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• Watch the Unit 3 Lecture. (Transcripts)
• Read the following scenario.

Setting the Scene:

It is Ms. Dawson’s second year of teaching. Things have gone fairly well during the first few weeks of the school year. She encountered only sporadic behavior issues and was able to deal with them with minimal disruptions. Recently, a new student, Devin, joined the class. Devin often teases his classmates and, occasionally, becomes physically aggressive toward them. Devin frequently makes rude comments while Ms. Dawson is teaching. Ms. Dawson tries to ignore much of this behavior, but occasionally argues with Devin when frustration sets in. The other students often laugh at Devin’s behavior, and when Ms. Dawson asks him to leave the classroom, he often refuses. Ms. Dawson has found herself admonishing Devin more and more and has noticed that other students, who were previously compliant, have begun to engage in the same behavior. Ms. Dawson is not happy about the atmosphere that Devin is creating in her classroom. She has tried some of the behavior interventions she learned last year, but they are not working. She wonders what else she can do to stop Devin’s behavior.

Discussion:

• Based upon the variables surrounding Devin’s behavior – the antecedents and consequences, hypothesize the probable function of Devin’s behavior and provide a rational for your choice.
• Why do you think Ms. Dawson’s initial efforts to address the problem (ignoring, admonishing, behavior interventions used for other students) failed to reduce the target behavior?
• Discuss some indirect and direct assessment approaches Ms. Dawson could use to gather information that would inform the design of a more effective intervention to address Devin’s disruptive behavior?

Guided Response Posts:

Respond to two peers’ primary posts by determining whether their hypothesized function(s) of Devin’s target behavior were correct. Provide a rationale for your conclusion.

Next, design a unique (different behavior intervention plan for each peer response), function-based BIP for the correct function of the target behavior for each peer response.

Reading and Resources

Read the following:

Chapter 27 in Applied Behavior Analysis (3^rd ed.): “Functional Behavior Assessment”

The functions of behavior are explained and the importance of conducting Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA) is explored. Various methods of conducting FBAs are presented, along with explanations of the strengths and limitations of each method.

Chapter 8 in Ethics for Behavior Analysts (3^rd edition): “Assessing Behavior (Code 3.0)”

Chapter 8 explains the requirement to base behavior intervention plans on behavior analytic assessment. Code 3.0: Assessing Behavior, provides guidance on appropriate assessment; the graphic display of data; informed consent; and explaining assessment results in language the client and/or the family/guardians can understand. Real world scenarios are utilized to build understanding of how this code is applied in practice.

TEXTBOOKS

Cooper, J. O., Heron, T. E., & Heward, W. L. (2019). Applied Behavior Analysis. 3rd Edition.