Gregory P. Hanley

Functional Communication Training: A Review and Practical Guide

Functional communication training (FCT) is one of the most common and effective interventions for severe behavior problems. Since the initial description of FCT by Carr and Durand (1985), various aspects of the FCT treatment process have been evaluated, and from this research, best practices have emerged. This manuscript provides a review of these practices as they arise during the development of effective FCT interventions.

Functional Assessment of Problem Behavior: Dispelling Myths, Overcoming Implementation Obstacles, and Developing New Lore

Hundreds of studies have shown the efficacy of treatments for problem behavior based on an understanding of its function. Assertions regarding the legitimacy of different types of functional assessment vary substantially across published articles, and best practices regarding the functional assessment process are sometimes difficult to cull from the empirical literature or from published discussions of the behavioral assessment process. A number of myths regarding the functional assessment process, which appear to be pervasive within different behavior-analytic research and practice communities, will be reviewed in the context of an attempt to develop new lore regarding the functional assessment process. Frequently described obstacles to implementing a critical aspect of the functional assessment process, the functional analysis, will be reviewed in the context of solutions for overcoming them. Finally, the aspects of the functional assessment process that should be exported to others versus those features that should remain the sole technological property of behavior analysts will be discussed.

Toward Effective and Preferred Programming: A Case for the Objective Measurement of Social Validity with Recipients of Behavior-Change Programs

The adoption of effective behavioral interventions and teaching strategies for young children is largely influenced by the extent to which stakeholders find the procedures appropriate and the effects important. Stakeholder values have been described by measures of social validity in applied behavior analysis, and these measures have been a part of behavior-analytic research and practice since their important characteristics were described in the late 1970s. The typically subjective nature of the social validation process appears, however, to have marginalized children and other usual recipients of behavior-change procedures (i.e., individuals with autism or intellectual disabilities) from social validation processes. Therefore, the importance of including recipients of behavior-change procedures in the social validation process and methods for doing so are described in this paper.

Do children prefer contingencies? An evaluation of the efficacy of and preference for contingent versus noncontingent social reinforcement during play.

Discovering whether children prefer reinforcement via a contingency or independent of their behavior is important considering the ubiquity of these programmed schedules of reinforcement. The current study evaluated the efficacy of and preference for social interaction within differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA) and noncontingent reinforcement (NCR) schedules with typically developing children. Results showed that 7 of the 8 children preferred the DRA schedule; 1 child was indifferent. We also demonstrated a high degree of procedural fidelity, which suggested that preference is influenced by the presence of a contingency under which reinforcement can be obtained. These findings are discussed in terms of (a) the selection of reinforcement schedules in practice, (b) variables that influence childrens preferences for contexts, and (c) the selection of experimental control procedures when evaluating the effects of reinforcement.

PRESCHOOLERS' COMPLIANCE WITH SIMPLE INSTRUCTIONS: A DESCRIPTIVE AND EXPERIMENTAL EVALUATION

Compliance is often used to describe a situation in which a child completes instructions from adults, and low levels of compliance are a common teacher concern. We conducted a descriptive assessment that showed that compliance was relatively stable for individual children, variable across children, and positively correlated with age. The impact of six antecedent variables (proximity, position, physical contact, eye contact, vocal attention, and play interruption) on compliance was assessed for 4 children. Next, the effects of three-step prompting were assessed alone, in combination with the antecedent variables, and at different integrity levels for 2 children. Results of the experimental analyses showed that compliance gradually increased with the addition of each antecedent variable for 2 of the 4 children. Three-step prompting in combination with the six antecedent variables increased compliance for the remaining 2 children, and high compliance levels were maintained until treatment integrity was decreased to 20% of full strength. The utility of this naturalistic compliance assessment is discussed, as are the relevant experiences that give rise to acceptable levels of compliance in preschool classrooms.

An Evaluation of the Relative Efficacy of and Children's Preferences for Teaching Strategies that Differ in Amount of Teacher Directedness.

