The application of functional behavioral assessment (FBA) procedures for the purposes of developing interventions for students with emotional and behavioral disorders (E/BD) has received considerable attention since the 1997 reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The purpose of this paper is to review the…

Several recent studies indicate that cheating has become both more prevalent and more socially acceptable. In this article I draw parallels between market values and student attitudes about cheating. They include: (1) reduction of a broad range of goods to their economic value, (2) use of non-reciprocity as a guiding principle, (3) valuing the…

School disciplinary policies and practices are essential features of life in U.S. schools. Conventional approaches to school discipline--including conduct codes and security methods, suspension, corporal punishment, and teachers' methods of managing student behaviors--rely primarily on deterrence, control, and punishment to maintain order.…

This article considers the perseverative and passive behavior patterns common in children with intellectual disabilities and often the focus of educational interventions. It suggests that, instead of always being an impediment to progress, these behaviors may sometimes be appropriate and adaptive responses of a slow mind to coping in a world that…

This article presents a detailed example of how faculty and staff at one middle school implemented team-based functional behavioral assessment (FBA) planning procedures with a student exhibiting recurring minor problems. Insets list tasks and considerations for an FBA, a sample formatted antecedent-behavior-consequence summary of team member…

Provides a wide range of information for 100 articles published from January 1980 through July 1999 that describe the functional assessment (FA) of behavior in school settings. Results indicate that FA is useful for ascertaining the variables that control high-frequency problem behaviors in students with low-incidence disabilities and for…

Describes three types of communication assessment: structural assessment; functional assessment; and process assessment. Contends that these traditional approaches are inappropriate for assessing organizational change. Proposes that complexity theory explicitly focuses on evolutionary processes and thus is a more appropriate foundation for…

Assessments were made of possible functions of overactive behaviors for two adults with severe intellectual disability using both ecological analyses and cluster analyses. Two ecological approaches suggested that the behaviors of both clients were related to levels of environmental stimulation. Cluster analyses showed that the behaviors, though…

This study applied the methodology of an analog experimental (functional) analysis of behavior to the specific interaction between parents and three children with mental retardation exhibiting food refusal and related mealtime problems. Analog results were highly consistent with other forms of functional assessment data, including interviews,…

This article describes the functional assessment (FA) strategies used in Project DATA (Developmentally Appropriate Treatment for Autism), a school-based model program for young children with autism. These strategies consist of five interrelated steps: (1) gathering information, (2) brainstorming, (3) making a plan, (4) implementing the plan, and…

We conducted functional analyses and identified reinforcers for problem behavior for three individuals with developmental disabilities. Based on results of the functional analysis, we evaluated the rate, probability, delay, and duration of reinforcement for problem and appropriate behavior during descriptive parent-child observations. Results…

Leisure items (e.g., games, toys) are commonly made available as controls during attention conditions of functional analyses (Ringdahl, Winborn, Andelman, & Kitsukawa, 2002). However, Ringdahl et al. raised questions about this practice. This paper reviews research that supports and conflicts with the inclusion of leisure items as controls,…

In this study, 18 teachers and 32 of their students who had reading difficulties were randomly assigned to one of two assessment conditions. In the functional assessment condition, consultants identified functional relationships among environmental events and targeted reading behaviors to develop an intervention plan. In the empiric condition,…

Functional analysis methodology is an assessment strategy that identifies sources of reinforcement that maintain problem behavior and prescribes individualized interventions that directly alter the conditions under which behavior occurs. In this article we describe the environmental determinants of problem behavior, methods for conducting…

Since many problem behaviors of individuals with mental retardation are maintained by multiple functions, this project developed the Functional Assessment for multiple CausaliTy (FACT), an informant-based, forced-choice measure designed to identify the most prominent function associated with the occurrence of problem behaviors. This paper…