Functional Behavioral Assessment and Students at Risk for or with Emotional Disabilities: Current Issues and Considerations

Gable, Robert A.; Park, Kristy Lee; Scott, Terrance M.

doi:10.1353/etc.2014.0011

Cited by 27 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 74 publications

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“…For example, Bambara and Kern () describe FBA and functional assessment as synonymous and distinct from FAs, while Alberto and Troutman () distinguish between functional assessment and FAs as two distinct methods within FBA. Other sources categorize descriptive methods into direct (i.e., direct observation) and indirect (i.e., interviews and rating scales; Alberto & Troutman, ; Gable, Park, & Scott, ) methods, although the seminal ABA text by Cooper, Heron, and Heward () as well as others (e.g., Oliver, Pratt, & Normand, ) use “descriptive” to refer only to direct observation methods.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trends and practices in functional behavior assessments completed by school psychologists

Johnson

Goldberg

Hinant

et al. 2018

Psychology in the Schools

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Functional Behavior Assessments (FBAs) utilize direct and indirect methods to collect data on student behavior to generate a functional hypothesis and drive intervention development. School psychologists are trained to conduct FBAs and use them regularly in schools. However, no evidence exists describing the specific practices used by school psychologists when they conduct FBAs. In this study, 199 respondents completed a web-based survey developed using expert review and cognitive pretesting. Most respondents reported their gender as female (87%), were between 30 and 39 years old (50%), and practiced at the Specialist level (57%).Respondents reported receiving training in FBA across multiple sources and utilizing multi-method data collection methods when conducting FBAs. A large amount of variability was observed in the specific instruments used by school psychologists, with a substantial proportion using forms that were not standardized or pre-constructed. Implications for current practitioners, trainers, and researchers are described. K E Y W O R D S functional behavior assessment, school psychologist, school psychology

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trends and practices in functional behavior assessments completed by school psychologists

Johnson

Goldberg

Hinant

et al. 2018

Psychology in the Schools

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show abstract

“…Current investigations among the research community continue to deal more with the generalizability of this technology to school practitioners in the absence of researcher or behavioral specialist support (Gable, Park, & Scott, 2014). Few researchers have studied, in addition to the generalizability of FBA technology, the generality of the intervention's effects.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Consensus among behavioral experts remains elusive, however, regarding what constitutes the essential features of a valid and useful FBA (Gable, Park, & Scott, 2014;Sasso, Conroy, Stichter, & Fox, 2001). Commonly recommended features of a functional assessment can be categorized as either indirect or direct technologies.…”

Section: Functional Behavioral Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Whether hypothesis verification techniques will become standard practice in schools remains to be seen (Anderson & St. Peter, 2013;Gable, Park, & Scott, 2014).…”

Section: Functional Behavioral Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Functional assessment based interventions (FABI) to address problem behavior for students with or at-risk for emotional/behavioral disorders are supported by an emerging evidence base (Gable, Park, & Scott, 2014). However, a consistently cited limitation of FABI research is the lack of evidence demonstrating an intervention's effects on student behavior outside training settings.…”

Section: Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effects of functional communication training and self-monitoring with programmed generalization for three students with or at-risk for emotional behavioral disorders.

Burt¹

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"Effects of functional communication training and self-monitoring with programmed generalization for three students with or at-risk for emotional behavioral disorders." (2017 To the doc students that came before me and blazed the trail, Chris, Lauren, and Lindsay, and those that came along side me and encouraged me through this process, Beth, Gwen, and Nathan, thank you. We were/are in this together! know it. But you were patient and so very helpful, so thank you.And finally, to Mr. D. and the Professionals of Westlane Middle School '09-'12.On paper, I was your teacher; but you taught me more than I could have ever hoped to learn in college. I have been thinking about every one of you throughout this journey.Your pictures are on my office wall to remind me why I came back to school. I wanted to learn better ways to positively impact the lives of kids like you. It took me three years and more stress than I would ever want to experience again, but in the end, I learned that we knew the answer all along-never. The use of functional assessment based interventions to address the problem behavior of students with emotional/behavioral disorders (EBD) is supported by an emerging evidence base. Few studies, however, have assessed the generality (i.e., the transfer of behavior change across settings, behavior, or students) of function-based interventions for this population. This study employed a multiple baseline across students design to evaluate setting generalization of functional communication training (FCT) with self-monitoring for three students with or at-risk for EBD. FCT yielded significant reductions in problem behavior and increased rates of appropriate attention recruitment (i.e., hand-raising) for all three participants in isolation. However, no change in behavior was observed during concurrent observations in a generalization setting.Subsequently, self-mediated physical and verbal stimuli were introduced in the generalization setting to promote skill transfer. Each student responded to the generalization programming procedures with reduced rates of problem behavior and increased rates of hand-raising in generalization settings. Results of the study support the vii use of programmed generalization strategies with function-based interventions for students with EBD.

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The identification of students with emotional disturbance: Moving the field toward responsible assessment practices

Hanchon

Allen

2017

Psychology in the Schools

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For over 40 years, the special education category Emotional Disturbance (ED) has elicited considerable confusion and controversy for educators. Perhaps most notably, the federal ED definition has been assailed for its inclusion of vague, construct‐laden terminology, coupled with a general lack of clarity or guidance. In this article, we review the salient issues that have surrounded ED since it was first recognized as a disability category under P.L. 94–142 (i.e., the Education for All Handicapped Children Act). Additionally, we offer guidance that is intended to promote responsible and defensible assessment practices, as well as assist school psychologists and other educational professionals to avoid potential clinical judgment errors that may otherwise cloud the eligibility determination process. To conclude, we advocate for comprehensive assessment practices that are conducted in accordance with ethical standards that govern the field of school psychology, and are underpinned by scientific principles with the intent of accurately identifying as well as optimally serving students who are considered for the ED category.

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Functional Behavioral Assessment and Students at Risk for or with Emotional Disabilities: Current Issues and Considerations

Cited by 27 publications

References 74 publications

Trends and practices in functional behavior assessments completed by school psychologists

Trends and practices in functional behavior assessments completed by school psychologists

Effects of functional communication training and self-monitoring with programmed generalization for three students with or at-risk for emotional behavioral disorders.

The identification of students with emotional disturbance: Moving the field toward responsible assessment practices

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