Document Type

Dissertation

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Psychology

Degree

PhD in Behavior Analysis

Dissertation Defense Date

2016

First Committee Member

Hanley, Gregory P.

Second Committee Member

Thompson, Rachel

Third Committee Member

Bourret, Jason

Additional Committee Member(s)

Sassi, Jessica

Abstract

"Hanley, Jin, Vanselow, and Hanratty (2014) described a functional analysis format that synthesized several variables based on information from open-ended interviews. This analysis provided an effective baseline from which to develop socially validated treatments, but the synthesis precluded a precise understanding of individual contingencies influencing problem behavior. In Study 1, we compared interview-informed synthesized contingency analyses (IISCA) and standard functional analyses (Iwata et al., 1982/1994) for nine children with autism. Response topographies (precursors and problem behavior) and consequences were synthesized in the IISCA; neither was synthesized in the standard analysis. The IISCA was differentiated for all nine participants. The standard analysis was differentiated for four participants; this number increased to six when we repeated the analysis and included precursors. We then compared treatments developed from the sets of differentiated analyses. IISCA-based treatments were effective in all applications; standard-based treatments were effective in half of the applications."

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