BST 1030 Week 3, Class 2 Lecture Notes PDF

BST 1030: Week 3, Class 2 Thursday January 23rd, 2025 Developed by Marina Jiujias. Cannot be shared or reproduced without permission.  Agenda for Today Introduction to Functional Behaviour Assessment Review: operant learning and functions of behaviour...

BST 1030: Week 3, Class 2 Thursday January 23rd, 2025 Developed by Marina Jiujias. Cannot be shared or reproduced without permission.  Agenda for Today Introduction to Functional Behaviour Assessment Review: operant learning and functions of behaviour Basic components of a Functional Behaviour Assessment Review of reduction assessment assignment Developed by Marina Jiujias. Cannot be shared or reproduced without permission.  What we’ve covered so far: Developed by Marina Jiujias. Cannot be shared or reproduced without permission.  What are Some behaviours that people may learn to engage in through environmental behaviours to contingencies can be harmful to the person reduce and themselves or to others, and can create barriers around learning new skills, accessing different why is this environments, and maximizing a person’s important? overall quality of life. Developed by Marina Jiujias. Cannot be shared or reproduced without permission.  Treating Challenging Behaviour: Brief History (Neef, 2001) In the early days of the field of ABA, there was a heavy focus on behaviour modification. Recognition that behaviour is learned through environmental contingencies, but very little recognition of function (reinforcement that maintains behaviour). Belief that immediate contingencies could override history. Due to these beliefs, more intrusive procedures were frequently used (e.g., punishment, heavily contrived reinforcers, etc.). Developed by Marina Jiujias. Cannot be shared or reproduced without permission.  Treating Challenging Behaviour: Brief History (Neef, 2001) Over time, aversive procedures began to be questioned and research into interfering behaviour moved forward in a positive way. Behavioural assessment procedures started to focus on determining the maintaining reinforcing variables for problem behaviours (a.k.a., the function of the behaviours). Reinforcement increases all behaviour - not just those that are considered appropriate. Behaviour does not occur without reinforcement! Developed by Marina Jiujias. Cannot be shared or reproduced without permission.  Treating Challenging Behaviour: Brief History (Neef, 2001) The field of ABA moved away from the modification model and started to adopt an analysis model. Analysis = figuring out patterns and relationships between behaviour and environment and using this information to match treatments to function based on assessment results. Today, ABA focuses on assessing and treating interfering behaviour with a focus on why that behaviour occurs. Developed by Marina Jiujias. Cannot be shared or reproduced without permission. What is Functional Behaviour Assessment? “… a client-driven process that often involves multiple methods aimed at determining the specific environmental variables that maintain problem behaviour and the conditions under which it is likely to occur” (Newcomb & Hagopian, 2018, p. 101, as cited in Sigafoos et al., 2021, p. 6). Effective assessment procedures are necessary so that we can design function-based, effective, efficient intervention procedures. Developed by Marina Jiujias. Cannot be shared or reproduced without permission.  Goals of Functional Behaviour Assessment 1) Create a clear description of the interfering behaviour (operational definition). 2) Identify immediate antecedents that predict when the behaviour likely will and will not occur. 3) Identify setting events that predict when the behaviour is more or less likely to occur. 4) Identify consequences that maintain the interfering behaviour. 5) Create a summary statement that describes the hypothesis of the function of the behaviour based on assessment results and identifies a replacement behaviour. 6) Collect baseline data prior to beginning an intervention. (O’Neill et al., 2015) Developed by Marina Jiujias. Cannot be shared or reproduced without permission.  Key Concepts in Functional Behaviour Assessment There are two foundational concepts Operant Learning that are essential to understand when we’re talking about assessment Functions of Behaviour for behaviours targeted for reduction. Developed by Marina Jiujias. Cannot be shared or reproduced without permission.  Operant Learning Operant behaviour exists within a 4-term contingency; this framework allows us to examine the relationship between relevant MO’s, immediate antecedents, the behaviour, and immediate consequences. Behaviours are learned through the process of operant learning (all voluntary behaviour – regardless of whether we are working to increase or decrease). To understand why interfering behavior occurs and how we can aim to replace it with more appropriate and meaningful skills, we need to gather information on these components of the learning process. Developed by Marina Jiujias. Cannot be shared or reproduced without permission.  The 4-Term Contingency Motivating Antecedent Behaviour Consequence Operation Developed by Marina Jiujias. Cannot be shared or reproduced without permission. What does “function of behaviour” mean? Why is the behaviour occurring? Why is this happening? What is the reason for this behaviour to be occurring right now? What is the purpose of this behaviour? What is the person getting or getting out of engaging in this behaviour? Developed by Marina Jiujias. Cannot be shared or reproduced without permission.  Functions of Behaviour Terminology: Socially Mediated vs. Automatic Socially Mediated Automatic No one else is required to Someone ELSE is required to be present to contact be present to deliver a reinforcement (engaging in consequence in some way the behaviour is reinforcing to contact reinforcement. in and of itself). Developed by Marina Jiujias. Cannot be shared or reproduced without permission. Please Note! In one of your readings (Cipani, 2018), “automatic” functions are referred to as “direct” sources of reinforcement. This means the same thing. Developed by Marina Jiujias. Cannot be shared or reproduced without permission.  