Precursor behavior and functional analysis: A brief review
Test the mild early signs instead of the dangerous act and you still learn the function.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Heath and his team read every precursor functional analysis paper they could find.
They wrote a short guide that tells you when to test mild behaviors instead of dangerous ones.
What they found
The review shows you can watch for early signs like hand flaps or soft vocalizations.
If these signs predict aggression or self-harm, you can run the FA on the safe behavior.
How this fits with other research
Schmidt et al. (2020) tested the guide in a clinic and proved it works in one afternoon.
Borlase et al. (2017) had already shown the same thing two years earlier, so the review pulls their data together.
Rettig et al. (2019) went further and showed blocking the early signs stops pica before it starts.
Why it matters
You no longer need to wait for a bite or a head-hit to learn the function. Watch for the client’s first small twitch, sigh, or repetitive hand lift. Run a five-minute test with that mild behavior. You get the same answer and keep everyone safe.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Researchers have developed precursor functional analyses to provide an alternative, and presumably safer, format for functional analysis of severe problem behavior. When researchers use functional analysis contingencies for precursor behaviors, it is possible to infer functional characteristics about severe problem behaviors based on patterns of less severe precursor behaviors, permitting practitioners to complete the assessment with less risk to clients, practitioners, or others. The current paper discusses recent advances in the development and validation of precursor identification, and offers suggestions and future directions for investigating and implementing precursor functional analyses. We propose a decision-making model, in which practitioners integrate procedures to identify precursors into the functional-analysis process, to expedite the analysis of severe problem behaviors.
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 2019 · doi:10.1002/jaba.571