Precursor behavior and functional analysis: A brief review

A concise review of the correspondence between the traditional functional analysis and alternative assessment formats

The functional assessment of challenging behavior (e.g., self-injurious behavior) has evolved over many years of research and practice. This concise review summarizes the positive predictive value, negative predictive value, accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity of common procedural adaptations reported to improve functional assessment safety and efficiency. We conclude with suggestions for clinicians and researchers.

Repetitive Speech and Problem Behavior: Functional Analysis of Precurrent Contingencies

When mands and problem behavior co-occur within an individual's repertoire, a functional analysis of precurrent contingencies helps to identify any relation between the two responses, as well as the function of problem behavior. Repetitive behaviors may function similarly to mands and also co-occur with problem behavior; particularly when repetitive behavior is blocked, or when caregivers refrain from participating in repetitive behavior episodes (e.g., the repetitive behavior involves a verbal or physical interaction with a caregiver). The current study presents assessment and treatment results for two participants diagnosed with autism, who demonstrated repetitive speech and problem behavior. Informal observations suggested that problem behavior occurred when an adult failed to emit a specific response to the participant's repetitive speech. Functional analysis results confirmed the informal observations and suggested that problem behavior functioned as a precurrent response to increase the probability of reinforcement for repetitive speech. We report treatment results and discuss the application of precurrent contingency analyses for problem behavior and repetitive behavior.

When Science Cannot Guide us: A Call to Action for Applied Behavior Analysts

Evidence presented in the ABAI Task Force Report on Contingent Electric Skin Shock (CESS) revealed serious ethical, clinical, and practical problems with the contemporary use of CESS. As a member of the task force, I ultimately concluded that our recommended position statement ("Position A") was a misguided attempt to uphold the field's commitment to client choice. Furthermore, information gathered by the task force supports an urgent call to find solutions to two additional troubling issues: a severe shortage of treatment services for severe problem behavior and the near-absence of research on treatment-resistant behavior. In this commentary, I discuss reasons Position A was not a tenable stance and why we must do better to help our most vulnerable clients.

Functional analyses of undesirable behavior by nonhumans: A concise review

We reviewed 13 articles that used functional analysis in the assessment of undesirable behavior emitted by dogs, cats, a baboon, a lemur, a chimpanzee, and a vulture. The functional analysis produced a clear outcome for 32 of 33 subjects, demonstrating its efficacy with nonhumans. We propose several avenues for further examination of its application to nonhumans.

An Interdisciplinary Approach to Treating Severe Behavior in a Juvenile Justice Facility: Teaching Behavioral Self-Management via Telehealth

Adolescents living in residential juvenile justice facilities often receive mental health services during their stay to address committed offenses, yet some display challenging behavior during moments of conflict within the facility. These challenging behaviors could result in risk of harm to self or others, or the individual may experience punishment from facility staff. The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of an additive voluntary focused intervention for individuals who continued to display challenging behavior despite participation in "treatment as usual" in a juvenile justice facility. We implemented a self-management intervention, supported through interprofessional collaboration, via telehealth with four male adolescents. Using Behavior Skills Training, we taught participants to self-monitor precursors for challenging behavior and identify an alternative behavior to engage in to prevent overt challenging behavior events. Alternative behaviors were responses incompatible with the challenging behavior, or served as a rule to prompt self-management of further behavior. Results show all four participants increased their selection of alternative behaviors when presented with an evocative situation and a precursor for a severe behavior event during simulations. In addition, three participants stated they would use alternative behaviors across precursors not presented during teaching; however, two participants required booster sessions to maintain appropriate responding during simulations. Outside of simulated sessions, facility staff reported modest decreases in participants' challenging behavior during and after the intervention.

Functional analysis of problem behavior: A 40-year review

Extensive reviews of functional analysis literature were conducted 10 (Beavers et al., 2013) and 20 (Hanley et al., 2003) years ago; we expanded this review to capture the vast and innovative functional analysis research that has occurred over the past decade. Our review produced 1,333 functional analysis outcomes from 326 studies on the functional analysis of problem behavior between June 2012 and May 2022. Some characteristics of functional analysis studies were similar across the current and previous two reviews (e.g., child participants, developmental disability diagnosis, use of line graphs depicting session means, differentiated response outcomes). Other characteristics deviated from the previous two reviews (e.g., increase in autistic representation, outpatient settings, use of supplementary assessments, the inclusion of tangible conditions, and multiple function outcomes; decrease in session durations). We update previously reported participant and methodological characteristics, summarize outcomes, comment on recent trends, and propose future directions in the functional analysis literature.

Advances in Our Understanding of Behavioral Intervention: 1980 to 2020 for Individuals Diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder

There are three branches of science of behavior analysis [i.e., experimental analysis of behavior, behavior analysis, and applied behavior analysis (ABA)]. ABA can be defined as a systematic approach to understanding behavior of social interest. For the past 40 plus years, researchers have evaluated ABA and ABA based procedures (e.g., behavioral intervention) as they relate to individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and have implemented behavioral intervention in clinical settings for individuals diagnosed with ASD. In this paper, we discuss some of the pivotal contributions in the field of ABA in research and clinical practice. Additionally, we provide recommendations for the science and clinical practice of behavioral intervention in the next 40 years.