Recent trends in conducting school-based experimental functional analyses.

Abstract

Consultation in school settings can be a very complex process that requires an extensive knowledge of school-related problems, understanding of how interpersonal relationships are developed and maintained, and competencies in training specific skills to other practitioners. While evidence for the effectiveness of school-based consultation exists (Gutkin, & Curtis, 1999; Kratochwill, Elliott, & Busse, 1995; Sheridan, Welch, & Orme, 1996), the incorporation of experimental functional analysis (EFA) within school-based consultation is still in need of further refinement. EFA involves observing, recording, and evaluating potential variables maintaining a specific target behavior during a process that involves systematically manipulating these potential mainta ining variables (Iwata, Dorsey, Slifer, Bauman, & Richman, 1982/1994; Vollmer, & Northrup, 1996). One of the primary problems that exists with including experimental functional analysis procedures within school settings is the issue of portability from clinic al to educational settings. These procedures were initially developed within clinical settings that allowed for a high degree of situational, methodological, and analytical control and rigor which may present difficulties when introducing these procedures into school settings. This paper provides a review of some of the current practices involving experimental functional analysis within school settings, a discussion of some of the related issues, and some recommendations for future research and practice. OVERVIEW While EFAs involve structured manipulations of environmental events (Cone, 1997) , the term functional assessment or functional behavioral assessment is the frequently used umbrella term to describe all the procedures involved in assessing the function of a behavior including activities such as interviews, rating scales, and EFA. Ervin et al. (2001) reviewed the empirical literature on school-based functional assessment that appeared in published journals from 1980 to 1999. The review included 100 articles and revealed several limitations in the practice of school-based functional assessment. Among the limitations were a lack of consistent methodologies used, minimal examples of demonstrated use of the procedures across specific popula tions, behaviors, settings, etc., and few studies involving training of school personnel to conduct functional assessments. In addition, the review by Ervin et al. indicated that demonstrations of school-based experimental functional analyses appeared limited due to practical and ethical considerations. These concerns include the need for expert consultants to carry out the procedures, the need for highly controlled situations, the length of time needed to conduct analyses, and the potential risks associated with manipulating putative controlling variables. Since the publication of review by Ervin et al. several examples of how to systematically conduct functional behavioral assessments have been developed and demonstrated to be effective (Ervin et al., 2000; Doggett, Edwards, Moore, Tingstrom, & Wiczynski, 2001; McComas, Goddard, Hoch, 2002; Mueller, Edwards, & Trahant, 2003; Umbreit, Ferro, Liaupsin, & Lane, 2007). While these models provide a framework for determining when and how to implement various direct and indirect assessments, they do not provide a detailed systematic approach for conducting school-based EFAs in a manner that can easily implemented with a variety of students displaying a wide range of problematic behaviors. These models primarily focus upon more indirect methods of interviews, rating scales, and anecdotal data. A model for developing specific variations and modifications to EFAs needed for conducting these procedures within school settings does not appear to available within the literature. While this type of model may be difficult to develop due to the numerous variations and modifications which may be relevant, there does appear to be some clear elements which can be gleaned from the recent literature on school-based EFAs. …