Intervention Based on a Functional Assessment: Student With a Severe Intellectual Disability in a Special Needs Education School

Abstract

The purpose of the present case study was to examine effects of a functional assessment and an assessment-based intervention on the inappropriate behavior of a student with a severe intellectual disability. The participant in the present case study was a 13-year-old boy with a severe intellectual disability who was a student at a special needs education school. As a result of a functional assessment of his inappropriate behavior, the following target behaviors were identified: pulling the clothes of his teacher or friends, and not staying seated during classes. The analysis suggested that engaging in difficult or long-duration tasks preceded his inappropriate behavior, and that the inappropriate behavior functioned to obtain physical contact or verbal communication with his teachers and his friends. In an attempt to decrease the boy's target behavior, an intervention composed of contingency management and environmental design was implemented by his teachers. After the intervention began, the target behavior decreased; this improvement was maintained even after a period of time in which there were no classes. The present results suggest that the intervention based on the functional assessment was effective in decreasing the inappropriate behavior. It may be necessary to include functional assessment in teachers' training, so that this method may be used more widely. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved). (journal abstract)