BA430 Unit 9 Function-Based Treatment Paper Example

A Break Card Before 10:30: A BA430 Unit 9 Function-Based Treatment Paper

[Student Name]

Purdue University Global

BA430: Behavior Assessment

Unit 9 Function-Based Treatment Paper

[Instructor Name]

[Date]

The writer, the cooperative, the students and every figure are composite and illustrative; the articles cited are real.

The Function Identified

Brynn's assessment followed the same path as Kou's. The record review found sleep apnea and a recent thyroid medication change. The goal selection meeting put her mother's goal first: telling an adult when she was tired or unwell. Descriptive data showed tearing clustered before 10:30 in the morning and after poor nights. A skills assessment showed that much of her work was above her level. Finally, my supervisor ran a brief functional analysis with me assisting. Tearing occurred in every demand session, in which a short break followed tearing, and rarely in attention, tangible or control sessions. The function was escape from work.

Two years ago, her former district had called the tearing a bid for attention and built a token plan around time on task. That plan had not reduced tearing, which is consistent with our finding: tokens for staying on task do nothing to change the escape that tearing produced.

A Treatment-Selection Model

Geiger et al. (2010) proposed a model to help practicing behavior analysts select treatments for escape-maintained problem behavior. The model asks a series of questions. Can the person do the task? If not, the task should be adjusted or the missing skills taught. Is escape necessary, or can the task be modified so it is less aversive? Can the person be taught to request a break? Is escape extinction feasible and safe in the setting? The model leads to treatments including task modification, demand fading, high-probability instruction sequences, functional communication training and, where appropriate, escape extinction.

Applying the model to Brynn gave clear answers. She could not complete much of her work independently, so task adjustment came first. Escape was not necessary for every task, but breaks were reasonable on mornings after poor sleep. She could learn to request a break, which matched her mother's goal. Escape extinction, preventing her from leaving work after tearing, was judged inappropriate as a first step in a general classroom, where it could escalate and would be difficult for staff to apply consistently.

The model's first question, can she do the task, was the one the earlier plan never asked.

Functional Communication Training

Tiger et al. (2008) described functional communication training as teaching a communicative response that produces the reinforcer maintaining problem behavior, and they offered practical guidance for doing it well. The response should be easy to perform and easy for others to recognize. It should be taught with prompts that are faded quickly. In early training, it should be reinforced every time, while problem behavior no longer produces the reinforcer. Once the response is reliable, the schedule of reinforcement should be thinned so the person does not request breaks constantly.

Brynn's communicative response was a break card on her desk, which she could hand to the teacher, or the phrase "I need a break." Each request produced a three-minute break at a beanbag in the corner. During the first week, her paraprofessional prompted her to use the card at the first sign of agitation, such as pushing the paper away. Tearing no longer produced a break; if she tore a sheet, the teacher calmly gave a new copy and prompted the card.

The Setting Event

Carr and Smith (1995) argued that biological setting events change the value of escape and should be addressed directly in treatment, not only in assessment. Brynn's poor nights made work more aversive. The plan used her mother's sleep log, sent by text each morning, so that on mornings after poor nights her teacher reduced task length by half and scheduled her hardest subject after 10:30. Her mother also shared the behavior data with Brynn's physician, who was evaluating surgery for the apnea.

Task Adjustment and Demand Fading

Following the skills assessment, her teacher adjusted worksheets to her level and broke longer tasks into five-minute segments, each followed by a check mark and brief praise. Over the following weeks, segment length would increase gradually, a form of demand fading described in the treatment-selection model, as long as tearing remained low.

Thinning the Schedule

Once Brynn used the card reliably, breaks would be thinned. Following Tiger and colleagues' guidance, the team planned to introduce a visual "work first" card that delays the break until a short task is finished, extending the delay gradually. The aim was a schedule that matched ordinary classroom life, in which breaks come after work rather than on request at any time.

Training the Staff

Whether a plan works is decided by the adults using it on an ordinary Tuesday. Brynn has three teachers and a paraprofessional across the day, and each needed to respond to the card and to tearing the same way. I wrote a one-page summary with three rules: honor every card request at once during the first weeks, give a fresh copy without comment after tearing, and check the sleep text before first period. Then I modeled each rule in her classroom and watched each adult use it, giving feedback on the spot. Her science teacher at first asked Brynn to finish the problem before taking her break, which would have undercut the card. A short conversation about why immediate breaks mattered early on, and a reminder that thinning would come later, settled it.

A Contrasting Plan

Kou's plan shows how function changes treatment. His screaming was maintained by access to his truck, not escape. His plan taught him to request the truck, with a word in Hmong or English or a picture card, followed by "wait" with a visual timer to thin access. He was also allowed to carry the truck in a backpack during loud transitions. A break card would have done nothing for him, and a request for the truck would have done nothing for Brynn.

Early Results

In the first three weeks, Brynn's tearing fell from an average of six times a week to fewer than two, and she used the break card an average of eight times a day. Her teacher noted that requests were highest on mornings after poor nights, as expected. Thinning began in week four.

Conclusion

Brynn's tearing was escape-maintained, which explained why an attention-based token economy had failed. Geiger and colleagues' model led first to task adjustment, then to functional communication training with a break card, guided by Tiger and colleagues' recommendations, while Carr and Smith's work justified adjusting her day after poor sleep. Kou's different function produced a different plan, showing that function, not topography, determines treatment.

References

Carr, E. G., & Smith, C. E. (1995). Biological setting events for self-injury. Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews, 1(2), 94-98. https://doi.org/10.1002/mrdd.1410010204

Geiger, K. B., Carr, J. E., & LeBlanc, L. A. (2010). Function-based treatments for escape-maintained problem behavior: A treatment-selection model for practicing behavior analysts. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 3(1), 22-32. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03391755

Tiger, J. H., Hanley, G. P., & Bruzek, J. (2008). Functional communication training: A review and practical guide. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 1(1), 16-23. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03391716