Book Description

Students with emotional and behavioral disorders have poor academic, behavioral, and long-term outcomes. Functional behavioral assessment (FBA) is one methodology meant to combat these poor outcomes through individualized assessment of the environmental variables that contribute to challenging behavior. These variables then serve as the basis for an intervention plan. However, the research literature is not yet clear as to whether the FBA-based interventions are more effective than non-FBA-based interventions. The purpose of this study was to compare FBA-based interventions with non-FBA-based interventions on the components of effectiveness, social validity, and treatment integrity. This research, using a reversal (i.e., ABAC) design, was conducted with 3 students with emotional and behavioral disorders in self-contained classrooms. The results indicated that the FBA-based intervention was more effective for the students and resulted in higher levels of treatment fidelity. On social validity measures, students rated both interventions positively, while the teachers were split, with one teacher preferring each intervention, and the third teacher rating both interventions favorably. The FBA-based intervention resulted in greater percentages of treatment fidelity than the non-FBA-based intervention.