Agreement Between Structured Descriptive Assessments and Functional Analyses Conducted Over a Telehealth System

Abstract

This study examined whether experimental functional analyses (FAs) conducted by parents at home with coaching via telehealth would produce differentiated results, and compared these results to the functions identified from structured descriptive assessments (SDAs) also conducted by parents at home via telehealth. Four boys between the ages of 4- and 8-years old with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their parents participated. All assessments were conducted in the children's homes with their parents serving as intervention agents and with coaching from remote behavior therapists using videoconferencing technology. Parent-implemented FAs produced differentiated results for all 4 children in the study. Overall, analyzing antecedent-behavior (A-B) and behavior-consequence (B-C) relations from the SDA videos identified only half of the functions identified by the FAs. For children whose SDA results were differentiated, analyzing A-B relations correctly identified 4 of 5 functions. Analyzing B-C relations correctly identified 5 of 6 functions identified by the experimental FA, but overidentified attention for all children. Implications for conducting functional analyses and interpreting structured descriptive assessment via telehealth are discussed.

Keywords: contingency space analysis; functional analysis; functional assessment; structured descriptive assessment; telehealth.

Figure 1.

Results of the functional analysis for each child. Brackets under the abscissa scale in each panel show those sessions that occurred on the same day. This figure is used with permission.

Figure 2.

Mean percent intervals of problem behavior in each context (left side; DA = diverted attention, DE = demand, RA = restricted access, FP = free play) and mean conditional probability of each consequence across contexts (ride side).