Functional Analysis of Behavior

Functional Analysis -Stacy’s Case study

INTRODUCTION/IDENTIFYING INFORMATION (5pts) Functional Analysis of Behavior.

Include any important background information about the client here.

Name of client: Stacy Evans

Age: 5 years old living with autism

Date of Examination: 01/01/2016

Reason for referral

Advanced throwing of tantrums. Stacy’s problematic behavior of throwing tantrums involves crying, screaming and falling on the floor. This undesired behavior is triggered by the need for attention and escape. When reinforcers are placed, she throws tantrums, especially when she dislikes the demand. For non-preferred activities, she prefers to escape from the situation. This has made her parents feel incapable of managing her, thus the referral.

Target Behavior: Tantrum

The operational definition of the target behavior

Stacy has developed a tendency of crying with and at times without tears while not experiencing any physical pain. She screams or yells and then falls on the floor while flailing her arms and legs in the air.

The peak of the target behavior

The target behavior is revealed when she falls on the ground and begins to scream, cry or yell.

An offset of the target behavior

This happens at a time when crying ends, and this lasts for at least 10 seconds, after which she gets up from the ground.

INDIRECT ASSESSMENTS/Functional Analysis of Behavior. GRAPHS (5pts) SUMMARY (5pts)

Insert MAS graph here.

Results

Sensory = 2

Escape = 19

Attention = 4

Tangible = 2

Summarize MAS results hereof Functional Analysis of Behavior.

The MAS data depict that the escape and the need for tangibles are the causes of the problem behavior.  The dominant behavior this analysis is escape. Therefore, the tantrums that comprises of falling on the ground, crying or screaming are all indicators of her desire to escape from an unpleasant situation or place.

Insert FAST graph here-Functional Analysis of Behavior.

Results

Attention = 6

Escape = 4

Sensory stimulation = 1

Pain stimulation =1

Access to unsupervised and supervised activities = 4

Summarize FAST results here.

FAST results indicate that undesired behaviors are triggered by the need for attention and escape. Also, access to specific desired items or activities such as carrying the teddy Bear to the community are all triggers of the problem behavior.

Functional Analysis of Behavior/GRAPH (10pts)

Insert FA graph here with all 4 conditions.

Results

Sessions = 1, 2,3,4,5. (Minutes).

Alone = 0,0,17, 0, 0.

Attention= 0, 30, 0, 0, 0.

Play= 0, 0,0,0,0.

Escape= 33, 17,17,70,83.

Summarize FA results here.

The most dominant trait among the four variables is the escape. The least dominant is the play condition. During the first five minutes of the sessions, play condition did not trigger any undesired behavior because it is the most desired condition by Stacy. The escape condition resulted in the most tantrums than any other condition presented. During this condition, the girl exhibited undesired behavior each minute within the five minutes. This means that escape was a great trigger of tantrums because it had many demands.

FA determined the antecedents that supported the manifestation of the problem behavior. The conditions were alone, a demand which represented escape, attention, and control which represented play time. For alone session, Stacy was left with no toys or attention. At this time, she engaged in tantrums once in the 3-minute time she was alone.

During attention, she was given minimum attention through reprimands such as “don’t cry” and items for play. She engaged twice in tantrums for 2 minutes. The control sessions occurred when demands were eradicated, and attention was maximized. During this time, she did not throw tantrums. The demand condition was the final condition in the FA category.

During demand, she was given tasks to accomplish such as cleaning toys, and this was the highest recorded value in tantrums. This indicated that the placement of demands caused the problem behavior.

BEHAVIOR INTERVENTION PLAN PORTION

Components	INSERT TARGET BEHAVIOR
Operational Definition	Define behavior here. Throwing tantrums that involves crying, screaming and falling on the floor
Antecedents	Describe what the triggers/antecedents are for the client here. Base off of hypothesized function… Activities that she dislikes, such as bathing in the bathtub or eating vegetables.The transition from preferred activities to activities she dislikes. When she is denied to carry her Teddy Bear to social places.
Reinforcement Paradigm – Behavior Function	List the hypothesized function(s) here. Her Teddy BearWatching Specific Cartoon (Dora the explorer every day at 4 pm)Parent’s Mobile phoneHer dollsM&M CandySnacks Flavored Chocolate
Proactive Strategies (10 pts)	Describe possible antecedent intervention strategies here. Functional Analysis of Behavior.To eradicate Stacy’s tantrums, the use of proactive, replacement, and consequence methods will be applied. This is to change her reaction of crying, screaming, and falling on the floor exhibited on unpreferred activities or when the demands seem impossible to accomplish. The first intervention is the proactive strategy. Proactive strategies are the conciliatory methods that can be applied to eradicate tantrums. Stacy’s trigger to performing the undesired behavior is mostly experienced when she transitions from a preferred activity to one that she likes less. For instance, an abrupt end of her playtime with a teddy Bear to a transition of bathing in the tub is a non-preferred situation for Stacy. Understanding her preference is the first step that will help in avoiding the triggers of the undesired behavior. Also, cultivating a time-based routine where she understands when a particular activity begins and ends is effective in creating discipline. Additionally, the removal of reinforcers during demands is important to reduce tantrums. For instance, putting away the teddy Bear before their visit to the community is a method that will make it easier for her to forget about carrying the Bear along.
Consequence Strategies (10 pts)	Describe possible consequence intervention strategies here. Stacy’s case indicates that there is a concerning pattern of a tantrum when demands are placed. To counter this problematic behavior, extinction which is the avoidance of the use of reinforcers can be impactful. A case is where Stacy’s tantrums because of lack of attention, the crying and screaming or falling on the ground should be ignored. This will create a time where she will be crying and no one will be responding. Therefore, she will be forced to abandon the behavior because it attracted not what she expected. When the tantrum reduces, she should then be attended to through the introduction of a replacement behavior to counter the problem behavior. Moreover, she should be barred from escaping from any tasks until they are completed. When demands are stipulated, she should be encouraged to accomplish them. If she attempts to escape from a task, she should be directed back to the demand until it is excellently done. This action should be repeated continuously to drive the escape idea to extinction. During this time, any tantrums should also be ignored to avoid the possible pacification of the problem behavior.
Replacement Behaviors (10 pts)	Describe what are the replacement behaviors going to be and describe the procedure here. The most prevalent behaviors exhibited in the assessment were attention and escape. For attention, Stacy should be taught how to respectfully request for attention either through calling or tapping the person so that she can be assisted. This strategy will reduce the crying part which is an enforcer of other tantrums. In addition, tantrums for escape can be avoided by giving break times to offer pacification from the undesired situation. However, when she can tolerate the entire session of the undesired activity, then the parents should give her a reinforcer that may come as free time to watch Dora the explorer or a bar of chocolate for the good behavior exhibited. For time-breaks, it can be enforced by reducing the time-breaks systematically until the zero limit. By then, Stacy will have learned the concept of tolerance without throwing tantrums