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IDENTIFICATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINANTS OF BEHAVIOR DISORDERS THROUGH FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS OF PRECURSOR BEHAVIORS
Author(s) -
Smith Richard G.,
Churchill Robert M.
Publication year - 2002
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 - 10.1901/jaba.2002.35-125
Subject(s) - functional analysis , psychology , identification (biology) , behavioral analysis , applied behavior analysis , behavior change , cognitive psychology , developmental psychology , social psychology , autism , ecology , biochemistry , chemistry , gene , biology
Experimental analysis procedures have been shown to be effective means for identifying the environmental determinants of problem behaviors. A potential limitation of these procedures is that it is necessary to produce and document patterns in the occurrence of the problem behavior during the assessment. In the case of severe behavior disorders, this may place the participant or therapist at such risk as to preclude the analysis. The current study arranged experimental analysis contingencies for precursor behaviors that had been observed to reliably precede the occurrence of problem behaviors targeted for reduction. For each of the 4 participants, it was possible to infer the maintaining variables for problem behaviors based on the outcomes of precursor analysis. These results suggest that the current procedures represent a promising alternative method for reducing risk during functional analysis of problem behaviors.