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4-Ways-to-Troubleshoot-Inconclusive-Functional-Analyses

The document outlines four strategies to troubleshoot inconclusive functional analyses (FAs) based on insights from Dr. Greg Hanley. These strategies include re-interviewing caregivers for precise information, checking for therapist reactivity, synthesizing hypothesized reinforcement contingencies, and observing behavior in context. The goal is to enhance the accuracy of FAs and improve understanding of the behaviors being analyzed.

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kelly.owen
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15 views1 page

4-Ways-to-Troubleshoot-Inconclusive-Functional-Analyses

The document outlines four strategies to troubleshoot inconclusive functional analyses (FAs) based on insights from Dr. Greg Hanley. These strategies include re-interviewing caregivers for precise information, checking for therapist reactivity, synthesizing hypothesized reinforcement contingencies, and observing behavior in context. The goal is to enhance the accuracy of FAs and improve understanding of the behaviors being analyzed.

Uploaded by

kelly.owen
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Four Ways to Troubleshoot

Inconclusive Functional Analyses


So you’ve run an FA. Awesome! There are times, however, when FA results look quite different than the
ones in JABA. Whether you’ve observed low (or even zero) rates of responding, or response patterns
that aren’t readily interpreted by conventional standards, here are a few procedural tweaks you can try.
These suggestions came from Sessions 1 and 7 of The Behavioral Observations Podcast, which
features interviews with Dr. Greg Hanley from Western New England University. Give them a listen for
more information, or check out Dr. Hanley’s website directly. I hope you find these suggestions helpful!

1. Re-interview caregivers to get more precise information regarding the evocative stimuli. For
example, if the original interview suggested escape as a reinforcer, are you providing different
instructional demands that caregivers typically do? Are there specific words, phrases, or even
prosodic features that you can more closely duplicate? If Attention is thought to be the reinforcer,
exactly how is that attention provided (again, specific phrases, tonality, etc… applies here as
well). The details are key here, so try to replicate the evocative conditions as best as possible.
Completing the Open Ended Functional Assessment Interview prior to the analysis will help with
this.

2. Check for therapist reactivity. If no target behaviors occur when you run sessions, have the
client’s caregivers implement the analysis (under your supervision, of course).

3. Synthesize the hypothesized reinforcement contingencies. When re-interviewing caregivers, try to


determine, for example, what an individual is escaping to. That is, when provided a demand, do
target behaviors lead to escape, and then attention from caregivers? Tangibles? Opportunities
for stereotypic behavior? If so, consider incorporating the more accurate, complex set of
reinforcing consequences to your follow up functional analysis.

4. When possible, observe the behavior in its context to help answer items 1 through 3. This is the
last of these suggestions because clients do not always oblige clinicians with opportunities to
observe their challenging behaviors in their naturally occurring contexts. Also, caregivers may
have learned to avoid evocative events, which makes the opportunity to observe less likely.
However, observation may be a helpful tool if your functional analysis has stalled.

Do you have other strategies that work for you? Feel free to send comments and
suggestions to  [email protected]  

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