Function Communication Training Ball State University SPCE 691 S804 – Fall 2016 Emily Felix  Brittany Grabski  Rae Hall  Sam Holum

What is Function Communication Training? Functional Communication training is used to teach replacement behaviors for individuals who often engage in disruptive behaviors. Example: Every time Bobby is asked to do his homework, he starts biting his hand. In treatment, a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) may conduct an Functional Analysis (FA) to determined why he bites his hand whenever he is asked to do homework. Once it has been determined why he bites his hand, a replacement behavior is taught. Bobby might be taught to ask for a break, ask for help, make a statement “this is too hard”, I want iPad, etc. All of these are better (more functional) ways to communicate his desire not to do homework than biting his hand. In order to understand what to teach Bobby, it must first be determined why Bobby bites his hand when asked to do homework. This is done by conducting a Functional Analysis

What is an Functional Analysis The FA allows the BCBA to identify what the student is trying to communicate with his or her unwanted behavior. In our case Bobby biting his hand. It is important to conduct an FA because simply guessing why Bobby is biting his hand when asked to do homework, may not solve the problem. Ex: if Bobby wants a break, but you teach him to ask for a cookie because you “think” he is biting his hand because he is hungry, Bobby does not get what he wants and still bites his hand. Produced by Leasa Androl and Rae Hall Published Dec 29th, 2014

When should you use FA? Aggression Self-injury Sterotypy Inappropriate sexual behaviors Inappropriate communication behaviors

Reasons Behavior May Occur = E.A.T.S Escape – Child engages in behavior to avoid doing task Attention – Child engages in behavior to gain access to attention Tangible – Child engage in behavior to gain access to item or activity Sensory – Child engages in activity because it “feels good”

Testing Conditions FA A BCBA will test under 4 conditions to help determine the reason for the behavior Escape – Child engages in behavior to avoid doing a task (Escape) Attention – Child engages in behavior to get attention (Attention) Tangible – Child is trying to gain assess (Tangible) Alone – Child engage in behavior even when left alone (Sensory)

Escape Watch the video- See if you can count the number of times the child bites his hand when asked to do a task. 1 In Correct - Try Again 7 In Correct - Try Again 4 Correct – There is a good Chance the boy is trying to escape the task

Attention Watch the video- See if you can count the number of times the child bites his hand when asked to do a task. Correct – There is a chance the boy wanted attention 1 In Correct - Try Again 4 In Correct - Try Again

Tangible Watch the video- See if you can count the number of times the child bites his hand when asked to do a task. 1 In Correct - Try Again 7 In Correct - Try Again 1 Correct – There is a good is biting so he can have access to the phone

Alone Watch the video- See if you can count the number of times the child bites his hand when asked to do a task. 1 In Correct - Try Again In Correct – When the boy is alone he does not engage in behavior. There is a good chance that he wants something tangible, some attention or does not want to a task 4 In Correct - Try Again

Test Your Knowledge A Registered Behavior Technician can conduct an FA? True False Functional Communication Training teaches replacement behaviors to individual who may otherwise engage in problem behaviors True False If a child bites their hand every time they are asked to do homework, they are trying to get attention. True False There are 4 conditions which are tested during a FA, they are Alone, Tangible, Escape and Attention True/False When should use conduct an FA? When the individual is engaging in aggressive behaviors When the individual is engaging in self-injury When the individual is engaging in stereotypy When the individual is engaging in inappropriate sexual behaviors When the individual is engaging in inappropriate communicative behaviors All of the above could be reasons to conduct an FA

What if it is too dangerous to conduct an FA? Due to the nature of the behavior, it is not always possible to conduct a formal FA. For example, in our videos, Bobby’s behavior is hand biting. It may be determined that to contrive situations where Bobby is severely injuring himself may not be an option. In these cases, a less formal assessment call an Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA) may be conducted. Additionally in some settings, a BCBA may not be available. In these cases, it may be more feasible to complete a less formal assessment because it can be done by non BCBA’s and is less likely to cause the individual engage in dangerous behaviors.

What is an FBA FBA’s are assessments that are conducted through indirect assessments and direct observations. These assessments and observations may be enough to determine the function of behaviors. If the FBA is the method used to determine behavior, data collection must be accurate.

