Behavior-Analytic Assessment Tools

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Behavior-Analytic Assessment Tools In psychiatric care, clients present with a wide range of symptoms and abnormal behaviors. These behaviors typify different types of psychological disorders. Understanding the nature of an individual’s behavior helps clinicians develop an appropriate treatment plan.

Behavior assessment is conducted to measure and calculate the factors of behavioral change, including overt behaviors, feelings, and controlling variables of individuals. Behavior assessments are increasingly being conducted outside clinical settings. Corporate and educational sectors have embraced behavior assessment to predict the behavior of employees and students, respectively.

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Behavior assessment tools gather relevant information that increases the clinician’s understanding of abnormal behaviors presented by an individual. This information also helps identify replacement behaviors for disorderly ones (Miltenberger, Valbuena & Sanchez, 2019).

Importantly, these assessment tools help ascertain the cause of disruptive behaviors besides determining if therapy accomplished the anticipated behavioral outcomes (Madden, Reed & Reed, 2021). Therapists and clinicians utilize various behavior analytical tools to observe, predict, describe and explain behavior. This paper looks at the functional assessment interview (FAI) commonly used in clinical settings and educational settings. The strengths and weaknesses of this tool have also been described.

Functional Assessment Interview (FAI) The Functional Assessment Interview, as highlighted by Dufrene, Kazmerski, and Labrot (2017), is an essential component of behavior assessment used in clinical and educational settings. This tool assists therapists in identifying factors that influence the occurrence of inappropriate behaviors in children. FAI comprises several questions intended to gather information concerning a child’s behavior (O’Neill, 2021). Whereas the first set of questions guide the therapist to describe the child’s behavior, the second set helps gather data on ecological events such as a child’s sleeping and eating habits.

The FAI plays an integral role in pediatric and adolescent psychotherapy by guiding the therapist to describe immediate antecedents and behavioral consequences (Miltenberger, Valbuena & Sanchez, 2019). The core purpose of the FAI is to identify potential causes of challenging behaviors presented by children to help design an effective treatment approach.

Behavioral problems identified by this tool may serve a function of environmental conditions.

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The FAI helps also detect the factors which reinforce challenging behaviors among individuals besides predicting the situations in which such behaviors are likely to occur.

Conditions assessed by FAI Therapists can utilize the FAI to identify inappropriate behaviors associated with several psychological disorders. This tool applies to children presenting with sleeping difficulties, poor feeding habits, antisocial and avoidant behaviors (O’Neill, 2021). This tool is also used when assessing a child with poor concentration, poor memory, and communication problems.

Strengths The information gathered with FAI questions provides a base for creating a concrete solution to problematic behaviors in the target population. Therapists use the interview to solicit information directly from the client concerning his/her preferences and troubling behaviors. The tool also gathers data concerning inappropriate behaviors (Ala’i-Rosales et al., 2019). The therapists can utilize this information to develop a hypothesis on the function of the target behavior. The FAI is easier to implement and convenient in most circumstances. The FAI allows the therapist to gather data from different sources, including teachers, parents, and staff members. This tool does not reinforce potentially dangerous behavior but rather helps therapists identify potential causes of inappropriate behavior and initiate suitable mitigation. Importantly, the interview questions gather data on a child’s capabilities, difficulties, and methods of communication. The FAI does not require extensive training to implement like other functional analysis tools.

Weaknesses The FAI does not include scores like other assessment tools. The lack of scores implies that the therapist cannot identify the function of a child’s behavior. A lack of function scores

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hinders therapists from determining the severity of inappropriate behaviors among children.

Another FAI’s weakness is that it is time-consuming. The tool comprises two sets of questions that the interviewee must answer correctly to enable the therapist to make an appropriate decision. There is a possibility of bias, especially if the client experiences interview fatigue. The client may provide false answers, thus jeopardizing the assessment. Although FAI does not require extensive training, a certain level of training is needed to conduct the interview.

Conclusion Behavior analytic assessment tools are used in different settings, including hospitals, schools, and corporate settings, to evaluate and predict behaviors in individuals. These assessment tools help therapists to determine the cause of behavioral problems presented by individuals besides developing appropriate interventions for these problems. These tools help identify suitable behaviors to replace challenging behaviors. The Functional Assessment Interview is a common assessment tool used to gather information concerning behaviors presented by children. The FAI effectively predicts behaviors besides identifying behaviors associated with sleeping problems, eating disorders and antisocial behaviors. Besides being easier to implement the FAI is convenient and does not require administers to have extensive training.

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References: Ala’i-Rosales, S., Cihon, J. H., Currier, T. D., Ferguson, J. L., Leaf, J. B., Leaf, R., ... & Weinkauf, S. M. (2019). The big four: Functional assessment research informs preventative behavior analysis. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 12(1), 222-234. https://dx.doi.org/10.1007%2Fs40617-018-00291-9 Chafouleas, S. M., Johnson, A. H., Riley-Tillman, T. C., & Iovino, E. A. (2021). School-Based Behavioral Assessment: Informing Prevention and Intervention. Guilford Publications Dufrene, B. A., Kazmerski, J. S., & Labrot, Z. (2017). The current status of indirect functional assessment instruments. Psychology in the Schools, 54(4), 331-350. https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.22006 Madden, G. J., Reed, D. D., & Reed, F. D. (2021). An Introduction to Behavior Analysis. John Wiley & Sons Miltenberger, R. G., Valbuena, D., & Sanchez, S. (2019). Functional Assessment of Challenging Behavior. Current Developmental Disorders Reports, 6(4), 202-208. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40474-019-00180-y O’Neill, R. E., (2021). Functional Assessment Interview. https://connectability.ca/2011/10/19/functional-assessment-interview/