1. Behavioral Assessment: Initial Considerations
Chapter 20
Behavioral Assessment: Initial Considerations

2. Behavior Modification Program Phases
Screening/Intake:
Presenting concerns
Agency Policies
Crisis screening
Diagnosis (insurance)

3. Behavior Modification Program Phases (cont.)
Baseline Phase: Assess behavior quantitatively (frequency, duration, etiology severity, quality, environmental controls).
Treatment Phase: Design a program using the tools we’ve learned thus far. Assess success, redesign if necessary and fade stimuli/reduce consequences to bring behavior under control of natural reinforcers.
Follow-up Phase: See if behavior maintains, adjust natural reinforcers or begin treatment again.

4. Indirect Assessment Procedures
Interviews with the Client and Significant Others (See Table 20-1)
Rapport
Non-judgmental
Confidentiality
Set target behaviors

5. Indirect Assessment Procedures (cont.)
Questionnaires
Life History
Survey
Rating scales and checklists (CBCL, Conners, BASC, etc.)

6. Indirect Assessment Procedures (cont.)
Role Playing ( to assess behavior in office).
Information from Consulting Professionals.
Client Self-Monitoring ( not as good as trained observers).

7. Direct Assessment Procedures
More accurate but more time consuming and thus costly.
Covert behaviors not observable.

8. Experimental Assessment Procedures
Experimental functional analysis See Chap 22

9. DATA: Why Bother?
To Determine whether behavioral treatment is appropriate.
Maybe the behavior isn’t in your area of expertise.
Maybe the behavior is not really a problem.
Data can lead to treatment by discovering controlling environmental variables.

10. DATA: Why Bother? (cont)
To see if Treatment is working.
To prompt and/or reinforce the treatment providers.
Counting behavior may impact its frequency apart from treatment effects. Reactivity is the effect of being watched (keeping track of weight loss/gain, exercise, etc. can be motivating).

11. Direct Behavioral assessment: What to Record and How
Chapter 21
Direct Behavioral assessment: What to Record and How

12. Characteristics of Behavior to be Recorded
Topography
Amount
Rate/frequency.
Frequency graphs. Pg. 271
Cumulative Graphs pg. 273
(If comparing more than one behavior and/or rate changes are small)

13. Characteristics of Behavior to be Recorded (cont.)
Duration
Intensity (may need instrumentation such as voice meter).
Stimulus Control What in the environment PROMPTS the behavior?
Latency between stimulus and response.
Quality just an arbitrary rating along one of the previously listed quantitative dimensions.

14. How to Record Behavior Continuous recording: every instance
Interval recording
Partial interval recording: maximum one instance within a specified time interval.
Whole interval recording: record only if the behavior persists throughout the entire interval.
Time-Sampling Recording: intervals are separated by longer periods of time to save time in sampling.

15. Assessing Accuracy of Observations
Response definition may be vague.
Observational situation: may be difficult to detect behavior.
Observer: may be poorly trained.
Data Sheets/recording procedures: may be poorly designed.

16. Assessing Accuracy of Observations (cont.)
Interobserver Reliability (IOR) % acceptable
Frequency recordings:
smaller number
larger number X 100%
Interval recordings:
# of intervals agreed
# intervals either observer recorded a behavior X 100%

17. Functional Assessment of the Causes of Problem Behavior
Chapter 22
Functional Assessment of the Causes of Problem Behavior

18. What is Functional Analysis?
Examination of the relationship between behavior and its antecedents and consequences
Antecedents
eliciting stimuli
Consequences
Positive or negative reinforcement

19. Types of Assessment Questionnaire Observation
Completed by those familiar with client
Reliability issues
Observation
Observe what is going on
Form hypotheses about antecedents and consequences

20. Types of Assessment Functional Analysis
Systematic manipulation of environmental events to experimentally test their role in behavior maintenance
Limitations
Infrequent behaviors
Not applicable in dangerous behaviors
Expensive and time consuming

21. Causes of Problem Behavior
Attention From Others – Social Positive Reinforcement
Attention follows behavior
Individual approaches attention giver prior to behavior
Smiling prior to behavior
Treatment
Give attention at other times
Reduce attention to behavior

22. Causes of Problem Behavior
Self Stimulation – Internal Sensory Positive Reinforcement
Continues doing the behavior because it offers a desired level of stimulation
Behavior continues at steady rate
Treatment:
Increase sensory stimulation
Reduce stimulation level of behavior

23. Causes of Problem Behavior
Environmental Consequences – External Sensory Positive Reinforcement
Behavior maintained by reinforcing sights and sounds from the nonsocial external environment
Behavior continues undiminished even though it appears to have no social consequences over numerous occasions
Treatment:
Sensory reinforcement of a desirable alternate behavior

