Research in practice: Practical approaches to conducting functional analyses that all educators can use.

Abstract

Abstract Educators strive to provide services to many complex problems in our schools. Identifying assessment methodologies that serve multiple outcomes and assist with a variety of educational decisions is paramount. Functional Analysis (FA) procedures have greatly advanced our understanding of how to change problem behaviors. Such assessment procedures can be especially useful in the classroom because they focus on the environmental etiology rather than the topography of problem behaviors as a basis for the selection of treatment procedures (Mace & Roberts, 1993). Thus, FA procedures can be used to identify the function of the problem behavior (e.g., escape-motivated or attention-seeking) by examining events related to its occurrence. This information can then be used to develop a positive behavioral intervention plan that directly addresses the identified function of the behavior. (Nelson, Roberts, & Smith, 1998). ********** In general, any behavior may be maintained by positive or negative reinforcement. A FA can help determine whether a problem behavior is maintained by positive or negative reinforcement. Often problem behaviors are maintained by negative reinforcement or escape from or avoidance of aversive stimuli, which in turn increases the amount of the problem behavior. Likewise, problem behavior can also increase because it is maintained by positive reinforcement contingent upon the occurrence of the problem behavior (e.g., attention). A FA requires the direct experimental manipulation of key environmental variables hypothesized to be associated with the function of the problem behavior in order to make causal rather than descriptive statements about the function of behavior (Homer, 1994; Mace, Lalli, & Lalli 1991; Touchette, MacDonald & Langer, 1985). Despite the wealth of knowledge generated from FA research, relatively few studies have empirically demonstrated the influence of antecedent events on problematic behavior (Michael, 1982, 1993). Iwata (1994) proposed two factors that may account for the limited exploration of antecedent influences on behavior. First is the inability to describe the effects of setting in terms of behavioral mechanism. The second factor is the absence of a methodology to establish the functional relation between setting events and behavior while ruling out other potential sources of influence. Within in this context, this paper will discuss a methodology to examine the relationship between academic variables and behavior. Specifically, a FA methodology that uses Curriculum-based Assessment (CBA) to identify antecedent events that occasion classroom behaviors will be described. The Relationship between Academic Difficulty and Off-Task Behavior One of the most common reasons for referral to school support personnel is off-task behavior--students who are inattentive, distractible, and/or fail to complete assignments. Many educators believe there is a collateral relationship between the difficulty level of academic tasks and classroom behavior. More recently, researchers have been expanding FA procedures so that the relationship between academic and social behaviors in the classroom setting can be empirically examined (Lee, Sugai, & Homer, 1999; Roberts, 2001; Roberts, Marshall, Nelson & Albers, 2001). These efforts have demonstrated that the difficulty of academic materials may increase escape and/or avoidance responses of students. For example if the function of behavior were escape from a difficult task, it would be possible to conduct an FA by systematically manipulating the presentation of easy and difficult academic tasks. Conversely, if the difficulty of the academic task is reduced, one should observe a reduction in the rate or percentage of problem behaviors. Until recently, this hypothesis was not empirically validated within regular classrooms in part because a methodology for examining this relationship was not established. …