Reviews

Functional Assessment and Program Development for Problem Behavior: A Handbook

Sun, 6 Aug 2006 08:56:39 -0500

As the title suggests, this is a practical handbook for doing functional assessments and putting together behavior programs based upon them. In fact, this book contains essentially everything needed to put together a basic functional assessment.

This book is brief, only about 125 pages, including appendices. It is written for the beginning student in behavior analysis, or the practitioner working in a different field that may need behavioral treatment options – case managers, teachers, etc.

In this mission it succeeds. The language is very straightforward and easy to follow. The book proceeds from start to finish in the order that a functional assessment should follow – beginning with examining and identifying environmental and medical variables that can easily be changed, and proceeding through the more formal assessment process.

This handbook provides a complete set of forms for completing a descriptive analysis level functional assessment. Much of this is focused around the Functional Assessment Interview (abbreviated FAI – because nearly everything in the Behavior Analysis literature must be abbreviated for some reason). This is a structured interview that is designed to provide information on a wide array of potential relevant factors. A blank copy of the interview format is provided in an appendix (for easy copying), and there is a completed example in the text, with comprehensive instructions for each section.

Similarly, there are a set of forms and instructions provided for collecting data and completing analyses based upon that data, preferably in conjunction with the FAI. The book even contains some information on what can be involved in completing a functional analysis, which involves manipulating situations to try to determine what is eliciting the problem behavior.

The handbook does not just leave the user with this information, but proceeds with the same clear language on how use the information gathered in a behavior treatment plan. Surprisingly with all of the other forms provided for the user, no blank format is provided for a behavior treatment plan. There is a completed example plan provided in the book, though the format it provides is not necessarily ideal.

Simplicity and straightforwardness are the book’s greatest strengths, and anyone using this guide for dealing with behavioral issues is going to be leaps and bounds ahead of the usual behavior plan development routine of guessing at what might work (see Functional Assessment or How to Get Your Behavior Programs to Work in our Training Presentations section for a discussion about this).
That simplicity is also the book’s greatest weakness. Since the book focuses on using language that is more familiar to it’s intended audience, it doesn’t provide much of an introduction to the technical language of Applied Behavior Analysis. For example, although the word “antecedent” isn’t entirely avoided, it is largely replaced by the word “predictor”. Instead of “replacement behavior” the book prefers “competing behavior”. For most of what it’s mission is, this is perfectly fine. An understanding of technical terms may not be needed by the teacher who is just trying to put together a behavior plan for one or two students, and will use only this handbook. However, people who are interested in using the book as an introduction to the world of behavior analysis should understand that the field uses language very precisely, and that the terminology used in the book is not what they are likely to find in other ABA literature.

Finally, it should be noted that this second and, as far as I am aware, most current edition is not new – it was published in 1997, making it nearly 10 years old. For the basic information it presents this is not a problem – it still provides valuable, accurate information on putting together a basic behavior treatment plan. However, the book provides, in Appendix A, a list of references. The reader should keep in mind that, like the book, this list is nearly 10 years old. There will likely be follow-ups and refinements to many of the references provided.

In summary, this handbook provides everything needed, including interview and assessment forms, for a practitioner to complete a basic functional assessment, and to put together a behavior treatment plan based upon that assessment. The language is straightforward and easy to follow, geared toward the beginning student in behavior analysis, or the practitioner working in a different field that may need behavioral treatment options. It is an excellent resource for any school or agency providing services to people with challenging behaviors.

Dementia, Aging, and Intellectual Disabilities

Tue, 1 Aug 2006 22:50:39 -0500

Dementia, Aging, and Intellectual Disabilities is no longer a new book. It was published initially in 1998, and there have been other books published more recently that address different aspects of aging among people with developmental disabilities (most notably books addressing the use of different adaptive technologies). However, this book remains the most comprehensive overview of aging among people with developmental disabilities available.

While other books focus on specific aspects of aging, this book provides information on nearly every aspect of aging that a clinician working in developmental disabilities could want to know about. The title of the book can lead one to assume that it is primarily directed toward discussion of dementia (diseases of aging such as Alzheimer’s disease), and certainly these are addressed. However, this is by no means the only area discussed. Topics covered run the gamut from the very technical to the very practical.

