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GregoryP.Hanley.Ph.D.,BCBA‐D

Acknowledgingessentialsandallthatyouarewillingtonotknowwhenfunctionallyanalyzingbehavior

APBA2017Formoreinformationandmaterials,goto:

www.practicalfunctionalassessment.com

Functionalassessment

process todeterminethevariablesinfluencingproblem

behavior

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SomeAssumptions

Problembehaviorisanoperant

Certainsituationspotentiatecertainconsequences

GoalofaFunctionalAssessmentIdentifytheconsequencesthatmaintainproblembehavior

Identifythesituationsthatevokethebehavior

Inordertotreatproblembehavior

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FunctionalAssessmentProcess

FunctionalAnalysisObservewhilemanipulating

IndirectAssessmentInterview

DescriptiveAssessmentObserve

Discovery Demonstrationand

Bewaryofincontrovertibletruths.

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“Allmodelsarewrong;someareuseful.”

Box &Draper,1987,p.424

DefiningfeaturesoftheStandardFunctionalAnalysis

Multiple test conditions

Uniform test conditions

Isolated test contingencies

Reinforce dangerous behavior only

Toy-play control condition

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Problem Behavior

Per Minute

Sessions

Exampleofastandardfunctionalanalysis

Howdoweknowthisisthestandardfunctionalanalysis?

(Jessel,Hanley,Ghaemmaghami,2016)

1965‐2000(Hanleyetal.,2003)

64%SFAs1out3withmodifications

2001‐2012(Beaversetal.,2014)

85%SFAs1outof7withmodifications

Multiple test conditions

Uniform test conditions

Isolated test contingencies

Reinforce dangerous behavior only

Toy-play control condition

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IstheStandardFunctionalAnalysisEffective?

Doesitleadtoadifferentiatedanalysis?

Literaturereviews:Hanleyetal.(2003): 94%Beaversetal.(2014): 92%

Caseseries:Hagopianetal.(2014): 47%Slatonetal.(2016): 44%

IstheStandardFunctionalAnalysisEffective?

Doesitleadstolargertreatmenteffects?

Campbell(2003)HigherPZD whenRxwasbasedon“EFA”

But,theselargereffectswerealmostexclusivelyobtainedwhen:‐‐researchersimplementedthetreatments‐‐incontrolledsettings‐‐underrichschedulesofreinforcement‐‐forshortperiodsoftime

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IstheStandardFunctionalAnalysisEffective?

Notonestudyshowingasocially‐validatedoutcomeinarelevantsettingwhenimplementedbyarelevantperson

whenastandardfunctionalanalysiswasused

Apparentsolutiontoineffectiveness:

Excessiveelaboration

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Elaborationofthestandardfunctionalanalysis(SFA)

PriortoaSFAFormalDescriptiveassessments

PreferenceassessmentsDemandAssessments

Manualsoutliningextensiveteam‐basedprocessesFollowingafailedSFA

SlightandsystematicdeviationsfromtheSFAcoreproceduresFollowingafailedSFA‐basedtreatment

StimulusavoidanceassessmentsMorepreferenceassessmentandreinforcer assessments

DespitetheExcessiveElaborationoftheStandardFunctionalAnalysis…

Notonestudyshowing…

…apractical,sociallyvalidoutcomeinarelevantcontext

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“Sinceallmodelsarewrong,thescientistcannotobtaina‘correct’onebyexcessiveelaboration.

Justastheabilitytodevisesimplebutevocativemodelsisthesignatureofgreatsciencesooverelaborationisoftenthemarkofmediocrity.”

GeorgeBox,1976,p.792

ResearchtopracticegapPossiblereason:

Becausetheoutcomesaremediocre

evenwhentheprocessiselaborate

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Functionalanalysishasbeenaroundforapprox.50years(e.g.,Lovaas etal.,1965;Sailoretal.,1968)

Standardfunctionalanalyseshavebeenaround34years(Iwataetal.,1982)

Over300studiescontainingover500standardfunctionalanalyseshavebeenpublished(Jesseletal.,2016)

Yet,55to65%ofpractitionersrecentlysurveyedreportedneverconductingafunctionalanalysis(Oliveretal.,2016;Roscoeetal.,2015)

Interview-informed Synthesized Contingency

Analysis

IISCA

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StandardFunctionalAnalysisMultiple test conditions