The manner in which teachers mediate childrens learning varies across early childhood classrooms. In this study, we used a multielement design to evaluate the efficacy of three commonly implemented strategies that varied in teacher directedness for teaching color- and object-name relations. Strategy 1 consisted of brief exposure to the target relations followed by an exclusively child-led play period in which correct responses were praised. Strategy 2 was similar except that teachers prompted the children to vocalize relations and corrected errors via model prompts. Strategy 3 incorporated the same procedures as Strategy 2 except that a brief period of teacher-initiated trials was arranged; these trials involved the use of prompt delay between questions and prompts, and correct responses resulted in tokens and back-up activity reinforcers. Childrens preferences for the different teaching strategies were also directly assessed. Strategy 3 was most effective in promoting the acquisition and generalization of the color- and object-name relations and was also most preferred by the majority of children, Strategy 1 was the least effective, and Strategy 2 was typically the least preferred. Implications for the design of early educational environments based on evidence-based values are discussed.

EXAMINING THE GENERALITY OF CHILDREN'S PREFERENCE FOR CONTINGENT REINFORCEMENT VIA EXTENSION TO DIFFERENT RESPONSES, REINFORCERS, AND SCHEDULES

Studies that have assessed whether children prefer contingent reinforcement (CR) or noncontingent reinforcement (NCR) have shown that they prefer CR. Preference for CR has, however, been evaluated only under continuous reinforcement (CRF) schedules. The prevalence of intermittent reinforcement (INT) warrants an evaluation of whether preference for CR persists as the schedule of reinforcement is thinned. In the current study, we evaluated 2 childrens preference for contingent versus noncontingent delivery of highly preferred edible items for academic task completion under CRF and INT schedules. Children (a) preferred CR to NCR under the CRF schedule, (b) continued to prefer CR as the schedule of reinforcement became intermittent, and (c) exhibited a shift in preference from CR to NCR as the schedule became increasingly thin. These findings extend the generality of and provide one set of limits to the preference for CR. Applied implications, variables controlling preferences, and future research are discussed.

PREVENTION OF PROBLEM BEHAVIOR BY TEACHING FUNCTIONAL COMMUNICATION AND SELF-CONTROL SKILLS TO PRESCHOOLERS

We evaluated the effects of the preschool life skills program (PLS; Hanley, Heal, Tiger, & Ingvarsson, 2007) on the acquisition and maintenance of functional communication and self-control skills, as well as its effect on problem behavior, of small groups of preschoolers at risk for school failure. Six children were taught to request teacher attention, teacher assistance, and preferred materials, and to tolerate delays to and denial of those events during child-led, small-group activities. Teaching strategies included instruction, modeling, role play, and differential reinforcement. Six additional children randomly assigned to similarly sized control groups participated in small-group activities but did not experience the PLS program. Within-subject and between-groups designs showed that the PLS teaching procedures were functionally related to the improvements and maintenance of the skills and prevention of problem behavior. Stakeholder responses on a social acceptability questionnaire indicated that they were satisfied with the form of the targeted social skills, the improvements in the childrens performance, and the teaching strategies.

A FURTHER ANALYSIS OF THE VALUE OF CHOICE: CONTROLLING FOR ILLUSORY DISCRIMINATIVE STIMULI AND EVALUATING THE EFFECTS OF LESS PREFERRED ITEMS

We sought to address limitations of prior research that has isolated choice as an independent variable. Childrens preferences for the opportunity to choose were evaluated in a concurrent-chains arrangement in which identical consequences were available in choice and no-choice conditions. Results demonstrated that preference for choice, in and of itself, was (a) evident in children, (b) not controlled by illusory discriminative stimuli such as the amount from which to choose, and (c) generally unaffected by less preferred and potentially unimportant consequences.

Treatment of Escape-Maintained Behavior with Positive Reinforcement: The Role of Reinforcement Contingency and Density.

Functional analyses suggested that the disruptive behavior of three preschool children was maintained by escape from demands. While keeping the escape contingency intact, we conducted (a) a density analysis in which the children earned preferred items for task completion according to two schedules that varied in reinforcement density, and (b) a contingency analysis in which preferred items were delivered either contingent on task completion or provided noncontingently. Edible delivery (regardless of density or contingency) without escape extinction resulted in clinically significant decreases in the disruptive behavior of one child, and consistent but nonclinically significant reductions for a second child. An increase in compliance was observed for all three children. No effects of reinforcement density were detected at the parameters manipulated in this study, and no differences were observed between contingent and noncontingent reinforcement conditions. Escape extinction was eventually implemented with two children, and was effective with one of them. Additional interventions (instructional fading and embedding) were required to reduce the remaining child’s rate of disruptive behavior. Our results suggest that noncontingent delivery of preferred items may be effective in decreasing escape-maintained behavior and promoting compliance for some children.