Chapter 23 Functional Assessment of the Causes of Problem Behavior 1 A functional assessment of the causes of problem behavior involves asking what two questions What are the antecedents i e the SDs the eliciting stimuli or the motivating operations What are the immediate consequences i e the positive or negative reinforcement of the behavior 2 Briefly describe three ways to discover controlling variables of problem behavior One way to discover antecedents and consequences that control problem behavior is to administer a questionnaire with a series of relevant questions that people familiar with the client are asked Another way to discover a problem behavior s controlling variables is to perform an observational or descriptive assessment in which the observational assessor carefully observes and describes the antecedents and immediate consequences of the problem behavior in its natural settings A third way to discover controlling variables is to do a functional analysis which is the systematic manipulation of environmental events to experimentally test their role as antecedents or as consequences in controlling and maintaining specific problem behaviors 3 How does a functional analysis as the term is used in this book differ from other types of functional assessment In this procedure also called an experimental functional assessment the therapist directly assesses the effects of potential controlling variables on the problem behavior 4 Briefly describe how a functional analysis indicated that Susie s self abusiveness was likely maintained because it enables her to escape from demanding adults How did the treatment condition confirm the functional analysis Using an attention condition the therapist approached Susie and voiced concern following instances of self abuse e g Oh Susie what s wrong Using a demand condition the therapist presented various educational tasks to Susie at a rate of one every 30 seconds In other sessions Susie was either left alone in an empty therapy room or was observed when the therapy room contained a number of toys and games Across several sessions the results were clear Susie was frequently self abusive in the demand condition but was rarely self abusive in the other two conditions Armed with the functional analysis Iwata and his colleagues designed a treatment program in which the self injurious escape behavior was extinguished by continuing the demand when Susie engaged in self abuse Instead of backing off following instances of self abuse the therapist physically guided Susie to complete the various educational activities as they were presented By the fifth session Susie s self abuse had decreased to near zero and she was more compliant in performing the tasks Because the treatment was successful we might infer that the therapist had correctly identified the cause of the problem behavior through the functional analysis In other words the success of the treatment validated the results of the functional analysis 5 Describe three limitations of functional analysis First many behavior problems e g those that occur in community settings occur at frequencies of less than one per day Functional analyses for such low frequency behaviors require a great deal of time before sufficient data can be obtained to draw valid conclusions Second functional analyses cannot be applied to extremely dangerous behaviors such as suicide threats Third because functional analyses require scheduling a number of observational sessions the expense and personnel requirements might be prohibitive 6 What are three indicators that a problem behavior is probably maintained by the social attention that follows it Whether attention reliably follows the behavior Whether the individual look at or approaches a caregiver just before engaging in the behavior Whether the individual smiles just before engaging in the behavior 7 Briefly describe the stimulus discrimination training procedure and the resulting stimulus control that enabled the staff to manage Lori s pestering Because total elimination of the behavior would have been extremely difficult and probably not even desirable the staff designed a procedure for eliminating the behavior only partially that is eliminating it only when it was most disruptive Because pestering appeared to be a function of social attention from staff they decided to use this reinforcer in the program Each staff member pinned a 2 x 4 inch card to his or her shirt or dress The card was red on one side and green on the other On the first morning of the procedure a staff member walked quickly toward Lori before she had a chance to begin pestering and said quickly and firmly Hi Lori See my card while pointing to the card I can t talk to you because I m busy and the card is red I ll see you later The staff member then quickly turned and walked away leaving Lori standing in a state of stunned silence Within a few seconds the staff member returned with the green side of the card showing Smiling pleasantly she said Hi Lori See my card It s on the green side and I m not busy so now I can talk to you The staff member then proceeded to engage Lori in a brief conversation When there was a pause in the conversation the staff member suddenly assumed a businesslike attitude turned the card to the red side and said I can t talk to you now Lori My card will be red for awhile I ll see you later The staff member then quickly walked away before Lori had a chance to respond During the first few days of the procedure the green side was usually showing reinforcing Lori s soliciting social interaction with a staff member When the staff had their cards turned to the red side they consistently ignored Lori s attention seeking behavior Over several days the staff introduced the red side for longer and longer periods of time Lori quickly learned to discriminate whether or not a nearby staff member was available for conversation and she responded appropriately After 2 weeks the staff managed their red and green cards individually Over time Lori appeared to learn more subtle discriminations such as distinguishing between staff 8 9 10 11 behaviors when they were busy versus when they were relaxing or socializing If the staff were busy she would refrain from pestering What is an indicator that a problem behavior is being maintained by self stimulatory reinforcement An indicator that the behavior is self reinforcing is that it continues unabated at a steady rate although it has no apparent