The book opens with a discussion of the chemical and structural changes in the brain that occur in the course of aging, and that occur as one develops dementia. This is, understandably, a highly technical review of information and people who consider the book by evaluating the first several pages, if they do not have a medical or biology background, are likely to put it down. This would be a mistake, however, as the book moves on through several main topic areas, with each topic area reviewed and evaluated from multiple perspectives. The highly technical information in the first chapter of the book, for example, is balanced in the following chapters, which consider the aging and dementia process from the perspectives of a care provider and a parent (chapter’s 2 and 3).

The main topic areas include coverage of medical and biomedical considerations, extensive assessment considerations for those trying to evaluate people with disabilities who may have dementia (including ways to detect dementia), the role that different psychiatric disorders can play in mimicking or contributing to dementia, and so on. For example, the symptoms of depression and dementia overlap considerably. People with both disorders often have problems focusing for example, and tend to withdraw from daily life. This overlap of symptoms is problematic to sort out even in the general population, and the implications for treatment are vital – there are very different treatment paths for the two disorders, and following the wrong path for a given treatment may be detrimental for the individual. This challenge, and how to deal with it, is one of the many areas addressed in the book. Later sections focus on programming considerations, developing supports in residential and day settings, and so on.

This is an edited book, with multiple contributing authors, many of whom are well known and well respected in the field of developmental disabilities. All authors, and their backgrounds, are listed in the front of the book. In addition to the folks who have significant research backgrounds, a number of the contributing authors are people who are directly working in the field.

The book has a scientific focus and because of this, many of the chapters have a very technical presentation. Most of the chapters include multiple reference citations through the text in the APA Format, and a references section at the end. Many of the writers are clearly writing to an audience with a background in clinical services, and technical or academic training in the sciences. This is particularly true for the medical, psychiatric, and mental health sections. However, the book becomes more generally accessible in the chapters written by service providers and parents, and in those addressing programming considerations. It is intended as a reference book, and most professionals working in the field will find that there is some aspect of the book that is relevant to the work they are doing with our aging population.

There should be at least one copy of this book available at every agency and service provider that works with adults who have developmental disabilities.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Sat, 29 Jul 2006 16:01:42 -0500

This novel, by Mark Haddon, is a detective story told from the point of view of a young man with Asperger’s Syndrome. More specifically, it’s a murder mystery, and the victim is the neighbor’s dog. Christopher Boone, the book’s 15-year old protagonist, has determined that he will solve the mystery of what has happened to the dog.

This will be more challenging than it might initially seem because a) It will involve leaving his street alone - something he has never done before; and b) It involves interviewing other people and determining what they really mean when they are answering his questions, something Christopher’s Asperger’s Syndrome makes especially difficult.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The author is not a person with Asperger’s Syndrome, but he has clearly spent time working with and observing people who do have the disorder. He gives wonderful behavioral descriptions of the actions of the people Christopher interacts with - clear enough that the average reader will understand what the person is not telling Christopher - and this plays wonderfully in contrast to Christopher’s interpretation of the interactions. In addition, we see Christopher struggling with these social events himself, often understanding that there is something he is not getting, but unable to sort out what it is.

The story is told in the first person, from Christopher Boone’s point of view. The author makes good use of travel time and other events to allow Christopher to consider different things about having Asperger’s Syndrome. There are points during which he explains, for example, why he hates the colors brown and yellow (and when he’s done, you’ll start to wonder about them yourself). He also spends a moment talking about the differences between when he looks at an open field as compared to what might occur when others do so.

As an added note, the story takes place in and around London, England. This adds an additional pleasant flavor to the story, as Christopher travels about to different locations. He doesn’t go any place particularly fancy (he’s not spending time at Buckingham Palace, or visiting Big Ben), but I found it interesting to be reminded that Autism Spectrum Disorders are not something that only occur in the United States - that it’s a worldwide phenomenon.

Finally, for those with visual, reading, or commuting disabilities, this is available as an audiobook. I actually listened to this myself, and found that the narrator, who was British (or at least read this book with a British accent) also added to the international feel of it.

Controversial Therapies for Developmental Disabilities

Sun, 23 Jul 2006 11:07:39 -0500

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