The Big Four: Functional Assessment Research Informs Preventative Behavior Analysis
Teach kids to handle escape, attention, tangible, and sensory triggers early and you prevent most problem behavior.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The authors reviewed 30 years of functional assessment studies. They pulled out the four antecedents that show up again and again.
They call them the Big Four: escape, attention, tangible, sensory. The paper is a map for teaching kids to cope before problem behavior starts.
What they found
The Big Four already explain almost every behavior you see in a standard functional analysis. Teaching kids to face these triggers early could stop problems from growing.
How this fits with other research
Prigge et al. (2013) ran full FAs right in preschool classrooms and found the same four functions. Their work shows the Big Four are already there in little kids, so prevention can start early.
Gerow et al. (2020) had parents run brief FAs at home with toddlers. The results matched lab studies, giving families a quick way to spot which of the Big Four is in play.
O’Neill (2018) built a similar antecedent list for police firearm errors. Both papers turn piles of assessment data into short, teachable trigger lists. One keeps kids safe, the other keeps officers safe.
Why it matters
You can fold the Big Four into your intake or classroom routines. Ask: does this child have a way to ask for a break, for attention, for a toy, for quiet? If not, teach that skill first. You stop the behavior before it starts and save hours of crisis management later.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Current practice guidelines suggest that the assessment and treatment of challenging behavior should consist of conducting a functional behavior assessment following the onset of problem behavior. This assessment process can include indirect and direct assessment, as well as manipulation of variables to determine function. The purpose of this article is to outline a proposal that would add prevention practices to early intervention guidelines for problem behavior. Based on decades of research, the suggestion is to proactively teach children at risk for problem behavior to navigate four of the most common conditions that have been demonstrated to occasion problem behavior. Prevention is made a possibility because a large body of research examining the conditions under which challenging behavior occurs has been reliably replicated. Preventative approaches are an emerging phenomenon and reflect a progression in the practice of behavior analysis. Prevention may lead to acquisition of prosocial behavior before problems arise, to expedited and enhanced treatment, to increased access to favorable learning environments, and, we hope, to improvement in the quality of life for many children at risk for the development of problem behavior.
Behavior Analysis in Practice, 2019 · doi:10.1007/s40617-018-00291-9