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Interview‐informed functional analyses: A comparison of synthesized and isolated components
Author(s) -
Slaton Jessica D.,
Hanley Gregory P.,
Raftery Katherine J.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of applied behavior analysis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.1
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1938-3703
pISSN - 0021-8855
DOI - 10.1002/jaba.384
Subject(s) - psychology , autism , functional analysis , contingency , multiple baseline design , developmental psychology , intervention (counseling) , psychiatry , chemistry , linguistics , philosophy , gene , biochemistry
Hanley, Jin, Vanselow, and Hanratty (2014) described a functional analysis ( FA ) format that relied on a synthesis of multiple contingencies described by caregivers during open‐ended interviews. These interview‐informed synthesized contingency analyses ( IISCA ) provided effective baselines from which to develop socially validated treatments, but the synthesis precluded a precise understanding of individual contingencies influencing problem behavior. We conducted IISCAs and standard FAs (Iwata, Dorsey, Slifer, Bauman, & Richman, 1982/1994) for nine children with autism to evaluate the likelihood of differentiation given a number of synthesized versus isolated variables. The IISCA was differentiated for all. The standard FA was differentiated for four; this number increased to six when we included precursors in the standard FA . We then compared treatments based on sets of differentiated analyses for four children. Treatment based on the IISCA was effective for all four; treatments based on the standard FA were effective for two. The role of synthesis in analysis is discussed.