Practical Functional Assessment: A Case Study Replication and Extension with a Child Diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Abstract

Recent literature has described the analysis and treatment of problem behavior that involves an open-ended interview to inform the conditions under which problem behavior is likely to occur, conducting a synthesized contingency analysis, and implementing treatment that includes functional communication training, delay and denial tolerance training, and increasing the amount of demands presented after a denial (e.g., Hanley et al. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 47(1), 16–36, 2014). This process has been described as an Interview-Informed Synthesized Contingency Analysis (IISCA) or practical functional assessment. Much of the literature evaluating the practical functional assessment has originated from authors within the same research group. The purpose of the present study was to replicate and extend previous research on the practical functional assessment with a different group of researchers and in a different setting (i.e., an early intensive behavioral intervention clinic). This study sought to extend previous literature by including additional measures of social validity on the open-ended interview, contingency analysis, treatment, and pre-post measures on parental stress. The results were similar to previous research with an overall reduction in problem behavior and increases in functional communicative responses and compliance with demands.