Uniform test conditions

Isolated test contingencies

Reinforce dangerous behavior

Toy-play control condition

Interview-Informed Synthesized Contingency AnalysisSingle-test condition

Individualized test conditions

Synthesized contingencies

Reinforce precursors to and dangerous behavior

Test-matched control

Sessions

1 2 3 4 5 6

0

1

2

3

4

Escape/Tangible/Attention

Zeke

Pro

blem

Beh

avio

r pe

r m

in

AnIISCA

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1.Anopen‐endedinterviewisalwayspartoftheprocess

Primarygoalsaretoidentify:

a) co‐occurringtopographiesb) events/interactionsthatappeartoroutinelyevokeproblembehavior

c) interactionsthatfollowproblembehaviorandarereportedtostopit

Interviewsallowfordiscoverieswhichcanthenbeverified(ornot)intheIISCA

SomeImportantAspectsoftheIISCA

2.Wesynthesize multiplecontingenciesintoonetestcondition

whichcontingenciesandthespecificmaterialsandinteractionsareinformedbytheinterview

SomeImportantAspectsofourApproach

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Whymightproblembehavioroccur?Singlecontingencies:1. Attentionortoys(social‐positivereinforcement)2. Escape/avoidance(social‐negativereinforcement)3. Sensory/non‐social(automaticreinforcement)

Combinatorialcontingencies:1. Attentionand Toys2. Escapeto toys3. Escapeto toysandattention4. Escapeto automaticreinforcement5. Compliancewithmands6. Escapetoaccesstorituals,preferredconversations7. Etc…..

Whysynthesize?

1. Seemstoemulatetheecologybetter

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Whysynthesize?

1. Seemstoemulatetheecologybetter

2. Isolatedcontingenciessometimesdonotcontrolbehaviorwhereassynthesizedcontingenciesdo.

• Calletal.,2005• Dolezal & Kurtz,2010• Hanleyetal.,2014• Ghaemmaghamietal.,2016• Muelleretal.,2005• Slatonetal.,2016• Slatonetal.,2016

0

1

2

3

4

Tangible /Attention

AnalystMother

AnalystMother

Analyst

Gail

Pro

blem

Beh

avio

r pe

r M

in

0

1

2

3

4

Tangible

Sessions

2 4 6 8 10 12 14

0

1

2

3

4

Test

Control

Meltdowns Col 46

Attention

CaseExample(Gail,3yo,dx:PDD‐NOS)Analyst:NicholasVanselowSetting:ClinicArticle:Hanleyetal.,2014

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www.practicalfunctionalassessment.com

0

2

4

6

8TestControl

Food,attention

Addison

AttentionTangible (food)Control

0

2

4

6

8

10

Escape totangibles,attention

Jay

Control

AttentionTangibleEscape

0

2

4Escape tocompliance withrequests

Franklin

EscapeRequestsControl

4

IISCA Decoupled IISCASynthesized Isolated SynthesizedType of

contingency

Pro

blem

beh

avio

r pe

r m

in

Slatonetal.,2016

Whysynthesize?

1. Seemstoemulatetheecologybetter

2. Isolatedcontingenciessometimesdonotcontrolbehaviorwhereassynthesizedcontingenciesdo

3. Doingsoleadstoeffectiveaction—meaningfultreatmenteffects

– Hanleyetal.,2014,Santiagoetal.,2016;Ghaemmaghamietal.,2016

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0

1

2

3

4

0

1

2

3

4

Com

plex

FC

Rpe

r m

in

0

1

2

3

4

Reinforcem

ent (%)0

20

40

60

80

100P

robl

em B

ehav

ior

per

min

0

1

2

3

4

Sessions

5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65

Res

pons

e to

In

stru

ctio

ns (

%)

0

20

40

60

80

100

Treatment Extension

1 2

Compliance

Noncomp.

Levels3

BL FCT + EXT Denial and Delay Tolerance TrainingSimple FCR Complex FCR

Zeke

Sim

ple

FCR

per

min

Tol

eran

ce R

espo

nse

per

min

   

Response Chaining

fromSantiagoetal.,JADD,2016

Treatment:

Unpredictableandintermittentreinforcementof

communication,toleration,andcompliance

Implementedbyrelevantcaregiversinrelevantcontextswhoimposerelevantandhistoricallychallengingroutines

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Someotherreasonablequestions:

HaveIISCAsbeenreplicated?(I.e.,Dotheyhavegenerality?)

