Association for Behavior Analysis International

With the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requiring public school settings to provide least restrictive environments for students with disabilities, behavior analytic work within these settings is impacted by the increased complexity of clinical cases. In addition, IDEA requires the use of evidence-based practices in public school systems. Consequently, it is important for clinicians to utilize the most contemporary, effective, and efficient assessment and treatment tools available. Functional analysis methodology has time and time again proven to provide conclusive results regarding the function of behavior, and led to interventions informed by this clear understanding of behavior. Recent research in the area of functional analysis has included modified functional analyses, latency-based functional analyses, analyses of response classes and precursor behaviors, as well as methods for training public school staff to be involved in assessment. The expansion of the literature has made functional analyses more efficient and accessible in public school environments. With easier to access methods and clear conclusions regarding behavior, the role of functional analysis models and their effects on treatment decisions in public school settings is an important issue for behavior analysts to consider in their practice.

Precursor behaviors are those which both precede, and often predict the occurrence of a target response (Fahmie & Iwata, 2011). It is frequently assumed that precursor behaviors are part of the same response class as those behaviors that they precede. The role of precursors in treating potentially dangerous behavior such as self-injury, has received high levels of attention in the research, as responding to precursor responses may interrupt or decrease the probability of higher intensity behaviors (Herscovitch et al., 2009). In the current study, a brief functional analysis with a latency analysis, was conducted in a public school setting, to evaluate the degree to which precursor behaviors were part of the same response class as self-biting in a 9-year-student with Angelman syndrome. Data showed that precursor behaviors functioned as part of the same response class as self-biting. The shortest latencies to pre-cursor responses occurred during the tangible condition as compared to the attention, demand, and control conditions. While many other treatments had failed to effectively reduce self-biting, these data led to a treatment in which pre-cursor behaviors were reinforced as a method to effectively decrease self-biting across environments. These data show the importance of both assessing and treating precursor responses, particularly when faced with dangerous behaviors.