Using Functional Communication Training to Treat Problem Behaviors - 4675 Words

Using Functional Communication Training to Treat Problem Behaviors (Research Paper Sample) Content: Using Functional Communication Training to Treat Problem Behaviors Name Institution Using Functional Communication Training to Treat Problem Behaviors Introduction to Functional Communication Training The Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) of 1975 mandated that American children and youth ages 3-21 years be provided with free and appropriate public school education. The number of children served under IDEA has increased from 3,694 (8.3% of total enrolment) in 1976-77 to 6,401 (12.9% of the total enrolment) in 2011-12 (National Center for Education Statistics, 2015). In 2011-12, the most common disabilities as per the number of students served were specific learning disabilities (2,303 students), speech or language impairments (1,373 students), autism (455 students), intellectual disability (435 students) developmental delay (393 students), and emotional disturbance (373 students) (National Center for Education Statistics, 2015). Functional c ommunication training (FCT) is among the most widely used interventions to treat interfering behavior observed in individuals with disabilities. It may be defined as â€Å"a differential reinforcement (DR) procedure in which an individual is taught an alternative response that results in the same class of reinforcement identified as maintaining problem behavior† (Tiger, Hanley, described pretreatment FBA; and had a goal of enhancing the effectiveness of FCT. The exclusion criterion was for the studies that were not published in non-English journals. From the search, 27 research articles were identified. After excluding the studies that did not meet the inclusion criteria, 14 studies remained. An additional study was handpicked from outside the time limits in order to have the 15 studies required (see Table 1). Therefore, this review consists of 15 research articles. Results of the Searc...