Overview
Instructions
A survey study by Oliver, Pratt and Normand in The Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis (2015) reported the following barriers to conducting functional analysis:
- Lack of time (57% of respondents)
- Lack of space or materials (52% of respondents)
- Lack of trained individuals (27% of respondents)
- Administrative policies prohibit the use of functional analysis (25% of respondents)
- Lack of approval from administration or families (22% of respondents)
- Belief that functional analyses are not necessary or are not useful (20% of respondents)
- Lack of funding from insurance (17% of respondents)
While identifying the function of the behavior is essential for designing effective treatment, the assessment does present risk. Practitioners are faced with an ethical problem that requires weighing the risks of assessment with the risks of continuing therapy with a treatment plan that does not include a definitive functional relation that only a functional analysis can provide.
Using the above survey responses, your readings for this module, and your own experiences, what FA procedures do you think align best with your current ethics guidelines and the constraints inherent to the process?
Your initial post should be roughly 200 words in length. Cite sources you reference in-text and under a “References” section in APA format.