Producing meaningful improvements in problem behavior of children with autism via synthesized analyses and treatments.
One tidy FBA-to-FCT package erased severe problem behavior and built communication in three kids with autism.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Three kids with autism and severe problem behavior got one package.
The team ran a practical functional assessment first.
Then they taught the kids to ask, wait, and do what adults say.
All steps happened in clinic and at home.
The whole plan took 8–14 weeks.
What they found
Problem behavior dropped to zero.
Each child learned new words or signs.
They also learned to wait and follow directions.
Parents said life felt normal again.
How this fits with other research
Coffey et al. (2021) used the same package on kids who also had anxiety.
Their results matched this study, so the method works even with extra diagnoses.
Cameron et al. (1996) first showed FCT cuts multiply-controlled aggression.
This 2014 paper bundles that idea into a full clinic-to-home plan.
Morris et al. (2022) tried a similar framework but got mixed results.
Their clinic used looser rules, showing the tight 2014 protocol matters.
Why it matters
You can copy this whole flow.
Run the practical FA, teach one mand, then add tolerance and compliance.
Track data in both places.
One team, one plan, one semester can flip severe behavior into useful skills.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Problem behaviors like self-injury, aggression, or disruption will likely require intervention at some point in the life of a person diagnosed with autism. Behavioral intervention has been proven to be effective for addressing these problems, especially when a functional assessment is conducted. Comprehensive treatment for problem behavior is, however, often fractured across studies, resulting in a dearth of studies that show socially validated improvements in these problem behaviors or illustrate the assessment and treatment process from start to finish. In this article, we describe an effective, comprehensive, and parent-validated functional assessment and treatment process for the severe problem behaviors of 3 children with autism. After an 8- to 14-week outpatient clinic consultation, no problem behavior was observed at the clinic and in the home. Furthermore, behavior that did not occur during baseline (e.g., functional communication, delay and denial tolerance, and compliance with instructions) occurred with regularity.
Journal of applied behavior analysis, 2014 · doi:10.1002/jaba.106