Association for Behavior Analysis International

This symposium covers three areas related to functional analyses: (a) progressing from undifferentiated functional analyses, (b) developing a model for distinguishing between performance and skill deficits for elopement, and (c) training others to conduct functional analyses. The first presentation discusses a review of functional analysis outcomes of 180 individuals diagnosed with intellectual disabilities, subsequent manipulations of 95 of those functional analyses, and the importance of progressively modifying functional analysis procedures to reduce sources of variability and identify idiosyncratic variables maintaining problem behavior. The second presentation discusses a comprehensive treatment model aimed at (a) distinguishing elopement from wandering and (b) developing treatments for problems of elopement and wandering that are uniquely tailored to assessment outcomes. The third presentation is a summary of the 3 years of a project aimed at bringing functional analyses of problem behavior into Iowa schools by training area education agencies to conduct functional analysis. Dr. Dorothea Lerman will serve as the discussant.

Results of within-subject studies have shown that individuals with autism elope for three main reasons to gain access to preferred items, to escape undesirable settings or activities, or to gain attention from others (e.g., Piazza et al., 1997; Rapp, Vollmer, & Hovanetz, 2005). In contrast to this goal-directed bolting, some children wander without a clear course due to skill deficits related to transition behavior. These children have not been successfully taught to monitor and maintain their proximity to adults without holding a caregivers hand. Despite the clear impact this behavior has on the health, safety, and well-being of these individuals and their families, no comprehensive treatment approaches to elopement and wandering have been empirically validated. We will discuss a comprehensive model aimed at (a) distinguishing elopement from wandering and (b) developing treatments for problems of elopement and wandering that are uniquely tailored to assessment outcomes. Preliminary results suggest that the comprehensive model we developed was useful for developing treatments for elopement and wandering.

The State of Iowa is divided into area education agencies (AEA) that provide a variety of educational services to school districts across the state. In 2009, the Iowa Department of Education began supporting training for AEA consultants to learn how to conduct functional analyses by hiring behavioral analysts at the University of Iowa Childrens Hospital to train AEA consultants. Thirty-one trainees started the project in 2009 and continue to participate during its third year. Seventy-five percent of these trainees reported that they had low levels of experience (between 0 and 10 analyses conducted) with functional analyses when they began training. During the first two years of the project, we conducted over 100 functional analyses in clinic and school settings as part of the training project. During the second year of the project, trainees reported conducting 65 school-based functional analyses without the support of training staff. Only 38% of the trainees were reporting low levels of experience with functional analyses at the end of the second year. A summary of the 3 years of the project will be presented, highlighting who the trainees are, how they are developing the skills, and the growth of conducting functional analyses in Iowa schools.