FBA ANALYSIS

FBA Analysis

FBA Analysis

Introduction

When considering what new behaviors to teach a child, one must typically consider the behaviors that the child is currently exhibiting. Often, a goal might be to replace a current behavior, one which may be inadequate in effectively meeting the child's needs, or inappropriate in the current environment, especially those behaviors are severely maladaptive, aggressive, or self-injurious.

Behavior is that portion of an organism's interaction with its environment that is characterized by detectable displacement in space through time of some part of the organism and that results in a measurable change in at least one aspect of the environment. Often, the term behavior is used to reference a larger class of responses that share physical dimensions or function. In this instance, the term response indicates a single instance of that behavior. If a group of responses have the same function, this group can be classified as a response class. Finally, when discussing a person's collection of behavior, repertoire is used. It can either pertain specifically to a set of response classes that are relevant to a particular situation, or it can refer to every behavior that a person can do.

Reinforcement is the most important principle of behavior and a key element of most behavior change programs. It is the process by which behavior is strengthened, if a behavior is followed closely in time by a stimulus and this results in an increase in the future frequency of that behavior. The addition of a stimulus following an event that serves as a reinforcer is termed positive reinforcement. If the removal of an event serves as a reinforcer, this is termed negative reinforcement. There are multiple schedules of reinforcement that effect the future frequency of behavior.( Drasgow, 1998)

Discussion

Punishment is a process by which a consequence immediately follows a behavior which decreases the future frequency of that behavior. Like reinforcement, a stimulus can be added (positive punishment) or removed (negative punishment). Broadly, there are three types of punishment: presentation of aversive stimuli, response cost and time out. Punishment in practice can often result in unwanted side effects, and has as such been used only after reinforcement-only procedures have failed to work. Unwanted side effects can include the increase in other unwanted behavior as well as a decrease in desired behaviors. Some other potential unwanted effects include escape and avoidance, emotional behavior, and can result in behavioral contrast.

Functional assessment of behavior provides hypotheses about the relationships between specific environmental events and behaviors. Decades of research has established that both desirable and undesirable behaviors are learned through interactions with the social and physical environment. FBA is used to identify the type and source of reinforcement for challenging behaviors as the basis for intervention efforts designed to decrease the occurrence of these behaviors.

Functions of behavior

The function of a behavior can be thought of as the purpose a behavior serves for a person. Function is identified in an FBA by identifying the type and source if reinforcement for the behavior of ...