Chapter 6 of 913% of exam

Behavior Assessment

Domain F covers gathering background information, assessing skills and preferences, and identifying the function of problem behavior. Expect questions on functional analysis conditions, reading their results, and choosing among preference assessments.

Starting a case

Assessment begins with records and the people involved. The outline also asks you to integrate cultural variables and to decide when data point to a referral rather than behavior-analytic services. Possible medical or biological influences on behavior are identified early and referred.

Records review

Educational, medical and historical records are relevant sources at the outset of a case.

BACB BCBA Test Content Outline (6th ed.) F.1

Cultural variables

Integrate relevant cultural variables in assessment and involve the family in selecting goals.

BACB BCBA Test Content Outline (6th ed.) F.2; BACB Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts, Code 2.09

Referral

Interpret assessment data to decide whether behavior-analytic services, a referral to others, or both are needed.

BACB BCBA Test Content Outline (6th ed.) F.7; BACB Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts, Code 2.12

Skills and preferences

Skill assessments identify strengths and needs; preference assessments identify stimuli likely to function as reinforcers, which must still be tested. Preference can change over time, so assessments are repeated. Choose the method that fits the learner, including how they respond when items are removed.

Criterion- versus norm-referenced

Performance compared with a fixed standard, versus with a group of peers.

Glaser, American Psychologist 18 (1963)

Paired-stimulus

Items presented two at a time, each paired with every other.

Fisher et al., JABA 25 (1992)

Multiple-stimulus without replacement

An array from which each chosen item is removed, producing a hierarchy quickly.

DeLeon & Iwata, JABA 29 (1996)

Free-operant

Open access to all items with time engaged recorded; no items are withdrawn.

Roane et al., JABA 31 (1998)

Preference is not reinforcement

Only a reinforcer assessment shows that an item increases a response when made contingent on it.

Pace et al., JABA 18 (1985)

Indirect and descriptive assessment

Interviews and rating scales ask others about the behavior; descriptive assessment observes it in the natural setting. Both suggest hypotheses but cannot show a functional relation. They are often used to design the conditions of a later functional analysis.

Indirect assessment

Information from interviews, checklists or rating scales rather than direct observation.

BACB BCBA Test Content Outline (6th ed.) F.5

ABC recording

Records antecedents and consequences of each episode as they naturally occur.

Bijou, Peterson & Ault, JABA 1 (1968)

Correlation only

Descriptive data show what co-occurs with behavior, not what controls it.

BACB BCBA Test Content Outline (6th ed.) F.5

Functional analysis

A functional analysis manipulates antecedents and consequences in test and control conditions to identify what maintains problem behavior. Variations make it safer or easier to run in natural settings. Results are read by comparing each test condition with the control condition.

Standard conditions

Attention, demand (escape), alone and play (control) conditions, with a tangible condition added when relevant.

Iwata et al., JABA 27 (1982/1994); Hanley, Iwata & McCord, JABA 36 (2003)

Reading results

Elevated responding in one test condition points to that reinforcer; high responding in alone or across all conditions suggests automatic reinforcement.

Iwata et al., JABA 27 (1982/1994)

Latency-based

End each session at the first response to limit exposure to dangerous behavior.

Thomason-Sassi et al., JABA 44 (2011)

Trial-based

Brief test and control segments embedded in classroom routines.

Bloom et al., JABA 44 (2011)

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