Functional behavioural assessment in people with intellectual disabilities

Abstract

The presence of problem behaviours often impede an individual's quality of life and ability to be fully included in the environments of his or her choice. Functional behavioural assessment has been gaining widespread use in all settings in which people with intellectual disabilities might present problem behaviours. Understanding the function of these problem behaviours is a critical component to developing an effective intervention plan. This paper presents a review of the current knowledge and findings regarding functional behavioural assessments. The recent studies on functional behavioural assessment have supported the well established fact that success in reducing behaviour problems is closely linked to understanding the function of the problem behaviour. Implementing functional behavioural assessment in school settings has been met with some challenges. Although a complex process, recent research has shown promise in training nonprofessionals in learning to carry out a functional behavioural assessment and implementing the information gained from the functional behavioural assessment into an effective behavioural intervention. The necessity of conducting a functional behavioural assessment is uncontested. Developing a behavioural intervention on the information obtained from a thorough functional behavioural assessment is part of best practice in the field of intellectual disabilities. We have the tools to conduct, and train others to conduct, a comprehensive functional behavioural assessment.