Lee Kern

Student-Assisted Functional Assessment Interview:

Functional assessment procedures have emerged as an important tool for understanding challenging behaviors in classrooms and other settings. A variety of methodologies are currently available for conducting a functional assessment. In this article, we describe the Student-Assisted Functional Assessment Interview. The purpose of this interview is to solicit information directly from students about their preferences and their appropriate and inappropriate behaviors. The results of the interview can be used to assist in developing hypotheses regarding the function of a target behavior.

Choice as an Intervention to Improve Behavior: A Review of the Literature

In recent years, choice making has been evaluated as an intervention for people with disabilities. This review examines applied research during the past two decades using choice as a distinct intervention or as part of an intervention package. Fourteen studies published between 1975 and 1996 were identified that implemented choice as an intervention to increase or decrease a target behavior. These studies applied choice-making in the following three broad areas: (a) vocational or domestic activities; (b) academic activities; and (c) leisure, recreational, or social activities. All of the studies indicated that choice-making procedures resulted in behavioral improvements with some, if not all of the participants.

An Analysis of Self-Evaluation and Videotape Feedback for Improving the Peer Interactions of Students with Externalizing and Internalizing Behavioral Problems.

We assessed the effects of a package consisting of self-evaluation via videotape feedback procedures on inappropriate and appropriate peer interactions of children with externalizing and internalizing behavioral problems. The children were selected from three inclusive classrooms, and all of the experimental sessions included peers who did not evidence behavioral problems. Multiple baseline and reversal designs were used to evaluate the impact of the intervention package on the diverse patterns of behavior displayed by the different groups of children. The results showed substantial increases in appropriate interactions for children with internalizing behavioral problems and substantial decreases in inappropriate interactions for children with externalizing behavioral problems. Two measures of social validity confirmed the presence of the externalizing and internalizing characteristics and offered validation for the effects of the intervention. The results are discussed in relation to the existing literature and the need for further research on social skills, generalization, and comprehensive support for children with emotional and behavioral problems.

Analysis and intervention with two topographies of challenging behavior exhibited by a young woman with autism

A functional analysis was conducted with a young woman who engaged in both self-injury and aggression. Self-injury functioned to access preferred stimuli while aggression served an escape function. Intervention, a package consisting of gradually increasing the delay to reinforcement (access or escape), mand training, and extinction was effective for decreasing self-injury. However, this intervention was less effective in reducing aggression. A modification of the intervention, in which the gradual delay procedure was eliminated, resulted in reductions in aggression. The findings are discussed in the context of assessment and intervention selection with individuals who engage in multiple topographies of challenging behavior.

Some Characteristics of Nonaversive Intervention for Severe Behavior Problems

Among the most salient of developments in intervention for people with autism and other developmental disabilities has been the emergence of nonaversive orientations to the treatment of problem behavior. This salience has been reflected in numerous books and articles (e.g., Evans & Meyer, 1985; Horner, Dunlap, Koegel, Carr, Sailor, Anderson, Albin, & O’Neill, 1990; LaVigna & Donnellan, 1986; Meyer & Evans, 1989; Repp & Singh, 1990), resolutions by advocacy and professional organizations (see Singh, Lloyd, & Kendall, 1990), federally sponsored conferences (e.g., Horner & Dunlap, 1988), and research efforts designed to develop more precise and effective procedures.

Republication of “Functional Analysis of Classroom Variables for Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders”:

Functional assessment and functional analysis are processes that have been applied successfully in work with people who have developmental disabilities, but they have been used rarely with students who experience emotional or behavioral disorders. In the present study, five students in elementary school programs for severe emotional disturbance participated in a comprehensive functional assessment process designed to yield a useful understanding of their desirable and undesirable behaviors. Interviews, record reviews, and direct classroom observations led to the development of individualized hypotheses regarding relationships between classroom events and the occurrence of target behaviors. Subsequently, direct manipulations (i.e., functional analyses) were conducted to test each of the hypotheses in the context of regularly-occurring classroom activities. These analyses demonstrate important influences that certain classroom variables can exert over individual student’s behavior. The process and results are discussed with regard to the need for improved methods for understanding student responding, and the benefits that functional assessment can offer programs of educational and behavioral support.