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Problem behaviors often compound the already difficult task of improving the lives of persons with severe disabilities. This important volume, representing the culmination of more than a decade of clinical research, presents the first complete description of the procedures used in Functional Communication Training--a positive approach for reducing severe behavior problems. The procedures described in this book have been validated by numerous empirical studies for use with children, adolescents, and adults who display behaviors as diverse as aggression, self-injury, tantrums, and bizarre, psychotic speech.
Functional Communication Training involves teaching students how to communicate those basic wants and needs that they have previously sought to have fulfilled via their problem behavior. They are taught to "replace their challenging behavior with learned communication skills.
This book provides the practitioner with step-by-step instructions for implementing this effective approach. A variety of assessment strategies are reviewed and described to assist in determining appropriate interventions. "The Motivation Assessment Scale--one device designed to assess the function of problem behavior--is outlined in detail and is accompanied with guidelines for its administration and interpretation. Communication training is then detailed and illustrated using speech, sign language, and augmentative systems as examples. Numerous case examples throughout illuminate both the assessment and intervention strategies.
Providing clear direction for ameliorating complex behavior problems, this book will be valued by psychologists, behavior analysts, special educators, and speech and languagetherapists. It can be used as a text for advanced undergraduate courses on behavior management in psychology and special education, and also serves as supplementary reading for courses on behavior modification or mental retardation/developmental disabilities.
List of contents
1. Introduction, Terminology, Intervention approach, Assumptions, Scientist practitioner model, beyond communication training, Compatibility with applied behaviour analysis, 2. Severe behaviour problems, Influences on problem behaviour, Problem behaviour as communication., intervention design, review of intervention literature. 3. Assessment, Jonathan, Defining Problem behaviour, Should you it you intervene? Assessing influences on problem behaviour, Reinforce are assessment, 4. Pre intervention considerations, Obstacles to communication training, What and where to teach? 5. Intervention strategies, Teaching requests for assistance/escape, Teaching requests for attention, Teaching requests for tangibles, Teaching requests for alternate sensory activities, Multiple motivations, Response-Independent consequences, Conclusion. 6. Administrative issues and evaluation plans, Addressing administrative issues, Designing a valuation plan, Epilogue.
About the author
V. Mark Durand, PhD, is Professor of Psychology at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg.
Summary
A variety of assessment strategies are reviewed and described to assist in determining appropriate interventions. Numerous case examples throughout illuminate both the assessment and intervention strategies.
Additional text
A well-written, practical summary of the most recent and most exciting advances in functional communication training....This book will be a valuable resource for families, teachers, clinicians, and researchers....Dr. Durand is to be congratulated for this excellent, timely contribution.--Robert H. Horner, Ph.D.Durand's seminal work represents the `new wave' in the treatment of behavioral problems....The approach enables one to get `inside the head' of the behaviorally troubled individual through a most comprehensive assessment and treatment program.--Robert Gaylord-Ross, Ph.D. -Durand takes the reader step by step through chapters dealing with assessment, limitations, intervention strategies, and administrative issues....It is a cohesive book suitable for a wide range of professionals.--Contemporary Psychology, 11/3/1990ƒƒA valuable resource for practitioners in offering a concise, step-by-step, concrete, yet scientifically based approach to the assessment and intervention of challenging behaviors.--Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 11/3/1990
