Reducing Self-Injurious Behavior Through Functional Communication Training
Pick one of the two scenarios below and develop a plan for initial functional communication training with this client.
Describe functional communication training and its purpose.
Identify what the reinforcer will be for the communicative response.
Identify an appropriate communicative response for the client.
Describe how you will teach the communicative response (include the use of contrived or natural establishing operations, use of prompts and prompt fading, and reinforcement schedule).
Scenario #1: Josie is a 49-year-old woman with a diagnosis of severe intellectual disability. She has limited language skills, but is capable of an occasional, one-word vocal response. Her target behavior is self-injurious behavior in the form of slapping the sides of her face with both hands using a light amount of force. At most, there is a slight redness following the slapping behavior. You conducted a functional assessment and found that the function of self-injurious behavior was attention from staff in her group home. When she slaps her face, staff usually come over to her, console her, and say things like, “Josie, why are your hurting yourself? Please don’t hurt yourself.” The staff member then usually sits with her for a few minutes and talks with her.
Scenario #2: Andrew is a 12-year-old boy with a diagnosis of severe intellectual disability. He has limited language skills and does not use vocal responses to communicate. He is capable of using picture cards to communicate. He already has an extensive repertoire of using a picture exchange system to request preferred items. His target behavior is property destruction defined as using his arms to push all items off the table and onto the floor, ripping worksheets in half, and snapping pencils in half. You conducted a functional assessment and found the function of property destruction was escape from demands. When he engages in property destruction, his teacher removes the demand and moves on to another student. If Andrew rips up a worksheet, it is not replaced with another and he is not required to complete the task. Andrew is not required to pick up items pushed to the floor. His teacher’s response has been to remove any request and ignore Andrew when he engages in property destruction.
“Reducing Self-Injurious Behavior through Functional Communication Training: A Plan for Josie”
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“Reducing Self-Injurious Behavior through Functional Communication Training: A Plan for Josie”
Functional communication training is a behavior intervention to help individuals with developmental disabilities develop alternative, adaptive communication skills. Functional communication training aims to reduce problematic behavior by teaching the individual an appropriate means of communicating their needs and wants (Reichle & Wacker, 2017). In the case of Josie, who has been diagnosed with a severe intellectual disability and limited language skills, functional communication training can provide her with a way to communicate her needs for attention in a more appropriate manner.
The reinforcer for Josie’s communicative response will be the attention and interaction she receives from staff in her group home. Whenever Josie uses her communicative response, staff will give her attention and engage with her in conversation. This reinforcement will encourage her to use the communicative response in the future rather than engage in self-injurious behavior. Josie’s communicative response will be a simple gesture, such as raising her hand or tapping her shoulder (Fisher et al., 2021). This communicative response will allow her to signal...