Behavioral assessment allows a clinician to identify environmental events that are contributing to challenging behavior to inform effective treatment. Recent developments in behavioral assessment and treatment have been devoted to creating practical procedures that can be conducted by clinicians in socially relevant settings. However, the extent…

Functional communication training (FCT) reduces escape-maintained challenging behavior but can result in time away from instruction. Instructional time could be maintained if interventions incorporated academic interventions like curricular revision. We compared FCT with extinction to a curricular-revision treatment package involving antecedent…

Individuals diagnosed with intellectual disabilities often suffer from concomitant visual and hearing impairments (Kiani & Miller, 2010; Nielsen, Skov, & Jensen, 2007). This population may also refuse to wear the prescribed prosthetic devices that would improve visual and hearing impairments (Haugen, Aasved, & Bertelsen, 1995). This…

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…

Precorrection is a proactive strategy designed to prevent problem behavior from occurring by identifying contexts likely to occasion problem behavior and facilitating the occurrence of appropriate behavior. To determine the evidence base for this practice we applied the Council for Exceptional Children's (CEC) "Standards for Evidence-Based…

Functional analyses (FA) have proven useful for identifying contingencies that influence problem behavior. Research has shown that some problem behavior may only occur in specific contexts or be influenced by multiple or idiosyncratic variables. When these contexts or sources of influence are not assessed in an FA, further assessment may be…

The differential effects of interventions aligned with indicated and non-indicated behavioral function were studied. Disruptive behavior of a fourth grade child at risk for emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) was assessed through functional behavioral assessment (FBA) procedures. Following the FBA, three interventions were designed, only one…

In this study we examine the impact of the Behavior Education Program (BEP; Hawken, MacLeod, & Rawlings, 2007) with four middle school students who were not responsive to a comprehensive primary prevention program including academic, behavioral and social components. To extend this line of inquiry we (a) conducted a functional behavioral…

A comprehensive function-based intervention was developed to address the chronic, high levels of off-task behavior by a 15-year-old ninth grade Caucasian male with learning disabilities and ADHD. A descriptive FBA identified that the student's off-task behavior was reinforced by peer attention and task avoidance. Intervention involved the…

This study investigated the relationship between problem behaviors and academic variables in classrooms. Functional behavioral assessments conducted with two fourth grade students indicated that academic variables occasioned and maintained problem behaviors. Two behavior support interventions were developed for each participant. One intervention…

The development of functional analysis technology has been an important tool in the assessment and treatment of aberrant behaviors among individuals with developmental disabilities. In some cases, the function of problem behavior may be idiosyncratic in nature, making modifications to functional analyses necessary. In the current study, a…

This quasi-longitudinal descriptive case study evaluated problem behavior for an adolescent boy with developmental disabilities via repeated functional behavioral analysis (FBA) probes during a blinded cross-over from the atypical neuroleptic Risperdal (Risperidone) to Seroquel (Quetiapine). The repeated FBA probes showed no medication differences…

Psychological interventions for migraines typically include biofeedback training, stress-management training, or relaxation training and are implemented without consideration of environmental variables that might maintain migraines or complaints of migraines. An adolescent with daily reports of migraines that negatively impacted school attendance…

Noncompliance with instructions is among the most common behavior problems exhibited by preschoolers. Although three-step guidance compliance procedures have been shown to be effective to increase compliance among some children, they may require that a child be exposed to a number of trials before compliance begins to increase. In this study, a…