Cooper et al. 2020 - Chapter 3: Selecting and Defining Target Behaviors PDF

# Chapter 3: Selecting and Defining Target Behaviors ## Key Terms - ABC recording - Anecdotal observation - Behavior checklist - Behavioral assessment - Behavioral cusp - Ecological assessment - Function-based definition - Habilitation - Normalization - Pivotal behavior - Reactivity - Relevance of...

# Chapter 3: Selecting and Defining Target Behaviors ## Key Terms - ABC recording - Anecdotal observation - Behavior checklist - Behavioral assessment - Behavioral cusp - Ecological assessment - Function-based definition - Habilitation - Normalization - Pivotal behavior - Reactivity - Relevance of behavior rule - Social validity - Target behavior - Topography-based definition ## Section 2: Applications ### F. Behavior Assessment - Review records and available data (e.g., educational, medical, historical) at the outset of the case. - Determine the need for behavior-analytic services. - Identify and prioritize socially significant behavior-change goals. - Conduct assessment of relevant skill strengths and deficits. ### H. Selecting and Implementing Interventions - State intervention goals in observable and measurable terms. - Identify potential interventions based on assessment results and the best available scientific evidence. - Recommend intervention strategies and goals based on such factors as client preferences, supporting environments, risks, constraints, and social validity. - When a target behavior is to be decreased, select an acceptable alternative behavior to be established or increased. ## Applied Behavior Analysis Applied behavior analysis is concerned with producing predictable and replicable improvements in behavior. However, not just any behavior will do; Applied behavior analysts improve socially significant behaviors that have immediate and long-lasting effects for the person and for those who interact with that person. Such behaviors include language, social, motor, and academic skills. ## Role of Assessment in Applied Behavior Analysis Assessment has long been considered the first of four phases in any systematic model of instruction that includes: assessment, planning, implementation, and evaluation. A comprehensive behavioral assessment informs planning, provides guidance for implementation, and assists with evaluation. ## Definition and Purpose of Behavioral Assessment Traditional psychological and educational assessments typically involve a series of norm-referenced, criterion-referenced, or curriculum-based assessments supplemented by observations, anecdotal reports, and historical data to determine the learner's strengths and weaknesses within cognitive, academic, social, and/or psychomotor domains. Conversely, behavioral assessment includes indirect and direct procedures such as interviews, checklists, and tests to identify and define the specific target behavior. In addition to identifying behavior(s) to change, comprehensive behavioral assessment can uncover functional relations between variables; it provides context on the resources, assets, significant others, competing contingencies, maintenance and generalization factors, and reinforcers (or punishers) that can be combined to improve the efficiency of an intervention. ## Phases of Behavioral Assessment Hawkins's (1979) conceptualization of behavioral assessment embraces five phases: - Screening: identifying potential behaviors for change. - Defining and quantifying problems and establishing outcome criteria: specifying exactly what is the problem and what a successful outcome would look like. - Pinpointing the target behavior(s): establishing the exact behaviors the assessment will focus on. - Monitoring progress: tracking the changes in behavioral outcomes over time. - Following up: evaluating the effectiveness of the intervention and planning for maintenance and generalization of the behaviors. ## Preassessment Considerations Before conducting an informal or formal behavioral assessment for the purpose of pinpointing a target behavior, the analyst must address two fundamental questions: 1. **Who has the authority, permission, resources, and skills to complete an assessment and intervene with the client?** If a practitioner does not have authority or permission, then the analyst's role in assessment and intervention is restricted. 2. **What records, resources, or data currently exist that shed light on what has been done in the past to identify, treat, and evaluate the target behavior?