Effective treatment of challenging behaviors in young children with autism spectrum disorder requires identifying consequences that maintain the behavior under specific environmental circumstances. Assessment strategies help to identify environmental factors setting the occasion for the behaviors to continue to occur. Many studies have used…

In the current study we used telehealth to train six educators from three rural schools to conduct multiple stimulus without replacement (MSWO) preference assessments. Three of the educators were subsequently trained to implement functional analysis (FA) of problem behavior. Behavioral skills training (BST) was used to teach each educator to…

Many teachers and parents of young children with disabilities, particularly autism spectrum disorder (ASD), are familiar with young children who engage in repetitive and restrictive behaviors such as flapping, spinning, and rocking. This type of restrictive and repetitive behavior, or stereotypy, can be common, over time it can become problematic…

This study evaluated the assessment and treatment of problem behaviors related to rituals for children with autism. After functional analyses, we used a multiple-probe design to examine the effects of functional communication training (FCT) plus extinction and schedule thinning as a treatment package for problem behavior and appropriate…

Structural behavioral assessment (SBA) involves a series of heuristic approaches similar to those used with functional behavioral assessment (FBA). It involves assessing contextual variables that precede the occurrence of a behavior. These variables have also been termed antecedents, setting events, or establishing operations. Once these variables…

Setting variables such as location of parent training, programming with common stimuli, generalization of discrete responses to non-trained settings, and subsequent reduction in child problem behavior may influence the effectiveness of interventions. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of home-versus clinic-based training…

In fall 2014, the Council for Exceptional Children's (CEC) Board of Directors approved a proposal from the Professional Standards and Practice Committee (PSPC) to develop a set of high-leverage practices (HLPs) for special education teachers. The CEEDAR Center at the University of Florida, which is funded by the U.S. Department of Education's…

A defining feature of autism spectrum disorders is atypical behaviors, e.g., stereotypy, noncompliance, rituals, and aggression. Deaf and hard of hearing individuals with autism present a greater challenge because of additional issues related to their hearing status. One conceptualization of problem behavior is that it serves a communication…

This article discusses an approach to assessment and intervention of challenging behavior in early education settings that integrates a focus on instructional conditions and early academic skill development. The authors suggest this approach allows for a better understanding of the relationship between social behavior and child performance with…

There are many instructional approaches that had been arranged in special education, especially with learning disabilities. Although the field of learning disabilities has been a safe harbor for dozens of techniques, a number of others had been beached. It is regrettable that data rarely played a role in whether a technique was dispatched or…

This investigation examined how two commonly employed measures of functional impairment (the "Child and Adolescent Functional Assessment Scale" [CAFAS] and the "Global Assessment of Functioning" [GAF] scale) perform with respect to assessing levels of functional impairment and, hence, identifying rates of serious emotional…

Individuals who engage in problem behavior should be taught an appropriate behavior that meets the same function and replaces the problem behavior. Often, there are several appropriate replacement behaviors, and guidance is needed to choose among them. This study employs a hybrid single subject design with a baseline, alternating treatments, and…

We review the concept of response to intervention (RtI) as it is being applied to emotional and behavioral disorders (EDB) in the early part of the 21st century, examining how it differs from and incorporates features of other approaches to addressing those problems, including pre-referral interventions, applied behavior analysis, functional…

We treated a child with intestinal failure who consumed solids on a spoon but not liquids from a cup. We used spoon-to-cup fading, which consisted of taping a spoon to a cup and then gradually moving the bowl of the spoon closer to the edge of the cup. Spoon-to-cup fading was effective for increasing consumption of liquids from a cup. (Contains 2…

The use of experimental analyses in determining behavioral function for problems behaviors is well established. Such analyses lead to functional treatment prescriptions for the target problem behavior. However, data indicative of the strength of the replacement behavior are often not collected during a functional behavioral assessment. I examine…