Functions of Behaviour Terminology: Positive vs. Negative Positive Reinforcement Negative Reinforcement Something is REMOVED Something is ADDED to the from the environment as a environment as a result of result of the behaviour the behaviour happening happening (consequence). (consequence). The person avoids or The person gets something. escapes something. Developed by Marina Jiujias. Cannot be shared or reproduced without permission.  Person can contact Automatic positive reinforcement reinforcement themselves (sensory) Obtain desirable events, items, Socially mediated activities positive reinforcement (attention) Person needs someone else to contact reinforcement Socially mediated Target positive reinforcement (access to tangible) behaviour Person can escape or Automatic negative avoid aversive stimuli reinforcement Avoid/escape themselves (sensory) undesirable events, items, activities Someone else removes Socially mediated aversive stimuli for the negative reinforcement person (removal of attention, task, events, objects) Developed by Marina Jiujias. Cannot be shared or reproduced without permission.  Why do we need to understand function? ▪ Topography (what the behaviour looks like) by itself doesn’t tell us how to design an effective intervention. ▪ One person may run away when asked to perform a certain task because they have learned to avoid the work by running away (socially mediated negative reinforcement – escape). ▪ Another person might run away to gain attention because in the past, the caregiver has chased them when they run (socially mediated positive reinforcement – attention). Developed by Marina Jiujias. Cannot be shared or reproduced without permission. Same Topography, Different Function (Cipani, 2018) Developed by Marina Jiujias. Cannot be shared or reproduced without permission.  It is never simple (unfortunately) It is rare for one singular function to be the sole maintaining variable for any behaviour. Multiply controlled behaviours (multiple functions) is being recognized as more and more common. Consider: does anyone ever escape a task to just sit and do nothing? Fortunately, we have procedures to systematically determine the various factors involved in understanding why behaviours are developed and maintained. Developed by Marina Jiujias. Cannot be shared or reproduced without permission.  The use of various assessment procedures to determine the environmental variables related to the occurrence of the target behaviour for reduction / replacement. What is a This information helps determine the function Functional of behaviour to inform the implementation of function-based treatment. Behaviour Assessment? Completing a functional behaviour assessment is a process – not a single activity! Developed by Marina Jiujias. Cannot be shared or reproduced without permission.  Processes typically used within a functional behaviour assessment include a descriptive assessment and a functional analysis. A descriptive assessment, which is comprised What is a of observation-only procedures: Functional Indirect methods of assessment Direct methods of assessment Behaviour A functional analysis specifically changes Assessment? aspects of the environment to test hypotheses about function (more on functional analysis in Class 4.1). Developed by Marina Jiujias. Cannot be shared or reproduced without permission.  Purpose: gather information from relevant significant others in the client’s life who know them well AND the target behaviour well. Indirect Interviews: some structured, some Assessment open-ended (helps to inform later, direct assessments). Rating scales/checklists: rating statements or answering yes/no questions about the behaviour to start to generate function hypotheses. Developed by Marina Jiujias. Cannot be shared or reproduced without permission.  Indirect / Informant Methods Used to help practitioners gather information related to the interfering behaviour. The measures used are based on a report from the individual seeking services themselves, or others very familiar with the individual. While a good start, these procedures alone are insufficient to make intervention decisions (need to pair with direct observation). Developed by Marina Jiujias. Cannot be shared or reproduced without permission.  Indirect / Informant Methods Information typically gathered from indirect tools: background information about the learner; information about what the behaviour looks like, where/when it typically occurs, with whom, what makes it more likely/less likely to occur, etc. Information about setting events: Conditions or events that are not immediate antecedents, but ‘set the stage’ for immediate antecedents to impact the behaviour. Sleep, eating habits, illness, family events, etc. Developed by Marina Jiujias. Cannot be shared or reproduced without permission.  Indirect / Informant Methods Benefits of using indirect assessment measures: Easy to use (require little training, not a lot of time) Can serve as a good starting point to inform how to proceed with other assessment measures Good way to establish stake-holder buy-in (we rely on those close to the learners we work with to trust us, implement interventions, and provide valuable information to inform intervention planning). Developed by Marina Jiujias. Cannot be shared or reproduced without permission.  Indirect / Informant Methods Risks of using indirect assessment measures: Information is anecdotal, which is subject to inaccurate recollection and/or subjective bias. The tools can have poor reliability and validity (results should be interpreted cautiously and not used in isolation to develop intervention plans). Developed by Marina Jiujias. Cannot be shared or reproduced without permission.  