Functional behavioral assessment (FBA) is the description of behavior and the cause-effect relationship between behavior and the environment (Steege et al., 2019). The basis of conducting FBA is that behavior is a product of interactions between factors within an individual and factors in the individual’s social environment. It helps to identify factors in the environment that can be modified to change the identified behavioral problem (Steege et al., 2019). Therefore, FBA is pivotal in identifying personalized interventions for behavioral disorders. For example, a psychologist can use FBA to identify factors that contribute to behaviors that interfere with a student’s educational process (Benson et al., 2019).
Although functional analysis is the gold standard in functional behavior assessment, it is not ideal for clinical use due to efficiency, restrictiveness, and safety concerns (Gossou et al., 2022). More applicable alternatives broadly categorized as indirect and direct methods are preferred. The prevailing behavioral assessment comprises using indirect and direct methods (Gossou et al., 2022). Direct observation methods, also known as descriptive methods, are the foundation for analyzing behavior (Asaoka & Noro, 2020). In contrast, indirect functional assessment methods facilitate the identification of factors associated with problem behaviors (Healy & Brett, 2014).
Indirect Methods: Functional Assessment Interview
Examples of indirect methods include the functional analysis interview form (FAIF), the functional assessment interview (FAI), and the student-directed functional assessment interview form (SDFAI) (Healy & Brett, 2014). The selection of the indirect assessment method to use in investigating an individual with problematic behaviors is dependent on the concurrent validity with functional analysis. Notably, the concurrent validity of most descriptive methods is supported by little empirical evidence (Gossou et al., 2022).
The FAI is an interview for an individual with the behavioral disorder and the people in their immediate social environment. The information generated from the FAI facilitates the explanation of the problem behavior and the identification of replacement or alternate behaviors (Healy & Brett, 2014). Chan et al. (2021) evaluated the reliability of FAI in determining antecedents, behaviors, and consequences that frequently occur in the high school setting. They compared the responses with direct observation data. The FAI emerged as an extremely low-reliability tool.
However, unique participants’ responses were consistent with direct observation findings (Chan et al., 2021). The consistency is an indication of FAI’s potential to be used in the behavioral assessment of teenagers, who were the study population. Thus, FAI can be optimized to be applied in the functional behavioral assessment of adolescents with problematic behaviors such as autism.
The available direct functional behavioral assessment methods include the antecedent-behavior-consequence (ABC) recording, which is the most commonly used (Asaoka & Noro, 2020). ABC recording entails observing an individual’s behavior in their environment. Then, the environmental events that precede a problem behavior are recorded while the patient is functioning in their natural environment (Healy & Brett, 2014). Behaviors, antecedents, and consequences of a problematic behavior such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are expected to emerge when an individual is observed in the school environment via the ABC recording (Asaoka & Noro, 2020).
Most practitioners continue to use descriptive methods for functional behavior assessment among children with disabilities including ASD. ABC narrative recording is an approach that is being applied in the detailed description of events associated with challenging behavior (Asaoka & Noro, 2020). The qualitative analysis conducted in the process considers the topography of the challenging behavior to characterize the issue in detail (Healy & Brett, 2014). Indirect methods are also used although their credibility is challenged due to low internal validity (Gossou et al., 2022).
References
Asaoka, H., & Noro, F. (2020). Effects of Self-Monitoring of Antecedents and Consequences on the Mother of an Adolescent Child Exhibiting Behavior Problems. Child & Family Behavior Therapy, 42(3), 186-205. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/07317107.2020.1780819
Benson, N. F., Floyd, R. G., Kranzler, J. H., Eckert, T. L., Fefer, S. A., & Morgan, G. B. (2019). Test use and assessment practices of school psychologists in the United States: Findings from the 2017 National Survey. Journal of School Psychology, 72, 29-48. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/John-Kranzler/publication/329999254_Test_use_and_assessment_practices_of_school_psychologists_in_the_United_States_Findings_from_the_2017_National_Survey/links/5c28e6dc92851c22a3505ed8/Test-use-and-assessment-practices-of-school-psychologists-in-the-United-States-Findings-from-the-2017-National-Survey.pdf
Chan, P. E., Cannella-Malone, H. I., & Harper, B. E. (2021). Evaluating Reliability of High School Students’ Functional Assessment Interview Responses. Journal of Applied School Psychology, 37(2), 197-220. https://doi.org/10.1080/15377903.2020.1821271
Gossou, K. M., Lanovaz, M. J., & Giannakakos‐Ferman, A. R. (2022). Concurrent validity of Open‐Ended Functional Assessment Interviews with functional analysis. Behavioral Interventions, 37(2), 259-270. https://papyrus.bib.umontreal.ca/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1866/25851/Gossou%20et%20al%20%282022%29%20AAM.pdf?sequence=1
Healy, O., & Brett, D. (2014). Functional behavior assessments for challenging behavior in autism. Comprehensive guide to Autism, 2881-2901. https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-1-4614-4788-7_191
Steege, M. W., Pratt, J. L., Wickerd, G., Guare, R., & Watson, T. S. (2019). Conducting school-based functional behavioral assessments: A practitioner’s guide. Guilford Publications. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=DzCDDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=functional+behavior+assessment&ots=jPMWkeJDsR&sig=zwaCfZdYh5dd0Hh9kV5FiCIFeuc
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