Functional behavioral Assessment - Assignment Example

Running Head: Applied Behavior Analysis Foundational Elements of Applied Behavior Analysis s Functional behavioral Assessment Functional behavioral Assessment (FBA) has been regarded a valuable and important part of applied behavioral analysis program (Moroz and Jones, 2002). The utility of this procedure has been widely recognized and experts believe that FBA assists them searching the answers of several important questions related with the behavior of any individual. It basically focuses upon the particular needs that a person wishes to fulfill through his behavior. Functional assessment is the process that guides and supports the development of an objective and individually tailored support plan (Drasgow et al., 1998). The main purpose of the functional assessment is to learn deeply about the behaviors of people before making any intervention in their lives. Functional analysis FBA is most of the times conducted by a psychologist or behavioral specialist that works in collaboration with the parents or any other person that is close and trustworthy to the patient or the student under study (Powers et al, 1973). The functional analysis allows exploring the real reasons behind the unusual habits and behaviors of the people and helps tackling with the issues and problems that ruin the personality of the person. The psychologist could use the assessment for planning the personality treatment to eliminate the identified personality flaws (Alberto and Troutman, 2009). There are certain unusual attitudes being adopted by some people in order to grab the attention of the surrounding people. In such cases, people generally understand soon that the attitude and acts of the person are his attempt to make him prominent so that all the people will look at him and will not give importance to any other person or thing. The functional assessment not only allows the identification of motive behind such acts but it also helps in exploring the root cause of such behavior (Moroz and Jones, 2002). For instance, if any person is found doing unusual acts to get the attention of the people, the functional analysis helps understanding that the person might behaving in this manner because he has encountered the problems of boredom, poor self occupation skills and limited communicating opportunities (Heward et al, 2005). In some cases, the functional analysis could also revealed that such behavior adopted due to facing negligence from the surrounding environment and thus, the behavior of the person could be properly handled and improved in the light of the understanding gained through FBI. The desire for some tangible things like food, drink or any object also motive people to act in certain manner. In some cases, FBA also concludes that the behaviors of the person are due to their loneliness and depression that might be due to losing any close person in life. In such cases, the individual might wants to escape from the environment and adopts an unusual attitude (Moxley, 2004). Strategies of Functional Assessment There are two major approaches of functional assessment that generally involve the parents. These include Indirect Approach and the Descriptive Approach. The Indirect Approach has been viewed as a simple yet effective approach towards the assessment of functional behaviors. The methods employed under this approach are not based on direct observation. It implies that the psychologist or the behavior readers do not attempt to directly observe the behavior and attitude of the patient but he carried out a series of assessment (Moxley, 2004). There are certain tools and techniques that are used under this method to conduct the indirect assessment. These instruments include interviews, questionnaire, rating scales and daily activities recording charts. The questionnaires, charts and scales are not completed by the patient himself but the parents or the surrogate person completed this chart after getting instruction from the behavior reading person (Alberto and Troutman, 2009). Another approach towards the functional behavioral assessment is the descriptive approach. This approach proposes that the psychologist will carry out the direct observation of the patient and this observation will occur in natural setting. In this approach also, there are some instrument used for the assessment of the functional behavior however, there is a major difference that these records, scales and charts are maintained by the psychologist himself rather directing the parents or segregate person to do so. The observations could be made on different sites where the person under observation tends to spend his time in daily routine like school, market and home (Gallagher and Keenan, 2000). Techniques of Functional Assessment It is imperative that an effective behavioral intervention plan much based on some effective techniques that could work for proper handling and treatment of the students. Some of the important techniques commonly used by the psychologists and teachers while conducting FBA include teaching, coaching, manipulating antecedents and consequences (Zirpoli, 2005). It is unveiled that the behavioral plans and strategies could serve best to meet the purpose, if the psychologist use appropriate techniques to support the effectiveness of the plan (Drasgow et al., 1998). Teaching the students or patient to deal with the setting events is an important technique of FBA. The events include like physical arrangement within the classroom, seating arrangement or sequent of academic instructions. When the students are made open to deal with such changes, it become possible to conduct better FBA and their behaviors could also be efficiently improved. The patients are also taught to deal with certain unusual conduction like delays; change in working patters etc (Gallagher and Keenan, 2000). Another important technique of FBA is manipulating the consequences and antecedents. It implies that the psychologist should work to take control of the events that occur earlier and led the patient towards certain type of behavior. Moreover, it is important to control the desired behaviors like feedback so that the incompatible behaviors could be handled accordingly. Another important technique is implementing changes to the classroom curriculum (Gallagher and Keenan, 2000). This technique insists that the behavior reader should encourage oral response of the students rather asking them to provide written response towards instructions or any reading. The teachers could also adopt multi-level instruction to encourage students participating in the activities. In this way, the psychologist or the teachers could effectively carryout the functional assessment and could also perk up and effectively deal with the unusual behaviors through these techniques (Moroz and Jones, 2002). Evidences to affirm Generalization Generalization refers to the positive outcome of the applied behavioral analysis that tells about the expansion of the performing abilities and skills of the students beyond the initial conditions that were set for the acquisition of the skills. Generalization might occur across different people and material used for teaching and instructing throughout the process of functional behavior. When the student becomes able to acquire any skill or ability with one instructor and within one specific setting, then it become possible to teach the same skill to the students after inducing certain modification and changes. (Zirpoli, 2005) The teachers could introduce several variations in the learning process once the student shows the signs that he has learnt the basic instructions or material. A simple example of generalization is the process of learning colors. When the teacher observe that the student has not learn different colors that were taught to him through a table or a book, he could take him around the schools to see the same colors present in different other places. In this way, the color recognizing ability of the student is generalized and they become able to exercise their skills in different other setting rather remain limited to the table or book from where they initially gained the knowledge (Moroz and Jones, 2002). When the students successfully identify the colors at school, park or their home, it could be said that the skill has been successful generalized to the natural environment and the students is not able to recognize the colors without consulting towards the chart or the book that the teacher initially used for teaching. Generalization is an important part of functional assessment because it tells about the capability of the student to use his acquired skills in settings with certain variations (Powers et al., 1973). References Alberto, P.A., & Troutman, A.C. (2009). Applied behavior analysis for teachers (8th Ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill Drasgow, E., Halle, J. W., & Ostrosky, M. M. (1998). Effects of differential reinforcement on the generalization of a replacement mind in three children with severe language delays. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 31, 357-374 Moroz, K. & Jones, K. (2002). Effects of positive peer reporting on children’s social involvement. School Psychology Review, 31, 235-245 Zirpoli, T.J. (2005). Behavior management: Applications for teachers (4th Ed.).Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill Powers, R. B., Osborne, J. G., & Anderson, E. G. (1973). Positive reinforcement of litter removal in the natural environment. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 6, 579-586. Heward, WL., Heron, TE, Neef, NA, Peterson, SM, Sainato, DM, Cartledge, G, Gardner, III, R, Peterson, LD, Hersh, SB, & Dardig, JC (eds.) (2005). Focus on behavior analysis in education: Achievements, challenges, and opportunities. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall/Merril Moxley, R.A. (2004). Pragmatic selectionism. The philosophy of behavior analysis. The Behavior Analyst Today, 5, 108-125 Gallagher, S. M., & Keenan, M. (2000). Independent use of activity materials by the elderly in a residential setting. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 33, 325-328 Read More