Dr. Carole Van Camp: The Pitfalls of Prioritizing Practicality over Precision

Abstract

Experimental functional analyses have been utilized for decades to determine the function of severe challenging behavior. Typically, multiple putative reinforcers are evaluated in individual test conditions, allowing for the precise determination of behavioral function. Despite research demonstrating that resulting function-based interventions are effective at reducing such behavior, relatively few practitioners conduct experimental functional analyses, depending instead on less valid indirect questionnaires or descriptive assessments. Recently, the Practical Functional Assessment has emerged as a particularly efficient method of determining behavioral function. The approach is characterized by a single test condition in which all putative contingencies (as identified by caregivers via interview) are synthesized, and compare to a control condition. This presentation will describe procedural differences between synthesized and isolated functional analysis, and explore research on the validity and pitfalls of these two approaches.