Long‐term effectiveness and generality of practical functional assessment and skill‐based treatment

Slaton and team worked with six children with autism in special-ed classrooms. They used a quick interview and short observations to find why each child hit, screamed, or ran away.

Next they taught each child a simple way to ask for the same thing with words, pictures, or signs. They then used a signaled multiple schedule: green card meant 'ask now and you get it,' red card meant 'wait.'

Challenging behavior dropped to almost zero for every child. Crisis holds, restraints, and seclusion were no longer needed.

One year later the same children were still doing well with new teachers and new rooms. Staff kept the plan running with no extra help.

Muething et al. (2021) warned that resurgence pops up in 41 % of thinning steps and behavior can spike seven-fold. Slaton shows the opposite: near-zero behavior after thinning in every school case. The gap is setting and coaching. Muething ran brief lab probes; Slaton gave teachers daily on-site help and clear red-green signals.

Davis et al. (2023) reviewed 401 thinning attempts and found most were never tested in real classrooms. Slaton fills that hole with a full year of school data.

Hastings et al. (2001) first showed the red-green multiple schedule keeps behavior low. Slaton replicates the tactic and adds the long follow-up schools asked for.

You can bring this package to your school tomorrow. Start with a 20-minute interview and a few 5-minute observations. Teach one communication response, then use any visual cue to mark 'reinforcement on' versus 'reinforcement off.' Stay in the room to coach staff until the red-green system feels routine. The study says you can drop crisis plans once behavior stays under five responses per session for two straight weeks. One check-in a month later is enough to keep it going.