Steps to an FBA Indirect assessments Direct Observations Checklists Questionnaires Interviews. Direct Observations Collecting Antecedent, Behavior, Consequence (ABC) Data. What happens before the behavior, what happens during the behavior and what consequences result in response to the behavior. Example: Bobby is asked to do homework (Antecedent), Bobby bites his hand (Behavior), Bobby does not have to do homework (Consequences)

Methods for FCT Once a hypothesis is determined for the behavior, the method of teaching the replacement behavior must be decided based on the ability of the individuals. There are many different means of communication that can be used. Verbal – difficult to teach this method with non-verbal children. Sign Language– Good for non-verbal, not necessary for verbal children. May be difficult to use if child has motor skills issues Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) – Good for non-verbal and delayed speech. Can be paired with verbal. Easier to use for individuals with deficits in motor skills Speech Devices/Tablets - Good for non-verbal and delayed speech. Can be paired with verbal. May be difficult to use if child has motor skills issues

Choosing Method is critical Preventing School Failure, 54(4), 238–246, 2010 Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LCC ISSN: 1045-988X print DOI: 1080/10459881003745195 - http://glenwood.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/article-functional-communication-training.pdf

Test Your Knowlege Only BCBA’s can conduct FBA’s True/False FBA’s can include both direct assessments and observations True/False FA’s are really the best way to determine the function of the behavior True/False ABC stands for Attention, Behavior and Consequences True/False Sean is a 12 year old boy with excellent verbal skills. He hits other kids in class during free play. An FBA has been conducted and it has been determine that he does this to get attention. The best method to use for teaching his replacement behavior is to develop a PECS Book and have him hand his classmates a picture of kids playing. True/False

How Do We Determine Replacement Behaviors? In our video example of Bobby during the FA, he most frequently bit his hand when being asked to do homework. Under these conditions, we would want to teach him to ask for a break or some help completing the task. We would not teach him to ask for a cookie or toy or for someone to play because he did not engage in the biting behavior as much during the tangible, alone or attention conditions. If we teach him to ask for a break or help, it is likely that he will engage in less biting because the alternative behavior gets him the same thing as biting did. It is important to know that the replacement behavior should not take any more effort than the behavior it is replacing. Is it easier for Bobby to ask for help or a break than it is for him to bite his hand to escape the task. In the video example, Bobby is non-verbal. Let’s determine what method to use to teach Bobby his replacement behavior.

Test Your Knowledge Bobby bites his hand every time he is asked to spell cat. The function of Bobby’s behavior is likely. A. Attention, B. Escape, C. Access to tangible, D. Sensory The best method to teach Bobby is: A. PECS, B. Verbal, C. Sign or D. Table/Speech Device, E. a, c or d. F. Any of these methods would work. G. Can not be determined without more information

How to teach FCT Assuming that we determined Bobby was engaging in the biting behavior because he wanted to escape the task and that using a PECS board to teach Bobby the replacement behavior. We would use the following steps to teach the replacement Develop appropriate pictures that indicate break or help is available. When the task becomes too difficult and Bobby begins to engage in the behavior, Do not acknowledge his hand biting behavior. Immediately hand him the picture card and physically hand over hand prompt him to give the picture to the person placing the demand. Reinforce Bobby’s behavior of handing the card by immediately giving him a break or helping him with the task. As Bobby gets used to the picture exchange as a means to escape the demand, fade the hand-over-hand prompts by giving him partial prompts (touch his arm and move it toward the person placing the demand) followed by gesturing (pointing) towards the picture and eventually fading out all prompts.

Generalization One of the best ways to ensure that a skill has been generalized is to teach in the natural environment. Even if the skill is originally taught in a clinical environment, we would also consider where Bobby does his homework, we would also this skill at home, in the library or at school.

Test Your Knowledge The first part of teaching FCT is to determine the method of delivery such as PECS, Tablet, etc. True/False If a child is engaging in a behavior, you should immediately give him what he wants. True/False Partial Prompting is to physically help the learner by either giving him the total word or by helping them by doing hand-over-hand prompting. True/False You should never fully fade prompts True/False Generalization during treatment is not necessary because the student will automatically learn to engage in replacement behaviors everywhere once he has learned it in one place.

Congratulations You have complete the module of Functional Communication Training. Please see your trainer for the next module in this series.