The purpose of the assessment is to prove and aid the effectiveness of the interventions or treatments used to help eliminate the problem behavior.
The information collected from functional assessment can also help develop appropriate treatments for the target behavior.
The person may terminate an aversive stimuli (interaction, task or activity) and the behavior is more likely to be maintained.
The main disadvantage of indirect methods is that the people involved are relying on their memories, thus some information may be lost or inaccurate.
The goal of direct observation is to record the immediate antecedent and consequences that functions with the problem behavior within a natural environment.
The main advantage of direct observation is that the antecedents and consequences are recorded as it happens instead of recollection of memory.
The main disadvantage of direct observation is it requires a considerable amount of time and effort to implement.
The observer should also be trained to record the problem behavior and its functional antecedent and consequences immediately, correctly and objectively.
The information collected aids the development of a hypothesis, but to demonstrate a functional relationship, one must use the experimental method.
[3] Experimental methods involve manipulating either the antecedent or consequent variables to determine their influence on the problem behavior.
This is the only method that can demonstrate a functional relationship between the antecedent stimulus or the reinforcing consequence and the problem behavior.
[1] After a functional behavior assessment has been conducted, the information collected is used to develop treatments and interventions.
[9] Carr, Newsom and Binkoff conducted an experimental method of functional assessment on two boys with intellectual disabilities exhibiting aggressive behaviors.
Results show that their hypothesis was indeed true as the aggressive behavior occurred at a much higher frequency in the first condition.
Another functional assessment research done by Brian Iwata in 1982 worked with children with developmental disabilities showing self injurious behaviors.
The research could not conclude what was maintaining their behavior but believed it was either adult attention, escape from demands or sensory stimulation from the injuries.