Brief Functional Analysis Paper

A brief functional analysis enables a complete functional analysis and intervention to be completed in one 90-minute session by exposing the individual to very brief trials of approximately five minutes in length and by using single exposures to the test and control conditions. Northup, Wacker, Sasso, Steege, Cigrand, Cook, and DeRaad (1991) conducted a brief functional analysis with three individuals diagnosed with severe disabilities. The individuals were not selected through any specific criteria except they were the first three individuals to be referred to the program from the University of Iowa. Curtis, the first participant, was diagnosed with severe to profound mental retardation. He was nonverbal and he had no means of communication. The topography of his aggressions included scratching, pinching, grabbing, hitting, and hair pulling. The frequency of behaviors were a

In experiment one, Thomas-Sassi, et al. examined the similarities and differences of the response rate and response latency during baseline, acquisition, and maintenance conditions. The subjects included four adult men who were diagnosed with mild to moderate mental retardation. One subject communicated through limited signs and gestures, while the other three men had vocal communication skills in their repertoire. Sessions were held in a therapy room with moderately preferred leisure activities. The target behaviors that were measured for each man consisted of vocational tasks, such as hole punching and dialing phone numbers. Operational definitions and response criteria was defined across subjects. Data was collected on hand-held computer devices and inter-observer agreement was calculated with mean ranges from 94% to 97% for response rate and 78% to 99% for response