** Minimally, the behavior analyst should examine and review relevant medical, educational, or historical data. ## Assessment Methods Used by Behavior Analysts Behavior analysts use a variety of assessment methods to identify which behavior(s) to target for change. A comprehensive behavioral assessment often includes both indirect and direct methods. ### Indirect Assessment Interviews, checklists, and rating scales are indirect assessment approaches because the data obtained from these methods are derived from recollections, reconstructions, and/or subjective, ordinal-scale ratings of events. ### Direct Assessment Tests and direct observations are direct assessment approaches because the results from these procedures provide measurable and validated information about the learner's behavior. #### Standardized Tests Literally thousands of standardized tests have been developed to measure behavior (cf. Carlson, Geisinger, & Jonson, 2017). Each time a standardized test is administered, the same questions and tasks are presented using specified procedures and the same scoring criteria are applied. #### Direct Observations Direct and repeated observations of the client's behavior in the natural environment are useful for determining behaviors to assess and ultimately to select as a target behavior. Practitioners, however, should be advised that observations could produce limited and skewed information. #### Anecdotal Observation One basic form of direct continuous observation, first described by Bijou, Peterson, and Ault (1968), is called ABC, or anecdotal observation, recording. With ABC recording, the observer records a descriptive, temporally sequenced account of all behaviors of interest and the antecedent conditions and consequences for those behaviors as those events occur in the client's natural environment (Cooper, 1981). This technique produces behavioral assessment data that can be used to identify potential target behaviors. ## Assessing the Social Significance of Potential Target Behaviors In the past, few questions were asked when a teacher, therapist, or other human services professional determined that a client's behavior should be assessed. Because behavior analysts possess an effective technology to change behavior, accountability must be served. Both the goals and the rationale supporting assessment and intervention programs must be open to critical examination by the consumers (i.e., clients and their families) and by others who may be affected (i.e., society). In selecting target behaviors, practitioners should first consider whose behavior is being assessed and changed—and why. ## Will This Behavior Produce Reinforcement in the Client’s Natural Environment After Treatment Ends? To determine whether a particular target behavior is functional for the client, the behavior analyst, significant others, and, whenever possible, the client should ask whether the proposed behavior change will be reinforced in the person's daily life. ## Is This Behavior a Necessary Prerequisite for a Useful Skill? Some behaviors that, in and of themselves, are not important are targeted for instruction because they are necessary prerequisites to learning other functional behaviors. For example, advances in reading research have demonstrated that teaching phonemic awareness skills has positive effects on the acquisition of reading skills. ## Will This Behavior Increase the Client’s Access to Environments Where Other Important Behaviors Can Be Learned and Used? Hawkins (1986) described the targeting of “access behaviors” as a means of producing indirect benefits to clients. For example, students in special education are taught to complete their assignments, interact politely and appropriately with the teacher and their peers, and follow teacher instructions because these behaviors not only will help their personal progress in their current setting but also will likely increase their acceptance and adaptation into a general education classroom. ## Will Changing This Behavior Predispose Others to Interact with the Client in a More Appropriate and Supportive Manner? Another type of indirect benefit occurs when a behavior change is of primary interest to a significant other in the person’s life. ## Is This Behavior a Behavioral Cusp or a Pivotal Behavior? ### Behavioral Cusps A behavioral cusp occurs when a learner performs a new behavior that sets the occasion to access reinforcers that otherwise would not have been available. ### Pivotal Behavior A pivotal behavior is a behavior that, once learned, produces corresponding modifications or covariations in other adaptive untrained behaviors. For instance, Koegel, Carter, and Koegel (2003) indicated that teaching children with autism to “self-initiate” (e.g., approach others) may be a pivotal behavior. ## Is This an Age-Appropriate Behavior? A number of years ago it was common to see adults with developmental disabilities being taught behaviors that an adult without disabilities would seldom, if ever, do. ## If the Proposed Target Behavior Is to Be Reduced or Eliminated, What Adaptive Behavior Will Replace It? A practitioner should never plan to reduce or eliminate a behavior from a person’s repertoire without first (a) determining an adaptive behavior that will take its place (also known as the fair pair rule) and (b) designing the intervention plan to ensure that the replacement behavior is learned. ## Does This Behavior Represent the Actual Problem or Goal, or Is It Only Indirectly Related? An all-too-common error in education is teaching a related behavior, not the behavior of interest. Numerous behavior change programs have been designed to increase on-task behaviors when the primary objective should have been to increase production or work output. On-task behaviors are chosen because people who are productive also tend