Purpose: to identify relations between environmental events and interfering behaviour through direct observation in the natural environment. Direct ABC data (narrative): open-ended record of Assessment what happened before/after the target behaviour. ABC data (structured): selecting pre- indicated antecedents / consequences Scatterplot data: recording when throughout a day behaviours occur most frequently to identify patterns Developed by Marina Jiujias. Cannot be shared or reproduced without permission.  Direct Assessment Used to help further gather information about the possible function(s) of the behaviour by directly seeing what happens in the natural environment. Often informed by indirect assessment to schedule when it is best to observe the behaviour. While observing the person in the environment where the behaviour occurs, we record what happens before and after to then strengthen a hypothesis that was started from indirect assessment measures. Developed by Marina Jiujias. Cannot be shared or reproduced without permission.  Direct Assessment Advantages of using direct assessment measures: More objective information than indirect Conducted in naturalistic environments (hopefully observing as things typically play out) Can use information to later inform further assessing or intervention development Helps to identify correlations between environmental events and behaviour to determine function Developed by Marina Jiujias. Cannot be shared or reproduced without permission.  Direct Assessment Disadvantages of using direct assessment measures: Sometimes a reinforcer is strong enough to maintain the behaviour on a very thin schedule; may not identify correct maintaining variables. Correlation does not equal causation! There may be reactivity effects during the observation, leading to less accurate data. Developed by Marina Jiujias. Cannot be shared or reproduced without permission.  Purpose: experimentally change the consequences following interfering behaviour in various situations to demonstrate a functional relationship between the behaviour and the Functional manipulated variables. Analysis Conditions where behaviour occurs the most provide empirical evidence (data- based) of the function(s) of the behaviour. There are a variety of ways that a functional analysis can be implemented. Developed by Marina Jiujias. Cannot be shared or reproduced without permission.  Functional Analysis “Analysis” = direct manipulation of environmental variables to observe subsequent effects on behaviour. A functional analysis is based on the idea that behaviour occurs for a reason and that antecedents and consequences are related to that function. The purpose of a functional analysis is to uncover a functional relation between certain environmental events and the target behaviour being assessed. Developed by Marina Jiujias. Cannot be shared or reproduced without permission.  Functional Analysis Skinner introduced the term functional relation, referring to a relation in which a change in an independent variable produces an orderly and predictable change in a dependent variable. What do the terms independent/dependent variable refer to in applied, clinical settings? When certain environmental events (antecedents / consequences) reliably evoke a target behaviour, we can say a functional relation exists. Developed by Marina Jiujias. Cannot be shared or reproduced without permission.  Functional Analysis Contriving different conditions that represent hypothesized functions. The most accurate form of evidence-based assessment. Involves setting up situations related to various functions of behaviour. In other words: can behaviour be turned on and off reliably by changing certain antecedents / consequences? Developed by Marina Jiujias. Cannot be shared or reproduced without permission.  Important Ethical Question Why functional analysis, if this inherently means we are evoking the problem behaviour? Think about why we do a functional behaviour assessment at all. Developed by Marina Jiujias. Cannot be shared or reproduced without permission.  Describe the difference between behaviour modification and behaviour analysis. Describe and identify examples of the four- term contingency. What you should List and describe the functions of behaviour. know Be able to identify possible function given description. Explain the main components of a Functional Behaviour Assessment, and their individual contributions to the process. Developed by Marina Jiujias. Cannot be shared or reproduced without permission.  Submit in-class assignment Complete readings For next Finish Journal Article Review assignment and class submit by deadline Come to next class with case study for Reduction assignment selected Developed by Marina Jiujias. Cannot be shared or reproduced without permission.  References Cipani, E. (2018). Functional behavioural assessment, diagnosis, and treatment: A complete system for evaluation and mental health settings (3rd ed.). Springer Publishing Company. Neef, N. A. (2001). The past and future of behavior analysis in developmental disabilities: When good news is bad and bad news is good. The Behavior Analyst Today, 2(4), 336- 340. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0099950 O’Neill, R. E., Albin, R. W., Storey, K., Horner, R. H., & Sprague, J. R. (2015). Functional assessment and program development for problem behavior: A practical handbook (3rd edition). Cengage Learning.  References Sigafoos, J., Lang, R., & Rispoli, M. (2021). Definition and rationale for functional assessment. In J. L. Matson (Ed.)., Functional assessment for challenging behaviors and mental health disorders (2nd ed.) (pp. 3-17). Springer. Sullivan, W. E., Baxter, E. L., Craig, A. R., Derosa, N. M., & Roane, H. S. (2021). How maintaining variables are defined and established in functional assessment. In J. L. Matson (Ed.)., Functional assessment for challenging behaviors and mental health disorders (2nd ed.) (pp. 3-17). Springer. Turner, K. (2022). Functional behavior assessment: An overview. In K. Turner (Ed.), Functional behavior assessment (pp.27-33). Cognella Academic Publishing.