Always Consider Culture: Incorporating Cultural Responsiveness into Functional Communication Training

Abstract

Functional communication training (FCT) is an evidence-based practice that can be applied across multiple populations of students. Despite extensive research support for FCT, its use can be impractical or ineffective if utilized with students who are from culturally, linguistically, and economically diverse backgrounds. That is because cultural implications are not considered through all intervention stages. In this article, we present culturally responsive strategies across each FCT step with the intent to improve the implementation of FCT in schools and behavior of students with disabilities who can benefit from this intervention.