Yes.

FromJessel,Hanley,&Ghaemmaghami

(JABA,2016) 0

4

8

12 Will

TestControl

Wayne Allen Kat (Cxt 1)Sam

0

2

4

6 Jack (Cxt 1) Keo

Kristy Jim

Roxy

0

2

4

6 Alex (Cxt 2) Chris

Jeff Zeke Kat (Cxt 2)

0

1

2

3

4 Mike Mitch

Gary Jian Earl

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

0

Paul Dan

Alex (Cxt 1) Beck

Sid

2 6 10

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

0

Lee

2 4 6

Steve

1 3 5

Jesse

1 3 5

Carson

1 3 5

Jack (Cxt 2)

Sessions

Pro

blem

beh

avio

r pe

r m

in

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Hastheprocessbeensociallyvalidated?Yes.

HavesociallyvalidatedtreatmentsbeendevelopedfromtheIISCA?

Yes.Havesociallyvalidatedeffectsbeenachieved

fromtheIISCA?Yes.

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BeonthelookoutinJABA forthisstudybyDr.JoshuaJessel&colleagues:

AchievingSociallySignificantReductionsinProblemBehaviorfollowingtheInterview‐InformedSynthesizedContingencyAnalysis:

ASummaryof25OutpatientApplications

Baseline Treatment0

2

4

6

N = 25

p < .001

Pro

blem

beh

avio

r pe

r m

in

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

You found the recommended treatment acceptable

You are satisfied with the amount ofimprovement seen in problem behavior

You are satisfied with the amountof improvement seen in

communication skills

You found the assessment andtreatment helpful to your home situation

Notacceptable/satisfied/helpful

Highlyacceptable/satisfied/helpfulCaregiver Rating

But,didn’tDr.FisherjustpublishanarticleinJABAshowingtheIISCA’swerealwaysincorrect?

ComparisonsofsynthesizedandindividualreinforcementcontingenciesduringfunctionalanalysisWayneW.Fisher,BrianD.Greer,PatrickW.Romani,&AmandaN.Zangrillo2016

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FromFisheretal.,2016DifferentiationSFA:4of5IISCA:4of5

Escape to Tangibles & Attention

Escape / Tangible

Irrelevanceofacontingencyishardtoprove.

Genericfunctionscanbeeasilymoderatedinanalyses.(seeHanley,Piazza,&Fisher,JABA,1997)

Therearenopuretestsofcontrolbysinglereinforcers,especiallytangibles.

Thetruthcanbefoundin

effectiveaction‐Differentiatedanalysis‐Efficiencyofandcontrolinanalysis‐Meaningfultreatmenteffects

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Slaton,Hanley,&Raftery(JABA,2017,issue2;nowavailableviaEarlyView)

IISCAvs.StandardAnalysis

0

1

2TestControl

Escape to tangiblesand attention

Tangible

Ignore/Alone

PlayEscape

Attention

0

1

2

3Escape to tangiblesand attention

1 2 3 4 50

1

2

3Escape totangibles

5 10 15

Diego

Mason

Riley

Pro

blem

beh

avio

r pe

r m

in

Sessions

IISCA Standard IISCA

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IISCAvs.StandardAnalysis

0

1

2

Escape topredictableschedule

ControlTest

EscapePlay

AttentionTangible

Alone

1 2 3 4 5

0

1

2Escape to tangibles,stereotypy, andattention

5 10 15 20 250

2

4

6

8

3Escape to tangibles

Prob

lem

beh

avio

r pe

r m

in Kyle

Jonah

IISCA Standard

Sessions

IISCAvs.StandardAnalysisIgnore/Alone

EscapeTangible

Play

Attention

0

2

4 Escape totangiblesand attention

0

2

4Escape to rituals

2 4 60

1Escape to tangibles

5 10 15 20

Pro

blem

beh

avio

r pe

r m

in

Sessions

IISCA Standard

Dylan

Emily

Chloe

Jeff

0

2

4

ControlTest

Escape totangibles

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TreatmentComparisonResults

0

1

2

3

4

5

FCR

BL FCT + EXTEscape totangibles,attention

Problembehavior

BL FCT + EXTEscape

5 100

1

Escape totangibles

BL FCT + EXT

5 10

Attention

BL FCT + EXT

IISCA- based treatment Standard-based treatmentP

robl

em b

ehav

ior

per

min

Sessions

Emily

Jeff

TreatmentComparisonResults

5 10 15 20 25

0

2

4

6

Escape torituals

BL FCT + EXT

5 10 15 20 25

EscapeBL FCT + EXT

0

1

2

3Escape totangibles

Escape

Tangibles

IISCA- based treatment Standard-based treatment

Pro

blem

beh

avio

r pe

r m

in

Sessions

Chloe

Dylan

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Thesupposedproblem(s)withtheIISCAImprecision1. Donotknowthespecificoperantclasstowhichanyparticular

