n = 23) in home settings over a four-year period with 25 young children who had developmental and behavioural disorders. For 12 of the children, pre-treatment (baseline) probes and post-treatment stimulus condition probes were conducted to assess…

We describe the use of telemedicine by the Biobehavioral Service at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics to conduct brief functional analyses for children with developmental and behavioral disorders who live in rural areas of Iowa. Instead of being served at our outpatient facility, participants received initial behavioral assessments in…