Smith, R. G., & Churchill, R. M. (2002).
Identification of environmental determinants of behavior disorders through functional analysis of precursor behaviors.
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis,
35, 125-136.
Experimental analysis procedures have been shown to be effective
means for identifying the environmental determinants of problem
behaviors. A potential limitation of these procedures is that it
is necessary to produce and document patterns in the occurrence
of the problem behavior during the assessment. In the case of
severe behavior disorders, this may place the participant or
therapist at such risk as to preclude the analysis. The current
study arranged experimental analysis contingencies for precursor
behaviors that had been observed to reliably precede the
occurrence of problem behaviors targeted for reduction. For each
of the 4 participants, it was possible to infer the maintaining
variables for problem behaviors based on the outcomes of
precursor analysis. These results suggest that the current
procedures represent a promising alternative method for reducing
risk during functional analysis of problem behaviors.
DESCRIPTORS: _functional analysis, behavior disorders, response
class hierarchies, precursor behaviors