Physical Arrangements and Staff Implementation of Function-Based Interventions in School and Community Settings

Abstract

The present study examined effects of changes in physical arrangements on staff implementation of function-based interventions. An adolescent with autism who frequently bit his hands, 5 school teachers, and 5 community support center staff participated. First, a functional assessment revealed that in the school task setting, the student's hand biting might have an escape function, whereas it appeared to have attention-getting or sensory stimulation functions in free-time settings at the school and community support center. A multiple baseline design across 3 settings was used. In baseline, occurrences of the student's hand biting and staff implementation were observed. During the function-based intervention (FI), staff in each setting were asked to implement function-based interventions. In the function-based intervention with physical arrangements (FIP) condition, the physical environment was re-arranged to encourage the student's desired behavior in the function-based intervention. The results showed that in all 3 settings, the student's hand biting decreased more during the function-based intervention with physical arrangements than during the function-based intervention alone. Also, staff implementation increased more during the former than during the latter. The results were discussed in terms of a proactive strategy for promoting staff implementation of function-based interventions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)