Overview
Considering this week's scenario, especially Amanda's complaints about headaches and nausea in the afternoon, and the fact that she is the only child living with his dad and stepmother, the main hypothesis that comes to mind is that her behavior may be related to escaping academic or social demands. I have this assumption because, as the scenarios show, Amanda's behavior always happens in the afternoon when Amanda could have any type of class, task or activities that she is not feeling comfortable with. However, with the information provided even though escape seems like the most likely explanation, I would still keep in mind that her behavior could also be influenced by other factors, such as the attention she receives from her family or the comfort of going home maybe early and be at home with her dad, which is why an FBA is essential to rule out all possibilities. This core idea reinforces Dr. Little’s point that the FBA (Functional Behavior Assessment) identifies the most likely function of a behavior however, that doesn't mean that it is limited to just one function, since the same behavior may have different functions (Walden University, 2019e)
A possible antecedent that may be triggering Amanda's behavior is having a class in the afternoon, where the task or project she has to perform feels so challenging for her. However, to escape that situation, Amanda's behavior is to start reporting symptoms of headache and nausea to her teacher. Therefore, consequently, she is sent to the school nurse, where in the majority of the time her parents come to pick her up, which leads to complete escape from the task demands she was avoiding.
To evaluate my hypothesis, I would do a Functional Behavioral Assessment. Cooper et al. (2020) highlight that "FBA method allows practitioners to confirm hypotheses regarding functional relations between problem behavior and environmental events" (p.631). However, to implement this, I will use strategies to gather data and information. I would start doing direct observation in Amanda's classes in the afternoon for about two weeks, to be able to record Amanda's exact date and time in the afternoon, when the behavior occurs and see if there is any pattern such as a specific class, teacher, or type of task she is consistently avoiding. I would also observe whether the presence of certain teachers or classmates in the afternoon might contribute to her behavior. In addition, I will meet with Amanda and implement a MAS (Motivation Assessment Scale), but as Dr. Little pointed out, I won't do it using a checklist. Indeed, I will do it in a way that involves just talking and asking questions to Amanda to gain more insight from her. For example, I will ask questions like, What classes do you like the most? What class do you like the least? And why? I would also interview the afternoon teachers and staff, including the school nurse and Amanda's family, so I can gather everyone's different points and collect as much information as possible that could lead to strengthening my hypothesis. As Ward-Homer, Seiverling, and Sturmey (2011) emphasize, combining interviews with descriptive observations will help ensure that the assessment accurately reflects what is happening in the natural environment. When results are ambiguous, revisiting and expanding this descriptive information helps identify unique, real-world triggers and provides a clearer operational definition of the target behavior.
Later, after the two weeks of direct intervention and gathering information, I will try to modify some antecedent variables in Amanda to observe how she responds. For example, if I observed during direct observations that she often avoids her Engineering class because her behavior begins right before she has to design or complete an engineering project, I would ask her Engineering teacher to provide an adapted assignment with reduced complexity. If her symptoms decrease over time when the task difficulty is adjusted, it will support the idea that her behavior is escape maintained. If, after completing these steps, her target behavior changes in a way that supports my hypothesis, the next step would be to conduct a Functional Analysis (FA) to more clearly identify the function and guide the development of an effective intervention.
References
Cooper, J. O., Heron, T. E., & Heward, W. L. (2020). Applied behavior analysis (3rd ed.). Pearson.
Walden University, LLC. (2019e). Functional behavioral assessment and analysis [Video]. Walden University Blackboard. https://waldenu.instructure.com
Ward-Horner, J., Seiverling, L. J., & Sturmey, P. (2011). Functional behavioral assessment and analysis. In J. L. Matson & P. Sturmey (Eds.), International handbook of autism and pervasive developmental disorders (pp. 271–286). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-8065-6_16Links to an external site.