24. Causes of Problem Behavior
Escape From Demands – Social Negative Reinforcement
Escape from aversive stimuli
Problem behavior as a way to escape various undesirable demands
Behavior only happens when certain types of requests are made of the person
Treatment
Persist with requests (demands) until compliance
Teach other responses
Program where level of difficulty of requested behavior starts low and is gradually increased

25. Causes of Problem Behavior
Elicited – Respondent
Some behavior is elicited rather than controlled by consequences
Behavior consistently occurs in a certain situation or in the presence of certain stimuli
Behavior seems involuntary
Treatment
Establishing one or more responses that compete with problem behavior (counterconditioning)

26. Causes of Problem Behavior
Medical
Problem emerges suddenly and does not seem to be related to any changes in the individual’s environment
Behavioral diagnostics
Therapist diagnoses the problem after examining antecedents, consequences, and medical and nutritional variables as potential causes of problem behaviors
Develop treatment plan based on diagnosis
Physician should be consulted prior to treatment

27. Guidelines for Conducting Functional Assessment
Define the problem behavior
Identify antecedents
Identify consequences
Consider health/medical/personal variables
Form hypothesis based on information collected
Collect data to determine if hypothesis is correct
If possible, do a functional analysis by directly testing the hypothesis
Design treatment program
If treatment is successful, accept the causal analysis as confirmed.
If treatment is not successful, redo the functional analysis

28. Examples of FBA measures
FAST
FBA Inventory
ABC chart
See pg. 295 of text

29. Doing Research in Behavior Modification
Chapter 23
Doing Research in Behavior Modification

30. Reversal-Replication (ABAB) Research Designs
Baseline (A) is followed by treatment (B), return to baseline (A) condition, and then treatment again (B)
Allows for replication of treatment effect
Replication makes it clearer that treatment caused change in behavior

31. Reversal-Replication (ABAB) Research Designs

32. Reversal-Replication (ABAB) Research Designs

33. Reversal-Replication (ABAB) Research Designs
Considerations
Do baseline until pattern is stable and predictable
May be undesirable to do a reversal (dangerous behaviors)
May be unable to do a reversal if natural reinforcers have already taken effect (behavioral trapping)
How many reversals and replications are necessary?
Less replications if large effects are observed and a lot of previous research exists in the area
Limitations
Withdrawal of treatment may not lead to return to baseline
Withdrawal may be undesirable or unethical

34. Multiple-Baseline Designs
Conduct more than one AB design concurrently with treatments beginning at different times
Useful when reversals cannot be introduced

35. Multiple-Baseline Designs
Across behaviors
Baselining several similar behaviors within an individual
Across subjects
Applying the same treatment to the same behavior problems of two or more individuals
Across situations
Baselining one type of behavior for a single individual in more than one setting

36. Multiple-Baseline Designs

37. Changing-Criterion Designs
Change over time the criterion for success and look for relationship between criteria changes and behavior change
Can increase or decrease:
Frequency requirements
Rate requirements
Duration requirements
Etc.

38. Changing-Criterion Designs

39. Multiple-Baseline Designs (cont.)
Compare effects of two or more treatment conditions considerably more rapidly than in ABAB design
Applied at alternating times within the same time period
Also known as multielement design
Does not require reversal
Several treatments can be evaluated at the same time
Disadvantage: treatment effects interaction

40. Data Analysis and Interpretation
Data typically analyzed without control groups and statistical techniques used in other areas of psychology
Behavior modifiers interested in understanding and improving the behavior of individuals, not groups

41. Data Analysis and Interpretation
No control groups or statistics, just visual inspection of data graphs to draw conclusions.
Number of replications.
Quantitative difference between baseline and treatment behavior.
Latency of treatment effects.
Number of overlaps baseline and treatment.
Precision of treatment procedures.
Reliability of response measures.
Consistency of findings with existing data and theory.
Practical impact of results.
Consumer satisfaction.

42. Data Analysis and Interpretation
Social Validity
Behavior modifiers need to socially validate their work on at least three levels (Wolf, 1978):
Must examine the extent to which target behaviors identified for treatment programs are really the most important for client and society
Must be concerned with the acceptability to the client of the particular procedures used
Must ensure that the consumers are satisfied with the results

43. Advantages of Within Subjects (Single-case, N of 1) Designs
Repeated measurements vs. Data at single point in time
Small number of subjects vs. Large number of subjects
No resistance to control group participation from subjects
No need for statistical assumptions of normal distribution of DV and random selection of subjects from population