Parent‐implemented brief functional analysis and treatment with coaching via telehealth

Abstract

We evaluated the use of parent‐implemented brief functional analyses in the home with coaching delivered via telehealth. Parents of 7 children with autism conducted functional analyses of their child's challenging behavior. For 4 participants, the brief functional analysis provided information regarding the function of the child's challenging behavior. A full functional analysis indicated a social function for 1 participant. The brief functional analysis yielded false positive results and subsequent assessment indicated an automatic function for another participant. The final participant did not engage in sufficient rates of challenging behavior to provide information regarding the function of the child's challenging behavior. Treatment evaluations occurred with 4 participants; these evaluations provided support for the results of the functional analysis. Together with previous research, the results indicate that parent‐implemented brief functional analyses, followed by additional assessment as needed, may be an effective method for assessing and treating challenging behavior via telehealth.

An analysis of a system under pandemic conditions

“…The Health Resources and Services Administration defines telehealth as the "use of electronic information and telecommunication technologies to support long-distance clinical health care, patient and professional health related education, public health and health administration" (Health Information Technology, 2019, Telehealth section, para.1). The research on telehealth in behavior analysis has demonstrated its application and success with parent training and parent-implemented services (Benson et al, 2018;Gerow et al, 2021;Ingersoll et al, 2016;Schieltz & Wacker, 2020;Wainer & Ingersoll, 2015), conducting functional analyses (Gerow et al, 2021;Schieltz & Wacker, 2020), teaching new operants (Pellegrino & DiGennaro Reed, 2020), behavior management (Hall et al, 2020;Monlux et al, 2019) and staff training (Piazza et al, 2021). Recent research has also demonstrated that the delivery of behavior-analytic services via telehealth is effective for some individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (Pollard et al 2021) and that it is possible for an organization to successfully transition to telehealth services (Crockett et al, 2020).…”

Utilizing Telehealth to Coach Parents to Implement Trial-Based Functional Analysis and Treatment

“…The findings from this previous work highlight the importance of conducting FAs in the context in which the intervention will be implemented, to the extent possible. Similar to previous work with parent implementers (e.g., Gerow et al, 2019 , 2021 ; Wacker et al, 2011 ), parents conducted the FA in the home with the family’s materials. The present study described a methodology for conducting a TBFA via telehealth and including typical implementers, settings, and materials.…”

“…The present study and Gerow et al ( 2019 ) provided information related to the use of parent-implemented TBFA. Other methodologies, such as traditional FA and brief FA (e.g., Gerow et al, 2021 ; Suess et al, 2016 ; Wacker et al, 2013 ), have been evaluated with parent implementers. Given the support for multiple FA methodologies and the potential strengths and limitations associated with each methodology, future research should evaluate the relative accuracy, feasibility, and acceptability of each FA methodology when implemented by parents, particularly using a telehealth coaching model.…”

“…The majority of studies coached parents to conduct an FA, with the remaining coaching school professional such as teachers All but one study coached the implementer to conduct a traditional FA (Iwata et al, 1994 ). Gerow et al ( 2021 ) expanded upon research by coaching parents to conduct a brief FA in their home. Among the 7 children whose parents were coached to conduct a brief FA, the assessment identified a function of challenging behavior for four participants.…”

“…Challenging behavior was successfully treated with FCT among four participants. The results of Gerow et al ( 2021 ) indicate that parent coaching via telehealth can be used to support parents in conducting FA methodologies other than the traditional FA, specifically a brief FA. This current study expands upon this line of research to evaluate the utility of telehealth in coaching parents to conduct a TBFA.…”