Functional Assessment Based Interventions for Children At Risk for Emotional and Behavioral Disorders
Functional assessments were conducted to identify the variables maintaining disruptive behavior in eight, typically developing fifth grade students enrolled in general education classrooms. Participants whose behavior was found to be functionally related to either task avoidance or attention seeking were randomly assigned to a treatment strategy that was primarily either antecedent or consequent based. An ABAB single case design was employed to analyze the effects of treatment strategies. The current study also conducted a comparison of treatment strategies that were primarily antecedent or consequent based. Results showed that antecedent based treatment strategies (i.e. self monitoring and task modification) were more effective than consequent based treatment strategies (i.e. differential reinforcement) for increasing academic engagement and reducing disruptive behavior. Implications regarding the use of functional assessment with typically developing students at risk for emotional and behavioral problems enrolled in general education classrooms and the effects of antecedent and consequent based treatment strategies as a function of behavior are discussed.