Association for Behavior Analysis International

The use of functional behavioral assessment (FBA) to address the problem behavior of students with emotional/behavioral disorders in schools is supported by an emerging evidence base. Few studies, however, have assessed the generality (i.e, the transfer of behavior change across settings, behaviors, or students) of function-based interventions. In this session, we review demonstrations of setting/situation generalization in the literature and present a series of cases specifically targeting the transfer of behavior change across settings for students with emotional/behavioral disorders.

Increasingly schools are using function-based assessment in the design of classroom interventions in both general education and special education settings. Research examining the use of function-based assessment is mixed when comparing interventions preceded by a functional behavior assessment (FBA) to those without an FBA. The purpose of this study was to provide a quantitative review of school-based behavior reduction interventions and some ancillary variables that may modulate the effectiveness of those interventions. Tau-U, an effect size statistic for single case designs that takes into account level and trend, was calculated across studies, allowing for examination of several moderator variables including type of FBA method used. Moderate intervention effects were found across all studies with a small yet insignificant difference between function and non-function based interventions. The largest difference in a moderator variable was intervention setting, with studies conducted in the natural environment producing larger effects than those in pull-out settings. Possible explanations for these findings, limitations of the study, and areas of future research are discussed.