I highly recommend that you check out Greg Hanley's new website, www.practicalfunctionalassessment.com. If you're not familiar with him, he is a professor at Western New England University, and has written a lot about the functional assessment process over the years. I've been an admirer of his work for a long time, and the information on this site is perhaps the most substantive, yet practitioner-focused material on Functional Behavioral Assessments that you're likely to find. I just finished checking out one of the power points, and I am looking forward to going through the rest of the resources in more detail.
He and his team have developed a real unique way of conducting functional behavioral assessments. Here's a quick compare/contrast of the traditional functional analysis method and what he refers to as an Interview Informed Synthesized Contingency Analysis, or IISCA. I borrowed this slide right from one of the power points on practicalfunctionalassessment.com, which you can get here.
If you think others will benefit from this, pass on the address of Greg's site to your friends and colleagues, or feel free to use the share button below.
Lastly, I'm hoping to book Greg for the upcoming podcast, so stay tuned for future updates.
Matt: Thanks for linking to the site! I look forward to talking with you.
The pleasure’s mine Greg. This is a nice resource so I am more than happy to get the word out!
Hi Matt,
During the podcast Dr. Hanley referenced a study several times that addressed using the advantages of using a novel mand when first implementing FCT as opposed to using an established mand which may allow for the problem behaviors to “come along for the ride.” Would you happen to have that author name and/or a pdf of the study? Thanks, I’m enjoying the podcast and recommending it weekly.
Hi Chad, thank you for the kind words about the podcast, as well as spreading the word to colleagues. I am in the process of collecting questions about the IISCA process as well as his approach to function based treatment, and we will eventually do a show that is just Q & A. This is an excellent question that I will ask him when we record the episode. If I were to hazard a guess at the answer, asking for a break has, for many individuals, been involved in a chain that involves problem behavior (e.g., demand -> problem beh -> staff prompt to mand for a break e.g., “use your words” -> reinforcer). So if we begin by manding for a break, as I mistakenly did, there his a history of problem behavior that is at least indirectly tied to that response. Again, this is just my take, and I’ll be sure to include this in my follow up discussion when Greg returns to the show. Thanks again Chad! Matt