Question: ICS Part 1: Functional Behavior Assessment

Resources - Microsoft Word icon PSY7701 Learner Guidelines for Evaluation of Discussion Contributions.

In this Instructor Contact Session, you will hear your instructor talk about functional behavior assessment. Listen to the lecture and take notes. Then post a substantive response to the following discussion questions:

To what extent should a person's diagnosis (for example, autism or ADHD) be considered by a behavior analyst in assessing the cause of his or her behavior(s) that have been targeted for change?

When is it appropriate to attribute a person's diagnosed condition as the function of his or her behavior in a functional behavior assessment? In your response, explain why the topography of the behavior reveals rather limited information about the conditions that account for the behavior of concern. Is important to understand why a behavior occurs before planning how it can be changed? Explain your answer.

ICS Part 2: The Case of Brian

Resources - Microsoft Word icon PSY7701 Learner Guidelines for Evaluation of Discussion Contributions.

In this Instructor Contact Session, you will hear your instructor talk about mainstream diagnoses. Listen to the lecture and take notes. Then post a substantive response to the following discussion question:

On page 514 of your Applied Behavior Analysis text, the multiple diagnoses of Brian, the student, are listed (for example, PDD, ODD, and ADHD). Describe some possible mainstream treatments that may be tied to such diagnoses. Based on what you have learned so far, how might treating Brian's problem behavior based on these diagnoses before understanding its function be problematic?