to be on task. ## Is This Just Talk, or Is It the Real Behavior of Interest? A characteristic of nonbehavioral therapies is that they rely heavily on what people say about what they do and why they do it. The client’s verbal behavior is considered important because it is believed to reflect the client’s inner state and the mental processes that govern the client’s behavior. ## What If the Goal of the Behavior Change Program Is Not a Behavior? Some of the important changes people want to make in their lives are not behaviors, but are instead the result or product of certain other behaviors. ## Prioritizing Target Behaviors Once a “pool” of eligible target behaviors has been identified, decisions must be made about their relative priority. Sometimes the information obtained from behavioral assessment points to one particular aspect of the person’s repertoire in need of improvement more than another. More often, though, assessment reveals a constellation of related, and sometimes not-so-related, behaviors in need of change. ## Defining Target Behaviors Before a behavior undergoes analysis, it must be defined in a clear, objective, and concise manner. In constructing target behavior definitions, applied behavior analysts must consider the functional and topographical implications of their definitions. ### Role and Importance of Target Behavior Definitions in Applied Behavior Analysis Applied behavior analysis derives its validity from its systematic approach to seeking and organizing knowledge about human behavior. Validity of scientific knowledge in its most basic form implies replication. When predicted behavioral effects can be reproduced, principles of behavior are confirmed and methods of practice developed. #### Function-based Definitions A function-based definition designates responses as members of the targeted response class solely by their common effect on the environment. #### Topography-based Definitions A topography-based definition defines instances of the targeted response class behavior by the shape or form of the behavior. ## Setting Criteria for Behavior Change A behavior change has social validity if it changes some aspect of the person’s life in an important way. Outcome criteria specifying the extent of behavior change desired or needed should be determined before efforts to modify the target behavior begin. ## Summary ### The Role of Assessment in Applied Behavior Analysis 1. Behavioral assessment involves using indirect, direct, and empirical methods to identify, define, and determine the function of target behaviors. 2. Behavioral assessment consists of five phases or functions: - Screening - Defining and quantifying problems or goals - Pinpointing the target behavior(s) to be treated - Monitoring progress - Following up ### Assessment Methods Used by Behavior Analysts 4. Subsumed under the three major methods for assessment information—indirect, direct, and empirical—are (a) interviews, checklists/rating scales, (b) tests and direct observations, and (c) functional behavior analysis and reinforcer/punishment preference assessment methods, respectively. 5. The client interview is used to determine the client's description of problem behaviors or achievement goals. What, when, and where questions are emphasized, focusing on the actual behavior of the client and the responses of significant others. 6. Questionnaires and needs assessment surveys are sometimes completed by the client to supplement the information gathered in the interview. 7. Clients are sometimes asked to self-monitor certain situations or behaviors. Self-collected data may be useful in selecting and defining target behaviors. 8. Significant others can also be interviewed to gather assessment information and, in some cases, to find out whether they will be willing and able to assist in an intervention. 9. Direct observation with a behavior checklist can identify target behaviors. 10. Anecdotal observation, also called ABC recording, yields a descriptive, temporally sequenced account of all behaviors of interest and the antecedent conditions and consequences for those behaviors as those events occur in the client's natural environment. ## Prioritizing Target Behaviors Assessment often reveals more than one possible behavior or skill area for targeting. Prioritization can be accomplished by rating potential target behaviors against key questions related to their relative danger, frequency, long-standing existence, potential for reinforcement, relevance for future skill development and independent functioning, reduced negative attention from others, likelihood of success, and cost. ## Defining Target Behaviors Explicit, well-written target behavior definitions are necessary for researchers to accurately and reliably measure the same response classes within and across studies or to aggregate, compare, and interpret their data. ## Setting Criteria for Behavior Change A behavior change has social validity if it changes some aspect of the person’s life in an important way. Outcome criteria specifying the extent of behavior change desired or needed should be determined before efforts to modify the target behavior begin.