Brief functional assessment techniques to evaluate aberrant behavior in an outpatient setting: a summary of 79 cases.

The team ran short functional assessments on 79 outpatients who showed problem behavior.

Each session lasted only a few minutes and tested if attention, escape, or items kept the behavior going.

They wrote down what they saw but did not try any treatment.

The records showed clear reasons for the behavior in most cases.

Attention and escape came up again and again, matching what later big reviews would find.

Matson et al. (2011) later looked at 173 studies and saw the same pattern: attention and escape top the list.

Weber et al. (2024) built on this early chart review with a larger sample and counted how often results were clear.

Cullinan et al. (2001) ran full analog FAs on aggression and got clean functions; Jones et al. (1992) shows the brief version can still point you to the same contingencies.

You can copy the brief model when time is short. Run five-minute attention, escape, and play probes, then move straight to treatment. The data line up with decades of longer FAs, so you keep your clinic day on track without losing accuracy.