Describing the state of the science of ABA, this comprehensive handbook provides detailed information about theory, research, and intervention. The contributors are leading ABA authorities who present current best practices in behavioral assessment and demonstrate evidence-based strategies for supporting positive behaviors and reducing problem…

This classic book presents the basic principles of behavior emphasizing the use of preventive techniques as well as consequences naturally available in the home, business, or school environment to change important behaviors. This book, and its companion piece, "Measurement of Behavior," represents more than 30 years of research and strategies in…

Provides a brief overview of functional behavior assessment and contrasts functional behavior assessment and traditional psychological assessment. Messick's (1995) theory of construct validity is presented and then applied to the evaluation of the validity of functional behavior assessment measures. Finally, implications and guidelines of current…

This study examined the comparative validity of rating scale, structured interview, descriptive observation, and experimental functional analysis approaches to the assessment of the problem behaviors of three young children with autism. The results indicated good agreement across indirect and direct methods. (Contains references.) (Author/DB)

Some individuals who engage in self-injurious behavior (SIB) also exhibit self-restraint. In the present study, a series of three functional analyses were conducted to determine the variables that maintained a participant's SIB, one without restraint items available, one with a preferred and effective form of self-restraint (an airplane pillow)…

An informant functional assessment was used to evaluate closing-task completion by servers and dishwashers at a restaurant. Based on the functional assessment results, an intervention consisting of task clarification, posted graphic feedback, and verbal feedback was implemented and evaluated with a multiple baseline design across two groups of…

Functional communication training (FCT) is a widely used treatment for individuals with developmental disabilities who exhibit severe behavior problems. One inherent challenge of employing FCT as a treatment in the community is that reinforcement for appropriate communication cannot always be immediate or even possible in some circumstances. Of…

Functional behavioral assessment (FBA) is the process of identifying the events in the environment that consistently precede and follow challenging behavior. The use of FBA has increased significantly following the reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act in 1997, which mandated FBAs be conducted when children with…

This article describes the current status and future directions for school-based behavioral interventions. The article is centered on four themes that are considered critical for future research and practice in school-based behavioral intervention work. First, conceptual interventions based on intensity level and purpose (universal, selected, and…

With the emergence of postmodern models and critiques, the concept of symptom functionality has lost favor in the family therapy field. To be reconsidered as clinically valuable it must both demonstrate pragmatic utility and meet ethical and conceptual criteria. Functional hypotheses cannot be believed too strongly, used to blame, or employed…

Antecedent-Behavior-Consequence (A-B-C) recordings are often used in school settings as part of a functional assessment. A number of limitations are associated with A-B-C recordings, and a novel approach for describing data from A-B-C recordings is to compute conditional probabilities that can be graphed in the general operant contingency space to…

Research has shown that noncontingent escape (NCE) and functional communication training (FCT) can be effective treatments for challenging behavior. One limitation of the NCE procedure is the failure to provide explicit contingencies for learning an alternative adaptive behavior. Additionally, problems can arise with a FCT procedure. In this…

The articles in this special Practitioner's Edition of "Psychology in the Schools" share the application of sound educational and behavioral practices in real school and classroom contexts. Given this emphasis in these articles on the applied use of behavioral practices, the purpose of this brief commentary is to highlight and comment on some of…

This review evaluates research on the treatment of challenging behavior in school settings for students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Electronic database searches were carried out to identify studies published between 1995 and 2005. Twenty-six studies were identified. A variety of procedures were implemented in these studies to decrease…

A range of interventions exist to prevent and respond to disruptive classroom behavior. This study documents the efficacy of a function-based intervention conducted using a multiple baseline across settings design. Despite moderately variable levels of treatment fidelity, results suggest a functional relation between the introduction of a package…