topographyofproblembehaviorbelongs.2. Donotknowwhethersomepart(s)ofthesynthesized

contingencyareirrelevant3. Donotknowwhetherbehaviorismaintainedbypos orneg sr4. Sometimescannotneatlydescribeorcompartmentalizethe

controllingvariables

Considertheeffectiveactionwithoutknowingthesethings

ImprecisionisnotUniquetotheIISCA

PartlysynthesizedcontingenciespopulateallSFAconditions(beonlookoutforreviewpaperbyJ.Slaton)

ThesupposedprecisionofaSFAisanillusion

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“Allmodelsarewrong;thepracticalquestionis

howwrongdotheyhavetobetonotbeuseful.”

Box &Draper,1987,p.424

RecognizetheHistoricalSignificanceoftheStandardFunctionalAnalysis

• Movedusfrombehaviormodificationtobehavioranalysis– Taughtusourprofessionalhumility

• Inspiredustotranscenddescriptionandpredictiontocontrol– Allowedustobescientificpractitioners

• Showedushowtocreatestableandcontrolledbaselines– Allowedustodiscoverandenhancetreatments

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Multiple test conditions

Uniform test conditions

Isolated test contingencies

Reinforce dangerous behavior only

Toy-play control condition

Toachievethehumanepromiseofafunction‐basedtreatmentandasociallyvalidoutcome

Fromafunctionalanalysis:

WhatmustIknow?WhatdoInotneedtoknow?

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ThatwhichImustknowviamyfunctionalanalysis:

ThatIcanreliablyturnproblembehavioroffwiththepresentationofthereinforcers

ThatIcanreliablyturnproblembehavioronwiththepresentationoftheevocativeevents

Andthatthereinforcers andevocativeeventswereidentifiedbyotherpeoplerelevanttothebehaver

ThatwhichIdonotneedtoknowviamyfunctionalanalysis:

ThesingleoperantfunctionofeachproblembehaviorWhetherproblembehaviorismaintainedbypositiveornegativereinforcement(seeMichael,Behaviorism,1975)Whethersomeelementofasynthesizedcontingencyisa“true”contingencyormerelya“falsepositive”

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ThatwhichIdonotneedtoknowviamyfunctionalanalysis:

ThesingleoperantfunctionofeachproblembehaviorWhetherproblembehaviorismaintainedbypositiveornegativereinforcement(seeMichael,Behaviorism,1975)Whethersomeelementofasynthesizedcontingencyisa“true”contingencyormerelya“falsepositive”WhetherIcanneatlycompartmentalizetheoperationintheanalysisintoatidygenericclassofreinforcement

(e.g.,socialpositive,socialnegative,attn,tang,esc,etc.)

TheoriginalgoldstandardGeneralandsociallyvalidatedbehaviorchange

byrelevantpeopleinrelevantcontextsBaer,Wolf,&Risley,1968

Iachieveit:bybeingabletoturnonandoffproblem

behaviorinananalysisinformedbycaregivers

IachieveitwithanIISCA

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Formoreinformationgoto:www.practicalfunctionalassessment.com

ManythankstomyPracticalFunctionalAssessmentResearchandPracticegroup:

NickVanselow,SandyJin,LauraHanratty,JoanaSantiago,

MahshidGhaemmaghami,JoshuaJessel,JessicaSlaton,

RobinLanda,ChristyWarner,ShannonWard, TanyaMouzakes

AdithyanRajaraman,EllenGage,HollyGover,&KelseyRuppel

www.practicalfunctionalassessment.com

For some of the latest research in the IISCA at APBA:

Time and Place: 10:00-11:30 Room:

Chair: Dr. Jessica Slaton

Presenters: J. Slaton, A, Rajaraman, K. Ruppel, & R. Landa

Symposium Title: On the Validity and Generality of the Interview-Informed Synthesized Contingency Analysis (IISCA)