No description available.

Presession pairing is an antecedent intervention that has shown to decrease problem behavior of elementary school children with autism, whose problem behavior is maintained by social reinforcement. It has also shown modest increases in academic responding. However, the research on presession pairing has not examined its efficacy or acceptability in the natural classroom setting when implemented by the teacher. Therefore, this study used teacher training and a multiple baseline across participants design to test the potential efficacy of teacher-implemented presession pairing in increasing on-task behavior and reducing problem behavior of four students with problem behavior in inclusive public elementary school classrooms. The results indicated that the presession pairing successfully increased on-task behavior and decreased problem behavior for all participating students. The social validity assessment indicated that the teachers found the presession intervention contextually fit, easy to implement, and effective for all students in the classroom.

The purpose of this study was to contribute to the literature by examining a systematic set of methods to assess and treat the problem behavior of young at-risk children. This study examined the use of the Decision Model (Umbreit, Ferro, Liaupsin, & Lane, 2007) with two kindergarten students and one first grade student who were exhibiting chronic behavior problems despite implementation of interventions through their school's existing support system. The study was conducted across three phases including: Phase I (Descriptive Functional Assessment), Phase II (Intervention Development/Testing) and Phase III (Intervention Implementation). Interventions in Phase III, were systematically introduced to each student using a Multiple Baseline Design. The Decision Model was used to develop interventions that resulted in reductions in each child's disruptive behavior and increases in on-task academic behavior. Social validity was examined using the TARF-R and resulted in high acceptability ratings from each teacher responsible for implementing the intervention for each student. Limitations and directions for future research are discussed.

The Function-based Intervention Decision Model (Umbreit, Ferro, Liaupsin, & Lane, 2007) (Decision Model), is a straightforward technique to link the function of a behavior to an intervention. Although this technique has been found to be significantly effective with school-age disability populations, it has not been tested with adults who have cognitive disabilities and significant behavioral problems in non-school settings.This study explored the efficacy of the Decision Model (Umbreit et al., 2007) as a method for matching behavioral interventions to assessed function(s) of the target behavior by extending its practices to adults with developmental disabilities in a community-based day program. The participants were three adults with moderate mental retardation and problematic behavior, displayed by inappropriate social interactions. The research design was a multiple baseline across subjects. A notable benefit to this design is that there was no need to withdraw treatment, an important ethical consideration because each of the problem behaviors presented with some form of self-injury, aggression to others, and/or property destruction. The study had four phases: (a) conducting the functional behavioral assessment to identify the function of the participant's problem behavior, (b) utilizing the Decision Model (Umbreit et al., 2007) to link the function to the behavioral intervention plan (BIP), (c) applying the intervention, and (d) and maintenance. Several research questions were posed: (a) Do interventions developed using the Decision Model produce positive results for adults who have developmental disabilities and significant behavior problems in a non-school setting? (b) Will the application and maintenance of each BIP result in decreased exhibition of assessed problem behaviors? (c) Will the application and maintenance of each BIP result in increased exhibition of identified replacement behaviors? (d) Will the day program support staff and behavioral support team view the outcomes as socially valid? The results indicated a decrease in problem behaviors (socially inappropriate interactions) and an increase in replacement behaviors (socially appropriate interactions). Results of this study influenced positive intervention strategies that were easily maintained and viewed as socially valid by the direct support staff, evidenced by the results of the Treatment Acceptability Rating Form-Revised (Reimers, Wacker, Cooper, & DeRaad, 1992).

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

The primary purpose of this study was to test the assumption that function-based interventions developed using the Function-Based Intervention Decision Model (Umbreit, Ferro, Liaupsin, & Lane, 2007) must consist of three method elements (i.e., adjustment of antecedent conditions, providing appropriate reinforcement for replacement behaviors, and eliminating reinforcement for target behaviors) for an optimal effect on changing behavior. In this study, the contribution of the extinction procedure was examined with three elementary school-aged students who were at risk for emotional and behavioral disorders. The study was conducted in two phases. Phase 1 consisted of a descriptive FBA involving assessment and intervention development. Phase 2 consisted of data collection in three conditions: baseline, intervention consisting of all three method elements, and intervention consisting of only antecedent adjustments and reinforcement of replacement behavior. Intervention phases were systematically introduced to each student using a multi-element reversal design (A-B-A-B-C-B) and resulted in improvements in the intervention conditions. Interventions using all three method elements were more effective in increasing replacement behaviors and decreasing target behaviors than those in which the extinction procedure was removed. Social validity using the Intervention Rating Profile-15 and Children's Intervention Rating Profile resulted in high acceptability ratings for interventions consisting of all three method elements. Limitations and directions for future research are discussed.

Function-based assessments and interventions are routinely used in school settings as an effective method to address problem behaviors that impede the learning of the student or others. When function-based interventions are not successful, it is often due to problems with treatment integrity (TI). Using an ABCBC single subject design, this study examined whether function-based teacher supports could improve TI. The results demonstrated that the function-based supports provided to the teacher resulted in higher levels of TI and improvements in student behavioral outcomes. Using function-based intervention concepts to develop teacher intervention support, limitations to the study, and directions for future research are discussed.