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Abstract
The use of an antecedent assessment and an assessment-based intervention for the treatment of off-task behavior exhibited by an 11-year old child diagnosed with Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is illustrated. The assessment indicated that the highest rates of off-task behavior occurred when the child was presented with difficult academic tasks. A treatment package that included Functional Communication Training (FCT), which was used to teach the child to request assistance with his work, and contingency contracting (i.e., access to preferred items contingent upon task completion), was then implemented. A multiple baseline across tasks design was used to evaluate the effects of the intervention package. Results indicated that the package was successful in reducing off-task behavior.
DESCRIPTORS: ADHD, Antecedent Assessment, Functional Communication Training, Off-Task Behavior
Antecedent assessment (AA) is a tool used to examine the environmental conditions under which individuals engage in aberrant behavior. An AA typically involves exposing a child to situations in which he or she receives high or low amounts of teacher or peer attention while working on easy or difficult academic tasks (Meyer, 1999). Previous research has demonstrated that a relationship may exist between these two variables (i.e., adult or teacher attention and task difficulty) and the occurrence of off-task behavior in children with ADHD (Cooper, Wacker, Sasso, Reimes, and Donn, 1990; Ervin, DuPaul, Kern, and Friman, 1998). The purpose of an AA is to determine the extent to which the off-task or disruptive behavior occurs in the presence of these stimuli. Conditions that produce the highest rates off-task behavior are presumed to influence off-task behavior outside of the assessment context. Specific treatments are then implemented based on the results of the assessment.
In contrast to functional (i.e., experimental) analysis, which involves the manipulation of both antecedents and consequences, AA involves manipulating only antecedents to the target behavior. In some cases, AAs may be more appropriate than functional analyses, mainly for practical reasons. Because consequences are not manipulated, AAs may be conducted in actual classroom settings as instruction occurs. In addition, AAs require less expertise to conduct than functional analyses. Practitioners with limited training who may have real difficulty implementing a functional analysis might have little trouble implementing an AA. The main drawback of AAs involves inferring behavioral function based on...